Benin City – Tension is mounting in the sleeping town of Jesse in the Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State and Okabere village in Sapele road area in Benin following the disappearance of one Eunice Okoro a bethrout of the village chief priest.
Eunice before her disappearance it was learnt had rejected attempts by elders of the Jessey village to force her into marrying the chief priest chief Atiti Idjerhe who already had four other wives in his harem citing the dictates of the prevailing culture.
According to family source,the run away Eunice and her two younger sisters lived with their mother Christina at their Okabere residence where the mother chose to move on after the death of her husband chief Okumakpene Okoro until now that the children are grown up when the unhealthy cultural practice they thought is already under resurrected.
She reportedly escaped as a show of her distaste for the demand and pressure to marry the chief priest to take refuge elsewhere.
Trouble was said to have actually started when a strange emisary from the village made a sudden appearance in their hideout in Benin City about two months ago demanding her return to marry the chief priest as their culture demands in order to avert an impending calamity as a consequence for her obstinacy.
Sources close to Eunice’s Benin City residence hinted that not even the revelation that she had been put in a family way by another man by name Monday Aimufua could sway the visitors as they insisted that she can never be married to another man except the chief priest, warning however that to do so would spell doom for them.
Matters however came to a head when the said Monday Aimufua died a horrible death in a car crash few weeks after the elders of Jesse came calling.
The death of the love of her life and father of her two children under mysterious circumstances concerned neigbours said, left Eunice distraught and a psychologically wrecked before she disappeared.
However, elders of Jesse village are said to be upbeat in their quest to locate her.
The visitors who left disappointed, nonetheless dropped a strong warning for Eunice mother Christiana that her refusal to persuade her daughter to respect the wishes of their gods of the land should be ready to face the wrath of the gods.
