BENIN CITY – It is often said that culture is the mirror of a people, it sums up the totality of their beliefs and their way of living. Culture was supposed to be a distillation of the best values of any people. Culture must be dynamic and unoppressive to remain relevant, but it is sad to note that some cultural practises that have been declared illegal oppressive because they are deemed inherently unnatural, inhuman and repugnant to natural justice are still been widely practised by some people and the law seems helpless to protect their victims.
We have heard of widows being forced to drink the water used in washing the dead bodies of their deceased husbands as a way of proving their innocence over the death of their husbands.
Reports reaching our news desk from Benin has it that family of late Daniel Ikponmwoba are embroiled in an internal crisis in matters that seem related to some obnoxious occultic practises . According to our investigation, after the funeral service and burial rites of Daniel Ikponmwonba , it was learnt that the deceased was an active member of a renowned cult group (name without) and that it was a condition precedent that his only son, Ken Omoaragbon Ikponmwonba be initiated into the occultic group before he could inherit any of his late father’s properties.
Our sources further reveal that the said Ken Omoaragbon Ikponmwoba is a devout Christian who abhors all forms of fetishness and diabolical practises and had outrightly rejected the proposal to become their member.
Problems, however,started when members of the occultic group insisted on Ken becoming one of them as the position held by his deceased father in the group was such that devolves on the eldest surviving son of a deceased member thereby leaving the person concerned without a choice.
Our sources further revealed that the said Ken Omoaragbon Ikponmwoba after much pressure and threat decided to flee to Lagos where he is believed to have been involved in a ghastly motor accident along the Benin-Ore road. It has not been ascertained as at press time whether Ken Omoaragbon Ikponmwoba survived the accident or not as no one has seen nor heard from him since the tragic accident that involved a petrol tanker and most of the victims were burnt beyond recognition.
In a country rife with corruption, the law enforcement agencies have not been able to stem the tide of such obnoxious practises and indeed seems helpless because of deep seated cultural beliefs that tend to support such practises.
The case of Ken Omoaragbon Ikponmwoba is not an isolated one and there are no available statistics to show the extent of the devastation caused by these inhuman cultural practises. The time to jettison these practises is now and government must begin to take responsibility for these acts.
In the meantime, it is hoped that Ken Omoaragbon Ikponmwoba is still alive and that the constitutional guaranteed freedom of conscience and association are upheld.
