Posted by By Tony Osauzo, Benin on
The joy of as family in Edo State knew no bounds as their daughter who was counted among the dead, resurfaced three years after she was declared missing. Identified as Ovobokhan Agamwonyi, the girl, a 16-year-old, left home on June 9, 2002 at the age of 13 and returned on February 14, 2005, but not until she had lost her voice.
The joy of a family in Edo State knew no bounds as their daughter who was counted among the dead, resurfaced three years after she was declared missing.
Identified as Ovobokhan Agamwonyi, the girl, a 16-year-old, left home on June 9, 2002 at the age of 13 and returned on February 14, 2005, but not until she had lost her voice.
According to the mother who told the story of her disappearance, Ovbokhan had left home on the fateful day and did not return until late in the night.
She said, the girl left home again after a while and when the family waited for her to return, she did not return, until she resurfaced in February this year.
The mother who was identified as Patience Agamwonyi, told Daily Sun that after waiting for three days for the return of her daughter and nothing positive seems to be happening, a search was initiated.
She said: "I decided to visit one of her friends whom I felt would have knowledge of her whereabouts. When I got there, I told the mother my mission and the woman told me that they have not seen her and even scolded me for looking for her after three days."
After searching for Ovbokhan without success, the family took the matter to Estate Police Station in Ugbowo in Edo State, but nothing came out of it.
After a wait, the family lost hope that their daughter would ever return, following several reports by the police that the search for Ovbokhan had been deadlocked.
However, on lover's day, the family received some news that their daughter had been seen somewhere selling bread, and with the speed of light, they rushed and fetched her.
Telling her tales of the unexpected, Ovbokhan, who just returned from the ‘land of the dead' said she was kidnapped by some people who were bent on using her for rituals.
She said she was taken by these people to a spot inside a jungle where they had their shrine and she was covered with a red and black cloth before the process of the ritual commenced.
Ovbokhan said the ritualists called her names severally, but nothing happened to her, prompting the Chief Priest to ask that she be taken away.
While she was in the custody of the ritualists, she said, that many other people who were not so lucky were killed in cold blood.
She explained that the process of killing was awful as the chief priest would chant some incantation and blood would gush out of their victims body and would continue till the entire system is drained of blood.
One day she was left alone in the shrine by the ritualists and she escaped through a bush path to a destination where she met a man who further told her the route to follow.
Ovbokhan was later taken by a commercial motorcyclist to Sakponba in Benin and she later met another lady who handed her over to her younger brother who was identified as Lucky.
The girl lived with Lucky from June19, 2002, telling him that her father was dead and her relations did not exist any more.
After spending some months with Lucky, they both decided to get married and she had a kid for him, but the child later died. They quickly had another baby with which Ovbokhan had returned to her parents.
Lucky told Daily Sun that he was happy to have found Ovbokhan's family as they will formalize the marriage.