Posted by By Alloy Khenom on
In the sunny afternoon of Tuesday January 25, 2005, more than 3,000 persons of varying ages were sighted hopping along a feeder road in Mogho community in Gokana LGA of Rivers State.
In the sunny afternoon of Tuesday January 25, 2005, more than 3,000 persons of varying ages were sighted hopping along a feeder road in Mogho community in Gokana LGA of Rivers State.
Not many of the on-lookers showed readiness to volunteer information about the event, but our roving reporter soon located what he suspected might have attracted the crowd.
Somewhere in the middle of the streaming crowd, were three large trucks, each fully loaded with indescribable carved objects juxtaposed against another pushed through the street by some able bodied men.
Close sources soon identified those strange loads to be spiritual ornaments, dug and dismantled from the shrines of a potent juju priest at Mogho, Chief Siol Kponi, about 60.
They were been conveyed to a location allegedly preserved for destruction of such dreaded items when our reporter saw them.
Leading the stream of the human traffic was a detachment of Bible waving members of The Apostolic Church (TAC), Mogho Assembly, doggedly followed by the repentant chief juju priest himself, Terrh Siol Kponi.
At the end of he demolition exercise, Kponi spoke to our reporter, revealing when and how he became the devil's spokesman, his numerous experiences and feat, his powers, customers, restrictions, secret meetings among the witches and wizards and, of course, his TKO (technical knock-out) to the devil which resulted in his (Siol's) extrication from the Satanic clutch.
According to him, he was among the last batch of returnees from the Biafran enclave, where he was conscripted into the army without adequate training, but he never also fought in any of the sectors.
He returned to his native Mogho town in the early seventies and continued with his cherished profession as a fisherman, embarking on resourceful trips in Nigeria and across to places like Suelaba and Gumbe, all in the Camerouns.
He retuned home one day and, on his way to purchase a befitting canoe, he was struck by a certain spirit oracles later identified as Taa-uere around the once dreaded Wiiyakara fresh water creek, believed to be in habited by multiples of faceless creatures including he mermaid.
For weeks, he cried and tried woefully not to assemble a shrine as demanded by the tormenting devil but he finally succumbed to its threat, "in order to stay alive."
In addition to Taa-uere, chief Siol Kponi later set up three extra shrines and managed another set of ravaging evil spirits namely Zormuu, Gberebaga and Kobaatogo, which also had different duties and assignments.
For about 35 years (1970-2005), chief Nsiol (as he is popularly known) lived and worked under those negative influences and directives using herbs, leaves, water and such mundane objects to attempt "solving people's problems and needs."
He told this newspaper that his clients included the Hausas, Yorubas, Ibibios and generally blacks from all tribes, except the whites, claiming that his customers always expressed satisfaction with his service to them for which they also showed appreciation.
He has seven wives namely Nakoo, Naa-iyekpege, Eeva, Daughter, Janet, Mercy and Faith who, in an interview, confirmed they consented to the dislodgement and subsequent burning of the shrines and joined the eldest son of Chief Nsiol, Corporal Gboro Siol Kponi of the Nigeria Police to thank God and commended the chief over his latest decision.
The chief told Telegraph Newspaper that while he served as the special juju messenger, he had restrictions, which included restriction from sleeping with his wives or any other women on Fridays and killing of human being (at least consciously) through his witch power.
He revealed how juju priests and other unseen agents of the devil usually converged at different locations and time to map out strategies that facilitated their acts, but emphasized that he had consistently rejected such assemblies because, "I knew I would abandon them one day and there shall be no chord that bounded us together except my shrines which I will destroy ( already done) when I leave," he said smiling happily.
"I always believe that I belong to God and it was not my desire from the beginning to serve Satan. I thank God for today," he said.
Even though he long thought about how to get the devil's grip off him, the final resolution came on December 21, 2004 when he walked uninvited into the Apostolic Church congregation at Mogho and announced his termination of any further communion with juju from January 1, 2005.
He invited the church to his fairly large home for compulsory prayer sessions after keeping his earlier pledge to disown the shrines by lowering all its flags hoisted in the compound from January 1, as a first step.
Then, came Tuesday, January 25, 2005, the D-Day when the 'detonating squad' arrived the premises, chased away Taa-uere, Zormuu, Gberebaga and Kobaatogo before carting away every damn paraphernalia left behind by the fleeing gods for destruction.
Our reporter asked him about his next time of action after the fall of the shrines and, whether he feared any reappraisal from somewhere.
He replied that immediately after he took the decision, certain evil forces confronted him in the dream, apparently protesting, but he successfully boxed them to silly while simultaneously calling the name of Jesus.
"I am not going back on this decision even though my means of livelihood has been stopped because God will take care."
Former juju messenger, chief Nsiol Kponi will receive his Christian baptism on Saturday, January 29, 2005 as another concrete step away from those dark years. And, the people shout halleluiah!