Idenyi Abbah, a middle-aged woman who lives in Anumajogwu, Ogbadibo Local Government Area, Benue State, has admitted to killing Enyanwu, her 8-year-old daughter because she desired more children.
Abbah, who has one child for her husband and is being detained at the Ukwo Police Station in Benue State, claimed she grew jealous when he wed a second woman to have additional kids. She next sought the advice of a juju priest in Ikem, Anambra State, who allegedly instructed her to offer her only daughter as a sacrifice to the Awube deity.
My only daughter was an “ogbanje” (witch), she was told, and had blocked my womb. “I have traveled to every region of the country, searching for pastors and native doctors that could get me out of this dilemma, but have been told almost the same tale,” she added. “Up until my husband chose to take another wife, I had tried to avoid the treatment I received from one native doctor at Ikem. I was compelled by this action to fulfill the gods’ will and slay Enyanwu.
Around midnight, the said juju priest allegedly arranged for some young men to gang-rape Enyanwu before sacrificing her to the said goddess, all while her mother watched, at the location of the ritual, close to the Awube River.
Okpe, a local, claimed to have seen the murder from hiding when he was nighttime hunting; he said that he was helpless to halt the crime because the young guys were armed. He claimed that after the mother spoke an incantation, “they stabbed their knives through her neck.”
They had previously raped her as well.
Okpe claimed that after leaving the area, the village chief learned about the incident and notified the police. Nobody was found when police officers and neighborhood people raided the crime scene, but a search turned up Enyanwu’s dismembered body in a shallow grave close to the river.
The murderers are being sought, according to state police, and Abbah will shortly be brought before a judge.
