Chapter Thirty Three
JOURNEY TO HELL 5
At Anambra State – Eastern Nigeria.
"Mazi Onubuogu Okonkwo, I greet you and greet whatever that goes on errands for you. When greeting gets to the person it is familiar with, it gets tired of greeting. I will not get tired of greeting an honest and hardworking person like you."
Ezenmuo, the Chief Priest, had his peculiar way of greeting his elders. Even though he was a Chief Priest of the deity in the community, he still recognized that respect is reciprocal. He accorded his elders the respect due them. Mazi Onubuogu Okonkwo was one of the elders he held with high regards.
"Who is that greeter that will not allow me to wake up and observe my quiet time before coming to my house?"
Yelled Meiji Onubuogu Okonkwo, who felt disturbed.
Mazi was a well-respected man in the community. He neither drinks himself to stupor nor womanizes. Neither does he cheat people of their hard-earned money because he made it a point of duty to be as upright as possible. There was a common saying among the citizens.
[If you are looking for the truth, go to the house of Mazi Onubuogu Okonkwo; if you can't find it in his house, it means that it has left the community.]
The Chief Priest had paid him a surprise visit, and such visits are rare and connotes tragedy. The fear and the impact of such visit have the same impact as the visit of a python where it was worshiped and reverenced. It had to be treated and adored, regardless of how one feels about it. Sometimes, despite your opinions about the python, you are expected to sing its praise; calling it names like, the protector of our land and so on, just to pacify it. If for any reason you kill it or the natives found it dead in your compound or vicinity, you're expected to perform a full burial rites as you would do for a human being. The consequences of failing to do that is better not imagined because a whole family could be wiped away at a go.
'A toad does not run in the daytime for nothing, it is either something is chasing it or it is chasing something. I have not committed any crime and cannot remember owing anyone. Ten of Ezenmuos can come to my house, I'm not perturbed.'
He thought before he responded to his greeting.
"I greet you Ezenmuo. What do I owe this visit?"
Mazi Onubuogu Okonkwo asked angrily.
"Mazi Onubuogu Okonkwo, I greet you, and I also bring you greetings from the gods of our land."
Said Ezenmuo after he had taken his seat without it been offered to him. He was holding his ofor – a symbol of power and authority, which was calved from wood. He wore a red cap with numerous eagle feathers that indicated his achievements in the past.
Mazi Onubuogu Okonkwo was seating in his obi (hut) when Ezenmuo walked in. His sitting position in the hut was conspicuous, and no one shares it with him. You dare not sit there, whether in his presence or absence. Ezenmuo dragged the small wooden chair aside the hut and sat close to him.
"Yes? I also bring you greetings from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
He replied and requested.
"What do I owe this visit?"
He asked the Chief Priest again.
"As you already know, a toad does not run in the daytime for nothing, it is either something is chasing him or he is chasing something. I have not seen your brother Mazi Iluno Okonkwo. My Spirit had been troubled. He was supposed to bring words to me yesterday."
He paused and looked at Mazi Onubuogu Okonkwo, who seemed not interested in his rubbish the moment he heard his younger brother's name. To be frank, he was tired of stories concerning him.
"I gave him charms that will make him hypnotize his victims. He was to administer it before the next Eke (market day) that was after four market days and send words to me immediately. Yesterday was Eke, I have not heard from him, and he also borrowed the money he used for the trip from me. Please ask him to return my money. If his life is not relevant to him, my money is important to me."
The Chief Priest said pulling his ear, an indication that the matter requires an urgent attention.
Mazi Onubuogu Okonkwo who was puzzled adjusted his seat when he heard the word 'charm'.
He was hoping to hear that his brother drank liquor and fell into a gutter or ate somewhere without paying as usual. The issue of charm and hypnotization baffled him.
"How come I'm just hearing it? What did you say the charm was for?"
He asked as he looked at him with anticipation.
"It is for the controlling of anyone you wish to control. The victim will only do as you wish. You will be running the person's life the way you wish. All you need is to wake up by the middle of the night and drop it on the floor for the victim to step on, and that is it. Once it's done, the person becomes your slave for life."
Mazi Onubuogu Okonkwo was already fuming with anger over the whole discussion.
"I thought this was supposed to be a secret between the two of you, why are you involving me now? If it had gone as the two of you had planned, would I have known?"
Mazi Onubuogu Okonkwo asked, almost raising his voice.
"Anyway, as you can see, the day is too young for a long talk. If you know where he is, ask him to see me. The wrong application of such charm has a terrible consequence. More dangerous if there is any form of delay in the application. Above all, ask him to return my money."
He said as he took his leave.
"What I do not know; will not know me. Whatever the consequences are, they will rest on the head of the one that contracted you and not the whole family. Will I run away because I have a brother called Iluno?"
Ezenmuo was the Chief Priest of the land. He served and worshiped Ikenga, the deity of the land. This deity used to be powerful in those days when the entire community worshiped it. It had the capability to dictate any evil doer in the land, as a matter of fact, the people saw it as their protector and defender.