The Ogboni Traditional Society in Oba Ile, Akure North Local Government area of Ondo State, is at war with one Francis Ojomu, for refusing to cooperate with them to surrender his father’s land for the use of the cult, and for being their new spiritual leader and head.
Ogboni cult is the biggest traditional secret cult in Oba Ile community. The powerful traditional cult determines the social and affairs of the community, it was reliably learnt.
According to a source in the community , who pleaded anonymity, Francis, who has gone into hiding over the fear for his life, has been at the war with the cult members over his refusal to surrender his father’s land to them to be converted to a shrine and also to become their new leader.
It was learnt that, the late father of the embattled man, known as High Priest Ojomu, was the last spiritual head of the cult, and according to tradition, his first son is expected to assume the position upon his demise. Francis, it was gathered, is the only son of the late Ogboni spiritual leader.
It was learnt that the late High Priest Ojomu was allegedly killed by the members of the Ogboni cult, to whom he was their spiritual leader, because of his expansive landed properties in the community, which the members of the cult wanted to inherit.
According to information gathered, after the demise of High Priest Ojomu, his cult members approached his family and claimed the deceased had given one of his expansive land for free, for the construction of a shrine and for the use of the members of the cult.
Trouble, however, started between Francis and the cult members when the cult members came forward to claim the land purpotedly gifted them, by the late spiritual leader, and also requesting Francis to replace him as the new spiritual head of the cult.
Francis who however, has changed his faith to Christianity was said to have rejected the request and also refused to surrender his father’s land to the cult, with the claim that, becoming the new head of a fetish group, is totally against his new belief and faith. Francis was also learnt to have alleged the cult members, as being the persons, who killed his father so as to illegally acquire his land. Francis was said to have alleged further, that the plan of the cult to install him to replace his father, was a clandestine ploy to trick him to accepting the position, so that they could through that means, kill him the way they did against his father and consequently inherit his father’s landed property.
According to the source, if Francis had accepted to be the new spiritual leader of the cult, he is expected to perform the necessary rites and ritual, which will include him eating the heart of his late father, a practice which he found barbaric and fetish, and against his faith as a Christian convert.
Francis was also expected to surrender the land already gifted the cult by his late father for the construction of shrine. But, it was gathered that Francis refused to surrender the land to the cult, claiming that information regarding the land gift to the cult, was not included in his father’s will and neither did his father told him about it. Francis was also alleged that the cult group killed his father.
The community source said “he ( Francis Ojomu ) and Ogboni cult in our community have been at war since the death of High Chief Ojomu who was Francis’s father and the last spiritual head of Ogboni in our community. Francis was chosen to replace his father as the next High Priest and Spiritual Head of the Cult. However, Francis declined the offer because he said it is against his faith since he has become a christian. Apart from this reason, Francis also alleged that he suspected that his father, who died in a very controversial way, was killed by the Ogboni cult members because of the evil ploy to acquire his lands”, the source said.
” Francis’s father as a spiritual leader of such a powerful occultic group, was rich and had a lot of land and farms. So, when he died, the members of hid cult claimed he had given them one of his extensive land as free gift to build their shrine and also for their general use. So, upon his death, the cult members approached the family for the land, but Francis, being the heir to his father’s properties, refused to give the land to the cult because he suspected the claim to be fraudulent. To worsen the case, High Ojomu’s family suspected that he was killed by his cult members with a view to fraudulently acquire his land. “So, the fact that, Francis has not been cooperating with the Ogboni cult by accepting to take the position of his late father as spiritual head and by not releasing the land they claimed was bequeathd to them by his late father, made the Ogboni cult to spoil for war with him, threatening to deal with him spiritually and physically”, the source said.
The source disclosed that when the crisis was taking a dangerous dimension, Francis had to run away from the community for the safety of his life. The source said, “Because of the crisis, Francis had run away, and nobody knows his whereabouts.”
The source further revealed that the Ogboni cult have vowed to do everything possible to make Francis accept their wish. Otherwise, he would be dealt with even if it would cause him his life.
The source disclosed that the Ogboni threat was real as no one in the past,who tried what the absconding Francis did, went without being penalised traditionally and with fatal consequences.
The source even said, that if care is not taken, the penalty can cause him his life because the offense committed by him is considered as an abomination against the cult.
