In the past few weeks, there has been an increase in the number of alleged 'witches' that have crash-landed in several parts of the country. It all started few weeks ago in the Oshodi area of Lagos when it was reported that an alleged mysterious bird suddenly crash-landed to the ground and turned into an old woman. The scene brought lots of onlookers who wanted to mob the woman but for the timely intervention of the police who swiftly took her away. But she did not live beyond the next day and no one could tell if she was actually a witch or a mad woman.
A few days ago, another of such scenarios played out when a half-naked woman was alleged to have transformed from a flying bird at the Abule Egba area of Lagos. Reports by those who witnessed the scene claim she confessed to having killed many people.
This time, the location has changed to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, where it is in the news that a middle-aged woman named Ope Kubona, caused a stir in Kubwa, yesterday when she was found naked on the rooftop of the All Saint’s Fellowship Church close to the Kubwa Village market.
According to the Punch Newspaper, the woman who sells beans cake (akara) and was well known in the neighbourhood, was branded a witch by the huge number of spectators that were drawn to the scene, but the quick intervention of the police saved her from being lynched by the angry mob.
The police team, led by the Kubwa Divisional Police Officer, Surajudeen Ayobami, brought down Kubona from the roof and asked her children to bring items of clothing for her before she was taken to the station and placed under protective custody in view of the aggression of the crowd towards her.
The DPO further explained:
We rescued the woman from the All Saint’s Fellowship Church, where we found her naked on the rooftop. I learnt she has psychiatric problems, but the spectators believed she was a witch and wanted to attack her, so we had to bring her to the station and place her under protective custody.
At the Police station, the woman went berserk, shouting at her children and the policemen. She almost attacked a pregnant woman, who attempted to take her picture with a smart phone.
Talking to no one in particular, she described herself as a 'prayer warrior' and abused her children for disrupting her peace.
One of her children, Elizabeth, 21, said her mother had been behaving strangely for about three months, adding that moves to take her back to her village in Okitipupa, Ondo State, failed, as she refused to leave the house.
It was around 4am that I noticed that she was not in the room, but I didn’t know where to search for her because it was dark. But in the morning, one of our neighbours saw her on the roof of the church and came to tell us that our mother was on the church roof. The police later came and brought her down
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