Before now, the town of Ngwo, home of the late Chief C.C. Onoh, in Enugu State was a great land and shining city on the hills.
But over time, the Ngwo clan lost its glamour as occultists and evil men desecrated the land. This made the people to become worried. They took a decision to seek the face of God. Determined to get back their lost glory, they sent emissaries to far away Abia State, to get the Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Modestus Chiedozie Chilaka, to help cleanse their land and liberate them from evil deeds. And as they gathered at Isiokpoto, their ancestral headquarters, for the four-day prayers and liberation session, indeed the man of God sent down the might of the Almighty from above that made the villagers to marvel. The highpoint of the many miracles that happened during the period was the rescue of a 10-year-old plantain hawker abducted and used for sacrifice by unknown ritualists. The little boy who was buried alive and covered with sand up to his neck was to be allowed to die slowly by the ritualists, but for Rev Chilaka who rescued him. He was buried in a shrine located in a valley along the Milking Hill, Ngwo. The boy whose identity is yet to be known as he is still unable to speak at the time of this report had stayed in the grave for three days before he was rescued after a revelation came to Rev. Fr. Modestus Chiedozie Chilaka, who was holding a three-day prayers and cleansing of the Ngwo community on the invitation of leaders of the community. Praying on the first day of the adoration crusade, the priest, an eyewitness said, announced that a young boy was buried alive in the community and that if nothing was done fast he would be gone forever. He prophesied that the boy was abducted from the Independence Layout part of Enugu while he was selling plantain chips. He disclosed that 30 occult members from the Ngwo community were involved in the sacrifice, urging the people to join hands in prayers for God to reveal where the boy was buried. On the second day of the crusade which was the fourth day of the boy in the grave, the priest led some able bodied men from the community on a rescue journey to Milking Hills. Ozo Victor Ugwu, a native of Ngwo whose vehicle was used to convey the youths to the shrine told Oriental News that “the priest said that the boy, a hawker who sells plantain chips was abducted from Independence Layout and that he was abducted by some occult persons from Ngwo. He said that these people sacrifice human beings for their rituals; that they are about 30 in number and had tied the progress of the youths of the community. “We went with my vehicle; when we got to Milking Hill, the priest stopped and said it’s around there, pointing to a direction. He asked me if a vehicle could go inside, but I told him that it’s been a long time anybody used that road; so he said we should trek. We went in and he pointed to a direction; we went there and saw the boy. One of the indigenes with us rushed and started using his hands to remove the sand around the boy. Others later joined with spade and after sometime we were able to bring him out from the grave. There were decayed bones there, a tortoise was hanging there in the shrine; there were white pieces of cloth hung here and there, as well as other sacrificial items. The boy’s head and face were covered with blood and there was blood all around the shrine.” According to Ugwu, there was excitement, shouts of joy and praises to God from all corners of the prayer ground when the boy was brought to the podium on the last day of the crusade. He was carried shoulder high. “Yes he is not able to talk for now, but we will take him along and do special prayers for him,” Rev. Fr. Chilaka told an impressed and elated congregation. A youth leader from the Ngwo community, Mr Chris Agu, who is also the national leader of Enugu Youth Movement disclosed that the ground where the prayers held is known as Isiokpoto, the headquarters of all Ngwo. “This place is where Ngwo Ako, our great grandfather lived. This is the place where he was buried. He had 10 sons that made up Ngwo; and that’s why we called on Rev. Fr. Modestus Chiedozie Chilaka to come to Ngwo headquarters and preach the gospel, rededicate Ngwo people to God. Christianity was brought to Ngwo land on January 17, 1917 by an Anglican priest, Rev. Isaac Uzowulu Ejindu, from Obosi and since then we have had series of crusade, but this is the first time in the history of Ngwo that crusade is being held here at Isiokpoto where our great grand parents lived. “We are here because we want Ngwo to be restored. Remember that Ngwo land still remain the capital of Enugu State and was the capital of the old Eastern Province of Nigeria, East Central State and old Anambra State. The suffix, Ngwo, was removed in 1935; before then it was called Enugu-Ngwo as the capital of Eastern Region of Nigeria. In 1935, they removed Ngwo and it started answering Enugu. So that’s why the entire youths of Ngwo land invited other youths from Enugu State and Igbo land to come for this total restoration and re-dedication of Ngwo people to God and to wipe away cultism and evil men who are growing at an alarming rate in the town; conducting rituals and other evil things. So, that’s why we are here with our wives and children, our elders and traditional rulers for this wonderful prayer and today this place has been renamed as a holy ground and this reverend father will be coming here again in December. And any crusade that Ngwo people are going to hold henceforth will be done in this place, Isiokpoto, the headquarters of all Ngwo,” he said. Also an impressed traditional ruler, HRH Igwe Jerome. C Okolo, Ogwugwu Ebenebe 1 of Ameke Ngwo, narrated how five traditional rulers from the community came together and decided to bring the Catholic priest to come and pray for the Ngwo people and the land. His words: “We had heard his story so we decided to know if he could salvage the land. It wasn’t easy bringing our people together and raising the funds for this retreat which is holding here at our ancestral headquarters. This is the third day; he has been here for three days now doing God’s work; even me as a traditional ruler I am like ‘Thomas,’ I don’t easily believe tales, but I have seen and I have seen with my eyes. I have been here for the three days and I have seen miracles; things I have never seen since I was born. “I was here and I saw a small boy who was buried alive as a sacrifice; the priest said there was such thing happening and they have buried a boy for rituals. He prophesied and said he will go there and rescue him. He went and they rescued the boy and brought him to this ground and everybody saw him. Also three blind people he prayed for them and they regained their sights and were able to see things and confirmed they were seeing. There is another of our kinsmen they wanted to kill, he named the three persons behind the plot. A woman whose car was stolen, he called her phone number and told her that the vehicle will be returned to her. He called the name of the mechanic behind the robbery and said that the vehicle will be demobilized until she gets there. So many things have happened here; I wouldn’t have believed if I had not seen with my eyes. “We have a lot of bad people involved in occultism and killing of our people for rituals and we have no doubt that the land has been cleansed and anyone who still wants to try God his blood will be on his head. I think this is a turning point for the Ngwo clan and we hope to start witnessing good things and development amongst our people. “We have agreed with him that he will come to pray here at least once every month and he has agreed. Because our people went and presented our problems to him and he has accepted. He is a young boy but I can confirm that he is extremely powerful because God is using him to perform miracles. And he will always say that it is not by his power that Jesus Christ is in control. Some people in our community didn’t want him to come but I was among those that supported his coming and I think our people are better for it.” For Ozo Donald Agu a.k.a Nnabuenyi, President, Ubelenze Ozo, Ngwo clan, the evil in the land was becoming unbearable and the leaders decided that enough was enough. “So, we organized this prayer for our people because there are so many evil things happening in our land. Our children will go to school, no jobs, so we decided to rededicate the land to God and for our people to repent and love themselves. “We have achieved so much through this prayer adoration. People whose progress is being hindered by others he called names and prayed for them. This is our ancestral land and we have agreed to use it as our holy land where we will be holding communal prayers for the good of this community. You saw the small boy they carried shoulder high, he prophesied that he was being used for rituals and if he wasn’t rescued he will die. He prayed and prayed and announced that he knows where the boy is and he went there with some of our people. Today, which is the third and last day of the crusade they have gone to cut down an evil tree he said is used for rituals and killings in the community. “With this I can tell you that Ngwo has a great future; Ngwo has always been a great land, it has always been a shining city on the hills and we are returning to those glorious days. The Almighty God has come to take charge; He has liberated us from occultists and evil men who had desecrated the land. People, who have been using our people for sacrifice, people who have retarded the growth and progress of our community. And we are thankful to God and the Rev. Father whom He used. He brought out his time to salvage us from bondage because Ngwo has been in bondage before he came.”
