Former Governor of Anambra State, Chris Ngige, has disclosed that he was forcefully taken to the Okija shrine to swear an oath a few days before the election that made him governor.
This online medium reports that Ngige was the governor of Anambra State from 2003 to 2006.
Speaking in an interview with Vanguard, the trained medical doctor disclosed that he was taken to the shrine to swear an oath of loyalty before he became a Governor.
He, however, stated that when he became governor and a security report revealed that they were engaging in nefarious acts at the shrine, he was able to dismantle the place with then-President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He said, “I was taken to Okija shrine by force. By midnight, I didn’t know where we were going, and it was a few days to my election. So they said we must go there to swear an oath of loyalty. Of course, I know that those shrines and those small deities don’t work. God Almighty is above all of them. So I went with my Bible and holy water. When we got there and I looked at what they were doing, one of them now opted to go and swear for me.
“I said, fine and he did. But when I became governor and the security report showed what they were doing there, swindling people, I don’t know how it happened, but the then president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo gave instruction to my CP through the IGP, that the place should be dismantled. The CP called me and we went and leveled the place. So, that particular shrine is no longer there. But there are so many little shrines in Okija. It’s now that people have forsaken those things, having noted that it was being operated by a swindling gang.”
