Story of a Great Man Whose Divine Destiny Was To Rob Or Steal, By Mazi Anayo Nwosu

By Anayo M. Nwosu

This particular meeting was an extraordinary one and a solution must be found. 

How wouldn't the whole Nnewi town be able to "meminaa" or "liquidate" a mere thief or robber? A thief that had held the town by the jugular. 

Mazi Anayo Nwosu

Uruagu his village, had approached the entire authorities in Nnewi, both spiritual and temporal, to help it handle the embarrassing menace of Ukpabi Ohame, the invincible thief.

The other three obis (or heads) of the cardinal villages in Nnewi namely Uruagu, Umudim and Nnewichi were all seated at the Okwu Oyo (i.e. the meeting place for an Nnewi-wide assembly) waiting for the head of Otolo village and the ruler of Nnewi to arrive.

Okwu Oyo was located beside Ikedife Specialist Hospital on Igwe Orizu road; its location is also separated by a footpath from the popular Con-Vaj Event Centre & Suites, Okpuno Otolo Nnewi.

That same venue was where the man called Nnewi lived and as such, the large expanse of land within Okwu Oyo precincts is called Okpuno till today.

Having succeeded his father as Obi, a man called Otolo Digbo inherited the Okwu Oyo and adjoining lands known today as Okpuno Otolo.

The word "Okpuno" means the "first settlement" of a people, village or town. The first family unit starts in an Okpuno and later expands to other continuous or contiguous areas.

Invited to this meeting were the chief priests of all the major Nnewi deities like Ana, Edo, Ezemewi, Uzukpe, Ogwugwu, Udo etc. They all came with their "nkuku" or their symbols of authority.

Once the head of Otolo village arrived, the meeting would be called to order.

But, the Obi of Otolo, Chief Orizu, was still young and his functions were being performed by his uncle, the legendary Chief Ezeodumegwu, whose aura was greater than obiship and was more accepted as the ruler of Nnewi than the regent he was.

Ezeodumegwu (who was the last field marshal or Onuo Ora in Nnewi) was the one entitled to dress in awe-striking regalia with "ikpo naasato" (i.e. eight small bells) visibly strapped to his chasuble.

The disconcordant sounds of the eight bells announced the presence of the leader of Otolo and the meeting was called to order immediately after he took his seat.

Obi Uruagu stood to address the meeting.

He reiterated his request that Nnewi help cage or liquidate the Ukpabi Ohame, the thief and one of his subjects, who had defied all traps or efforts to kill him or scare him away into exile.

Though Ukpabi served Uruagu well during the long wars the village waged, he had now transformed into to a nightmare to his people.

During Uruagu's wars with its enemies, the availability of the spoils of war saturated Ukpabi's propensity to rob or steal.

The whiteman had outlawed inter and intra community or town wars following the submission of Nnewi traditional authority to the government of Major Moorehouse and his masters overseas in 1905.

A treaty was signed same year and Nnewi men were forced to submit their dane guns to the whiteman, who destroyed them in the presence of the elders of the town.

In absence of wars and its spoils, Ukpabi had to return to his natural calling, which was robbery.

Being that Ukpabi was very hefty and over 7-foot tall, direct confrontation was suicidal because he could throw a man as javelin.

Only careful ensnaring plots could be used to trap and liquidate him.

None of the devices so far applied had been successful.

The disturbing trend that made Uruagu to report his matter to Nnewi was not Ukpabi's invincibility or his ability to trample on a poisonous preparation aimed at killing him emerge unscathed, but that Ukpabi would notify his victims of his intention to rob them and would arrive at the time he promised, empty the victims' yam barns and goat pens and leaving without hassles.

Ukpabi could rob the ordinary citizens and feared native doctors alike without repercussions. No evil weapons fashioned against prospered.

"This Ukpabi must be a special breed", one of the chiefs' intoned.

There was a growing belief in the town that a certain deity, not any of the ancestors, reincarnated Ukpabi because, no normal human being could be that invincible.

Ukpabi wasn't the first criminal to be dealt with but was the only one that had defied all known liquidating solutions, more especially in Uruagu with the largest concentration of powerful native doctors in Nnewi.

The meeting resolved that since subterranean and spiritual means to curtail or liquidate Ukpabi had failed, that the town should conserve its remaining integrity by negotiating with Ukpabi and to reach certain agreements with him.

It was also resolved that a delegation would be sent to Ukpabi  to persuade him to subject himself to "igba agu" which is special divination performed by a seer or "ogba afa" to ascertain who amongst the ancestors reincarnated him.

When a young man began to show signs of deviance, he would be subjected to "Igba agu" to find out who or what reincarnated him. The findings would guide the native doctor and his relatives to know which type of "aja" (i.e. sacrifice) or "ilu agwu" (i.e. appeasement) to make to get the young man behave normally.

Though all those imbued with powers to tell the future, cure all manner of sickness and those who prepare both the good or evil charms were categorized as native doctors, only few of them have the access codes to the ancestral register or data base to ascertain who amongst the ancestors or gods returned by way of reincarnation.

The choice of Ikukuebumkpu (called "Ikuku" for short) to do the divination or "igba agu" was unanimous amongst Nnewi body of native doctors.

Each of them knew how far any of them could see into the spirit world.

At the appointed date, Ikuku, the "ogbaa agu" or "the reincarnation diviner"  was in his elements.

With all his accoutrements set in their various positions, Ikuku threw his cowries on his mat as if he was casting a dice in a ludo game.

He was at the same time chanting what only him could interpret, as today's born-again christians do.

Quite uncharacteristically, Ikuku was taking longer time to deliver until he was observed to be discussing with an invisible being.

He was not faking anything.

"Muo nyolu Ukpabi" meaning that "Ukpabi was reincarnated by a deity" and no man can kill, hurt or stop him. He was born to be a thief", Ikuku announced and rolled his mat, tucked his operations materials into his goat skin bag and left.

He would not entertain any questions.

The chief priest of Edo deity who had always known this fact about Ukpabi but feared that nobody would believe him was then emboldened to confirm what everybody had just been told; swearing by the deity he worshipped that Ikuku was right in his divination.

"Ukpabi abuluna odudu bedolu n'amu" meaning  that 'Ukpabi has now become like a bug that perched on a man's  scrotum'", one of the chiefs said with a sense of resignation.

But Chief Ezeodumegwu advised a cautious approach.

He said that "aya atukpunu ifeaa alo" meaning that "this matter needs a critical consideration before its solution could be found".

He then requested for a meeting at the same venue the next Eke market day, but that only the cardinal villages should be in attendance.

At the rescheduled meeting, it was agreed that Ukpabi's issue be managed carefully to preserve law and order in the town otherwise, the rate of impunity would skyrocket as the youth would no longer fear the fearables.

As further agreed, Ukpabi was to be summoned and would be made to swear an oath that he would never rob or steal within Nnewi town but was free to ply his trade in other neighboring towns like Ichi, Oraifite, Nnobi, Utu, Amichi, Ukpor and Ozubulu.

Ukpabi gratuitously agreed and was determined to comply with the treaty to a great relief of the leaders of the town.

Town criers were made to go round the town and announce that Ukpabi was no longer a thief; that anybody who referred to him as such or insulted him by calling him a thief or a robber would be fined.

"What a marvelous way for one's town to respect one's trade!", Ukpabi felt.

With mind at rest, Ukpabi horned his trade and even formed a gang who carried out successful operations in the neighboring towns.

But he never killed anybody while stealing. His God had forbidden him from shedding human blood except in self defense or at war front.

He even got married and lived a normal life as today's Nigerian politicians do with their loots.

It then happened that there was one Mr. Afunanyekwe, a colonial police corporal from Nnobi who heard of the heroics of Ukpabi Ohame and boasted publicly that he could burst him.

Ukpabi initially laughed off the police officer's threat but later decided to teach him a lesson of his life.

He sent a message to the police man that he would be coming to rob him in his village house on a particular day and at a particular time.

"What a mendacious audacity?", Corporal Afunanyekwe bellowed.

But as days passed by, the superior reasoning that "you should never take any threat from a criminal for granted" forced the police man to get prepared and was determined more than ever before to help Nnewi liquidate their famous thief.

"I'm sure of being promoted if I succeed in the dealing with Ukpabi", Cpl Afunanyekwe motivated himself.

He sought for assistance from his zonal command at Onitsha and received about six officers to guard his house for two days before and after the D-day.

He even conducted a mock exercise with his officers on how to catch robbers in his compound.

A corporal in the colonial police was a high ranking officer in the Southeastern Protectorate.

Only Sgt. Anuligo of Umuenem Otolo and Cpl Charles Enumah of Okpuno Nnewichi were superior to Cpl Afunanyekwe within neighbouring 20 towns to Nnewi.

Cpl Afunanyekwe's house was located on the Anuka-Nnobi- Awka Etiti road, two houses before the border between Nnewi and Nnobi.

As with other loud-mouthed victims before him, every human being within and around the perimeter fence of Afunanyekwe's compound fell into a deep slumber thirty minutes before Ukpabi and his gang arrived.

Ukpabi had sent "Ediura" ( i.e. a slumber sleep inducing charm) to Corporal Afunanyekwe and his guards. It was "surface-to-air" missile.

Upon arrival, Ukpabi personally collected the double-barreled gun Cpl Afunanayekwe was holding in his hands while snoring on his seat at a corner of his house which had a clear view of the entrance way; his supposed commanding position.

Other police officers were artfully discovered and their guns collected from them while they were deep at sleep.

Ukpabi wanted to leave an indelible foot print to teach the impetuous police officer a lesson.

He asked his boys to kill the biggest of the goats in the pen of their "host" and make a pepper soup right at the centre of the "host's" compound.

Ingredients were sourced from their victim's kitchen.

Not done, Ukpabi's commanded his gang to cook beans found in Cpl Afunanyekwe's house.

Food done, they feasted and scattered bones and the leftovers on the ground for not-so-observant to notice that a feast took place.

Killing of a goat, cooking beans and eating same in their victim's house was very significant.

It was a sign of total humiliation and a show of superiority that would make the victim appreciate how conveniently Ukpabi would have killed him, members of his family and his protectors.

Ukpabi just wanted to prove a point. Nothing more.

He and his gang did not leave Cpl Afunanyekwe's house with a pin, except the goat pepper soup and beans in their stomachs.

Before leaving, Ukpabi neatly packed the guns seized from his "host" and his colleagues and dropped them in a nearby farm, few meters away from fence of Cpl Afunanyekwe's compound where they could easily be found.

Having reached his house in Uruagu, a distance of about one and half hours, Ukpabi removed his "Oji" (i.e. a sharp edged staff) he stabbed into the ground to release the Nnobi policeman and his household from sleep.

Cpl Afunanyekwe's wife and children woke up in the next morning very fresh and could not remember the last time they slept as deeply as they did in the night.

That Cpl Afunanyekwe was humiliated was not his immediate concern when he woke up and noticed that his house had been turned upside down, but the disappearance of his service gun.

What explanation would he give to his superiors?

He could be tried for cowardice as the whiteman would not understand that he and his officers were made to sleep on duty.

Afunanyekwe, a full Corporal in the Royal British Colonial Police Force, was in this state of confusion when one of his lieutenants combing the nearby bush shouted "Oga, I have found them; the guns are complete sir!" as if that was the reason why he came to Nnobi.

The police officers agreed to deny that Ukpabi visited.

What was the impact of a loss of a common goat and few cups of beans when compared to a heavy dent an acknowledgement of Ukpabi's visit would do to their careers?

Since the foundation of Nnewi was laid, there has never been a thief or robber so respected, awe-striking and successful as Ukpabi Ohame.

It was believed by many that the god that reincarnated Ukpabi and made him a thief equipped him with all the robbery facilitating tools that he needed to succeed in his calling.