A serious face-off now looms between the monarch of Emure, a community in Ekiti State, the Elemure, Oba Emmanuel Adebayo, and the law of Nigeria, over the royal father’s order, banishing a widow, Mrs. Lawrencia Adefemi, from the community.
Oba Adebayo, a retired Police Commissioner and his chiefs, are accusing Lawrencia of being a witch, saying she recently turned to a black goat; and as such, she was driven her out of the town.
But an embattled Lawrencia, 48, has insisted she is no watch, saying she was driven out of town because she declined to swear at the palace shrine. She said “swearing before other lesser gods” is against the tenet of her faith as a Christian.
Already, however, various human rights groups and lawyers in the country are bracing up for a legal battle with Adebayo, who was once a Commissioner of Police in Lagos. A legal practitioner, Olu Adebuwa, has described the Oba’s action as “barbaric, beastly, illegal, criminal and ungodly.”
In tow, an embattled Lawrencia has sought the intervention of human rights activists across the country, to come to her aid in seeking justice for unlawful detention, illegal banishment and injustice meted to her by the traditional council of Emure-Ekiti Kingdom, amounting to traditional harmful practice.
Speaking with sharpedgenews.com in Akure, Ondo State capital, Lawrencia said that the traditional ruler and the traditional council of the town had ordered her banishment from the town based on an unconfirmed allegation of witchcraft.
Lawrencia said her plight started some four years ago when she lost her husband of more than 20 years, Adefemi Famodumu, who she claimed left many properties that can cater for the two wives and their children left behind. Unfortunately for the children and their mothers, the extended family of the late Adefemi took over the properties of the late man without considering the welfare of the children and their mothers, putting one Isaac Famodumu in charge ofthe properties left behind by the late Adefemi.
But surprising to Lawrencia, her only son from the wedlock, Ilesanmi, 22, was not catered for, while the family representative always rise up to provide for the needs of the other wife. This made Lawrencia inform other family members about the, situation, saying “this is the only son I have for my late husband and when I could no longer cater for his education alone again, I had to run to other family members to inform them about my predicament, but when they summoned us to a meeting, Isaac colluded with the other wife and her children not to honour the meeting.
“When I decided to confront him and pleaded with him to help my son who is now in Federal University of Technology Akure, (FUTA) so that he could also further his education, I was beaten blue and black and was admitted in a hospital for three days. I reported the case at the
police station and also sought the intervention of the Emure traditional council in resolving the matter but the case never came up as Isaac used his influence to sway the judgment in his favour,” she claimed.
Lawrencia in tears, said further, “To my amazement, last month, I was summoned by the traditional council of Emure Ekiti, alleging me of witchcraft and being responsible for the sickness of Isaac’s wife, Gbemisola. I was also accused of turning into a black goat, causing serious accident in which Isaac was seriously injured when he was going to the traditional chiefs to report my misdeed.
“But all my life, I have been a born-again Christian and I have never had cause to hatch evil plan against my fellow human being”
The caretaker of the Famodimu properties, Isaac, reported the case to the traditional council who ordered that Lawrencia be brought before them and dragged her to a shrine to swear an oath to absolve her from Isaac’s claims. But Lawrencia objected, claiming that her belief and religious doctrine would not allow such. She said, “I have been a Christian all my life and would not ever think of standing before a lesser god much less swear in its shrine”.
She was, however, given a three-day ultimatum to come before the shrine and was simultaneously restricted to her house, which she said she disobeyed by going to market. She also disclosed that she was given the beating of her life by one of the palace guards violating the chiefs’ order and the law of the land.
She was subsequently arrested and kept in police custody for three days before she was granted bail to Barrister Pius Daoudu, from Akure. Though the traditional council threatened that she should not be released, when eventually they were made to realise that they are trampling on
the freedom of the woman, which the country frowns at, they pronounced the woman banished from the town, Emure Ekiti. She was given a nine-day ultimatum after which they forced her out of the town last Wednesday.
She has since then been living in a church in Akure, Ondo State.
According to the widow’s brother, Paul
Ogunsina, the humiliation the woman had been subjected to was a plot of the family of her sister’s late husband and the traditional chiefs. He said that four of the high chiefs in Emure Ekiti stood their ground that the woman should come before the shrine to swear an oath
or remain banished.
The Paramount ruler of the Emure Ekiti town, Adebayo confirmed the story of Lawrencia’s banishment. The traditional ruler, in a telephone chat with sharpedgenews.com said that tradition and religion are two separate entities, saying the tradition of the
town must be protected and respected. He maintained that the woman must be brought before the shrine to prove her innocence, and to show that she is diabolical.
He stressed that as the traditional head of the town, protecting the tradition of the town is one of his duties which he had pledged to safeguard during his installation as the king of
the town.
The monarch, who was a retired police commissioner, said the banishment would be lifted immediately the woman agreed to perform the swearing.
He said further that nobody is infringing on the freedom of Lawrencia but said “the native and traditional practice must be protected; I am a former police officer and understand laws but tradition must not be molested too.”
Oba Adebayo added: “I am a Christian myself, I swore before the gods before I ascended the throne; it is a normal practice here, every traditional chief must swear an oath before the gods at their installation. The woman in question is very stubborn and lacks discipline. She was confined to her home by the traditional chiefs but failed to observe the order and disobeyed tradition.
“When confronted by the palace guard, she tore the man’s cloth. Can you see the extent
she exhibits her rudeness to tradition?
“We are not restraining her from the town once she is ready to swear before the gods; Christianity on one hand and tradition on the other hand. She can take her Christianity to somewhere else; here, tradition must be respected. She should go back home, learn how to respect tradition, authority and elders, we are Christians too,” the monarch defended.
But Lawrencia maintained she would not succumb to the request of the traditional chiefs, saying “the Lord God I serve would definitely fight for me. All ’am asking my late husband family to do is to cater for the needs and education of my son, I cannot do it all alone because of
the finances involved; I am not financially okay but I know if they refuse to help me, the God serve will surely vindicate me. Men can be bought but the good God I served cannot be bought,” she said.