A man, Ozoemene Mboli has recounted his encounter with a snake belonging to a deity in his village.
He said the snake encamped in his house for God knows how long, and moved inside his village house' ceiling.
In his words:
This snake is not an ordinary snake. It has lived in my house for very long; I don't know. I just came back from Onitsha for my grandmother's burial. It's close to a year since I visited my village. The last time being 2020 December.
At night, I discovered the unceasing movement in my ceiling. The noise was that of hissing, rumbling and then silence. As frequent as it was patterned. I was the only one at home. Didn't come with my family. I had sprayed insecticide earlier in the day. Sincerely, I was afraid.
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Each time I tried clipping my eyes to sleep, the noise and movements started over. I was forced by fear and curiosity to break the part of the ceiling I heard the noise from. When I broke the ceiling open, I tried pipping through the opening to see what it was. I held my torch in one hand and with the other hand, I held the ceiling for my support.
However, I didn't see anything, not even a rat. I came back to my bed and immediately, the rumbling sound and movements started over as if it waited for me to get to my bed.
It was frustrating as I needed to sleep after the hectic journey from Onitsha to Enugu.
I thought about the snake of our extinct masquerade "Odo" in my village. The snakes of this deity are always as mysterious as a lake; it would appear now and disappear in next second. Those who know Affa, Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State, might know about the Odo masquerade. But the shrines of the Odo deity have been destroyed throughout my village.
My battle with this thing continued until 3:00 A.M when a thought came inside of me.
I went to my motorcycle to check if I could get petrol from it. I had left it since a year ago. Indeed, I got half a litre. I went to the opening and sprinkled the petrol.
A few minutes after, the war started, the hide and seek ended. The rumbling and tumbling became unstoppable. I climbed and glared into the ceiling, then I saw this giant snake already weakened by the petrol.
It's exactly the snake of the deity. I walked out of the room into the compound lawns. Everything I sighted appeared hauntingly, in the physique and nature of the snake. The goosebumps that showered my skin was its evidence, my swollen-like head marked my fear.
The thought of a Singaporean woman swallowed by a Python haunted me as much as the one I am faced with, in my own house.
What I know is that whether the Odo deity has taken refuge in this snake, its potency could not withstand mere petrol.
I walked cautiously, avoiding stepping on anything; they were snakes in disguise ( my mind told me). I picked up a log of wood after proper check had been given to it to know if it were a snake. Whoever saw the way I was walking at that awkward time of the night/morning, will definitely tell the story of my being a ritualist or a juju man.
I went back to the room, clambered with difficulty and pipped with trepidation, fearful rather than faithful shouts of "Jesus Christ" were frequent in my mouth as surging emotion ran torrent in me.
Interestingly, the supposed deity's snake did what it was known for: disappeared from where it was before I went to pick the log of wood.
Stories were told in the past that whoever killed or attempted killing the snake of the deity, challenged the gods to a bout. The gods killed him and killed everything from his loins.
My legs became shaky as my trebling hands which held my torch and the other which supported me. The urge to open my mouth and cry out my fear was impulsive but strength to do so has been drained by the ravaging fear in me.
I had resigned to fate when I noticed a wavy movement between a piece of 2 by 2 wood and a side of the walls. A closer look revealed that it was the gods in disguise, panting heavily as the reeking smell of the petrol was suffocating it.
Finally, I punctured the side of the ceiling it took refuge and it helplessly crash landed on the floor. The wood which I had picked outside and which I had used in puncturing the ceiling, secured the needed victory for me. Several landing of the wood on it, despite its unresisting, sealed the fate of the gods in disguise.
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