Teenager causes stir in secondary school with effigy, arrested

A 17-year-old boy, Chukwu Chijioke, has been arrested by policemen at Sanyo Division of the Oyo State Police Command, for allegedly trying to hypnotise a male SSS2 student of St Luke’s College, Molete, Ibadan, within the school premises.

The suspect was also caught with an effigy, a piece of smelly rag suspected to be charmed and other items which were put in a polythene bag.
Crime Reports gathered that a teacher in the school noticed the suspect at about 12 noon with the student kneeling in front of him while he was chanting some incantations.

It was learnt that the teacher’s intervention saved the day for the student as no one knew what could have happened to him.
The student, who gave his name as Mutiu Ahmed, said the suspect beckoned at him when he was returning to class after short break.

He added that Chijoke asked him of one Taiye whose surname he didn’t know. He asked me to lead him to JSS2 block.”
Ahmed stated further that on the way, the suspect told him he wanted to pick his belongings in the bush within the school. “I saw him as he picked a polythene bag. I saw a rag and a pair of slippers but I did not see the effigy.

“When we got a class that was no longer in use, he asked me to wait as he wanted to do something. He then asked me bend down when he saw a teacher coming from afar. He also bent down and started chanting in a language I did not understand after he brought the effigy out,” the student told Crime Reports.

Unknown to the suspect however, he had already been noticed by the teacher and it was gathered that he was handed over to the police when he could not offer any explanation on his presence in the school and his intention.

The 17-year-old suspect, who said he is from Awka village in Ozar Local Government area of Anambra State, however stated that the effigy was given to his brother by his grandfather to ward off evil. He gave the name of the effigy as Ezembinafor which he translated as king wey e dey for belle (a king inside the stomach).

He added that he was in St Luke’s College to buy a phone from a student called Taiye, saying that he intended to use the effigy to make the boy agree to any price he would want to buy the phone.
Confirming the story, the Police Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Ilobanafor, said that the suspect would be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Iyaganku for further investigation.