‘They forced me to drink water from corpse, burnt my house’ – Ebonyi widow seeks justice

Mrs. Nnennaya Donatus-Chukwu, a 65-year-old widow and mother of eleven children, recounts how members of her community tortured her and forced her to drink dirty water retrieved from washing the armpit and manhood of a deceased person.

The incident occurred in the Mebiokpa Amaeke Okposi community in the Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

The woman in distress, is calling on the government, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders in the state to intervene and deliver justice while she is still alive.

According to her, the treatment inflicted upon her and two others by the community’s youths, over the alleged killing of her husband’s nephew through witchcraft, is inhumane. She insists she is innocent of the accusations.

Mrs. Donatus-Chukwu and the two other elders were beaten, tortured, and forced to take an oath of innocence by drinking the water used to wash the corpse of the deceased man. Additionally, their family home was looted and set on fire by the youths, as was the home of her first son. They were subsequently excommunicated and banished from the community until the next new yam festival, when they hoped to be vindicated by surviving the oath.

Tribune Online reported that the deceased, Innocent Chukwu, died in a road accident while traveling home to continue constructing his house.

However, Mrs. Donatus-Chukwu and the two other elders were accused of his death due to their earlier objection to his choice of building site, which was too close to their family deity.

The elderly woman explained that they had advised the late man to relocate the family deity before building his house, but he had bluntly opposed their suggestion. She expressed disbelief at being accused of killing someone who died far away in the city while she was in the village processing palm fruits on that day.

Narrating her ordeal, Donatus-Chukwu said, “I was behind my house in the village where I was processing some palm fruits into palm oil on 21st February 2025 when a multitude of youths invaded our compound chatting war songs started destructing everything within their sight. I hid myself but they later found me and beat me blue-black with accusation of causing the death of Innocent Chukwu in collaboration with two others through witchcraft.

“The protesting youths looted and destroyed everything in both our family compound and that of my first son, stressing that since Innocent will not be alive to live in his house we will not have house to live. I thank God my children were not at home because they would have been killed. Before now I had no quarrel with Innocent, the mother or anybody. The more I tried to explain that I am innocent of the accusations, the more they beat me.

“After some time, I was taken to our traditional ruler who blamed the youths for beating me and destroying my family belongings. He advised them to hand us over to Police at Obiozara for in-depth investigations and prosecution in the court of law but they refused. Rather they took me and the other two persons back to our compound where they washed the dead man’s armpits, reproductive organs, mouth and face added four kola nuts and forced us to drink the water to prove our innocence. After the oath, they banished us out of the community till after our next new yam festival, if we are still alive.

“I plead with the State Government, Wife of Ebonyi State Governor, Mrs Mary Nwifuru; NGOs, National Human Rights Commission, Human Rights activists, Security agencies, Association of Women Lawyers, Association of Women Journalists and all people of goodwill to help me get justice. They accused me of killing someone who died in a road accident in the city the same day and time I was preparing palm oil in my rural village. Since then I had been on admission at the hospital,” the victim lamented.

On his part, the first son of the victim, Elder Ogbonnaya Donatus regretted that the youths also went to his personal compound and destroyed properties worth about fifty million naira for alleged witchcraft perpetuated by his mother.

“I call on both state and federal government to intervene in this issues because my property destroyed is not less than fifty million naira (N50,000,000.00) despite that am not one of those directly accused of the alleged witchcraft.

Dr. Leo Igwe, the founder of the Critical Thinking and Social Empowerment Foundation, condemned the wanton destruction of property and the inhumane treatment of individuals accused of witchcraft-related killings.

He called on security agencies to conduct thorough investigations and prosecute those responsible, promising to follow up on the matter until justice is served.

READ MORE FROM: NIGERIAN TRIBUNE