Witchcraft Suspect Lynched

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Witchcraft Suspect Lynched, 2 Others Wounded

Youths in Kokaka Village, Konye Sub-division, recently murdered one person and inflicted serious wounds on two others, following the death of one Solomon Nasako suspected to have been killed by three elders through witchcraft.

One of the victims, John Etuke, died in the course of the battle, while Paul Musima and Boniface Bamai, who were seriously wounded, are lying at the Presbyterian Hospital Manyemen.


The Genesis

Recounting the story to The Post at Kokaka, one of the villagers, Jonas Ekoe, said, Kokaka has been notorious for practising witchcraft for several years. He recalled that five years ago, about 30 children between the ages of six months to two years were killed in a space of one week in the village.

Ekoe said the families of the children found out from a herbalist, that Boniface Bamai was the brain behind the killings.

In last June, Ekoe continued, four pupils from the Kokaka Community Primary School were noted for performing mystical acts in the school. He said the children were brought to the village square, to explain their strange behaviour.

The children reportedly explained that Bamai initiated them into witchcraft through food he offered them.

Ekoe said the children revealed that since then, they have been holding spiritual meetings at midnight with Bamai and other elderly people in the village.

The children told the villagers that they have initiated many other children into their society.

This incident, Ekoe stated, led to the closure of the school. The children were all taken to a native doctor for treatment. He also said when the villagers questioned Bamai, he confessed having initiated the children.

Another villager, Cosmas Ebune, explained that about 20 youths, who called themselves "ECOMOG Boys", decided to burn Bamai to death in order to eliminate witchcraft from the village.

Ebune said Bamai was brought to the village square and tyres put round his body, but the Divisional Officer for Konye Sub-division, Michael Bongwa Makebeh, immediately intervened and rescued Bamai.

Ebune said the DO promised to charge Bamai to court, since he had evidence from the children's testimony.

"But, to our greatest dismay," Ebune said, "Bamai was released some months later and he returned to the village."

When Bamai returned to Kokaka, Ebune said, he formed a group of wizards, and they decided to kill all the ECOMOG Boys, who wanted him dead.

Bamai's first victim, Ebune revealed, was Solomon Nasako, one of the ECOMOG Boys who died on October 22.

He said Nasako was coming from the farm that day when he met a friend transporting cocoa from his oven to a vehicle waiting nearby. After helping the friend with two bags of cocoa, Nasako fell on the third bag, which was rather small.

Nasako was rushed to the Kumba District Hospital, where he died the following day.

When the villagers realised that Nasako's death was unnatural, they went to native doctor in Barombi Kotto Village, who reportedly revealed that Nasako's spirit told him he had been killed by Bamai, Etuke and Musima; and that 15 others were on a list to be killed by these men within two weeks.

The Fight

When Nasako's corpse was removed from the mortuary on October 29, the ECOMOG Boys came out with broken bottles, machetes and spears, ready to kill the three men, who allegedly murdered him.

Ebune recounted that the first person the boys met was John Etuke. He said they wounded Etuke around his neck and head and cut off one of his ears.

Ebune said the ECOMOG Boys caught Bamai in a beer parlour, pierced his eyes, and cut him to the point of death.

Meanwhile, Ebune said Musima was hit with a pestle and pierced with a spear, while those with machetes inflicted cuts on his body.

Amongst the three, Ebune said, only Etuke died some hours later, meanwhile Musima and Bamai were taken to the Presbyterian Hospital, Manyemen, all in a coma.

When The Post visited the victims at the hospital, none of them could speak. Moses Elondo, son of Paul Musima, said his father's head and brain had been damaged. He said he was quite sure his father would not survive.

Elondo said that from childhood, he has never known his father to be a wizard, nor has he discovered strange behaviours in him.

Arrival Of Gendarmes

Collins Itoe, another villager, told The Post that when the ECOMOG Boys were beating the suspects, mourners who had come from near and far to condole with Nasako's family fled.

Itoe said the mourners packed bunches of plantains, bags of water fufu, pots of half boiled rice, pigs and jugs of palm wine inside a vehicle and disappeared as a unit of gendarmes entered the village.

As the gendarmes entered the village, the villagers ran into the farms for safety. Some of them took cover in cocoa ovens and farmhouses.

The Post gathered that the gendarmes chased the villagers right into the forest and arrested many of them.

Itoe said some of them succeeded in bailing themselves with FCFA 50,000; meanwhile others have been taken to the Gendarmerie office in Kumba.

Chieftaincy Dispute

Most villagers who spoke to The Post said Kokaka has been divided into two camps for two years, since the death of their Chief, Michael Ekuke.

They said Ekuke's successor, John Adama, was also killed.

They said Aduma, the person who was to succeed Adama had been rejected by some villagers on the claim that he cannot bring development to Kokaka.

This situation, they said, has split the village into camps that kill each other. They said this state of affairs have thrown Kokaka into witchcraft compounded by illiteracy, theft and insubordination to administration.

DO Speaks

Bongwa Makebeh, the DO for Konye Sub-Division, told The Post that he has arrested many youths like Samuel Soaka, David Obase, Joseph Mokaba Itoe and Augustine Ngoe.

Bongwa explained that the "principal suspects," Chrisantus Mebuka and Sakwe Bolo are still on the run. He said the security forces are working hard to trace and arrest them.

Bongwa also told The Post that when Bamai was almost burnt in June, he had warned and cautioned the inhabitants of Kokaka not to mete out jungle justice on suspects. He said he told them to allow the administration to handle the matter.

Bongwa also said that he had intended to bring Bamai to justice, by charging him to court.

He, however, regretted that some politicians intervened while Bamai was at the Judicial Police awaiting trial and got him released.

The DO also regretted that the Kokaka population overreacted by killing a man and leaving two others in coma.

He said he is trying to restore calm in the village by getting all the suspects arrested. He said he is already arranging for consultative meetings with all the chiefs in Konye Sub-division and Kokaka inhabitants so that the chieftaincy dispute can be resolved and a new chief designated.

"I think with a leader, the villagers can be controlled, since the DO cannot rule the village from the Sub-divisional headquarters," Bongwa said.