Bellview Plane Crash: Villagers Pay Levy to Appease the Gods
George Akpayen
Idu Agorua
Rita Smith (Lagos)
Segun Adeleye (Abeokuta)
Daily Independent
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Lagos (Nigeria):
Residents of Lisa village, Ogun State, where the Bellview plane crashed on October 22, have resorted to paying a N1,000 levy per family to fund certain rituals with the aim of cleansing the community.Village Head, Sadiku Odugbesan, said the decision is necessary because of the urgency of the matter. “We are the ones who live here. We are the ones who know what we see and experience since the plane crash. Our people are apprehensive. Life here since the crash has not been the same. A lot of things are happening here and if we don’t urgently appease the gods to ward off the consequences of that crash on our land, a lot of things would go wrong with our people”, he stated on Wednesday.
“The amount of blood and the violent way those people died are not normal. To cap it all, none of them was given a proper burial because there is simply no corpse to bury. The consequences of such manner of deaths in the community are usually too heavy to contemplate.”
Odugbesan explained that even if the government accedes to the request for a N2 million compensation to carry out the ritual, “it could take long in coming because of the bureaucracy associated with the process and release of such money.“If the money comes, we would be glad but we cannot wait for it before carrying out the cleansing because of the strange things happening in our land. A lot of the villagers are afraid and cannot go out at night. Some say they find it very difficult to get a decent sleep at night because of strange movements.”
He is positive that the ritual would help rest the souls of the departed and drive away the strange beings awakened by the gruesome death of the passengers.
Nov 03, 2005
George Akpayen
Idu Agorua
Rita Smith (Lagos)
Segun Adeleye (Abeokuta)
Daily Independent
______________
Lagos (Nigeria):
Residents of Lisa village, Ogun State, where the Bellview plane crashed on October 22, have resorted to paying a N1,000 levy per family to fund certain rituals with the aim of cleansing the community.Village Head, Sadiku Odugbesan, said the decision is necessary because of the urgency of the matter. “We are the ones who live here. We are the ones who know what we see and experience since the plane crash. Our people are apprehensive. Life here since the crash has not been the same. A lot of things are happening here and if we don’t urgently appease the gods to ward off the consequences of that crash on our land, a lot of things would go wrong with our people”, he stated on Wednesday.
“The amount of blood and the violent way those people died are not normal. To cap it all, none of them was given a proper burial because there is simply no corpse to bury. The consequences of such manner of deaths in the community are usually too heavy to contemplate.”
Odugbesan explained that even if the government accedes to the request for a N2 million compensation to carry out the ritual, “it could take long in coming because of the bureaucracy associated with the process and release of such money.“If the money comes, we would be glad but we cannot wait for it before carrying out the cleansing because of the strange things happening in our land. A lot of the villagers are afraid and cannot go out at night. Some say they find it very difficult to get a decent sleep at night because of strange movements.”
He is positive that the ritual would help rest the souls of the departed and drive away the strange beings awakened by the gruesome death of the passengers.
Nov 03, 2005
