However, the News Agency of Nigeria today reports that a local chief in Ondo State known as Moses Enimade has explained the “mystery” behind a strange and unknown killer disease. The Oyewoga of Ode Irele in Ondo State, said the disease came as punishment for the “sacrilege” committed against Molokun, the local deity in the area. Mr. Enimade who is next in command to the Oba, Cornelius Olanrewaju-Lebi said some stubborn youth broke into the inner room of the Molokun shrine on April 15.
His words; “Molokun is a deity of the land,” he said. “Only the Chief Priest and High Chief Gboguron are qualified to enter the shrine. They were not qualified to enter the (shrine),” he said. “They had to face the death penalty.”
According to him, there is no community or town without its own culture and tradition. He said what happened in Irele was the judgement of the gods on the youth.
“Even the Kabiesi himself is not permitted to enter the Molokun Shrine’s inner room except the Chief Priest and High Chief Gboguron. Sacrifice must be performed before they can enter. Because these youths want to be rich at all costs, they entered the sacred place and made away with traditional items and 20 of them have died as a result of their desperate acts,” he said. “We have to appease the gods or else many will still die and we have to bury them according to tradition. Their corpses belong to the gods and will be exhumed if buried by their families.”
The death caused by Molokun is characterized by severe headache and blindness,” he said. “Proverbs 29:1 in the Bible say: `He that had been reproved and hardened his neck shall suddenly be destroyed without remedy; so youths of nowadays must be careful.’”
Moreover, some residents of the area have appealed to the chief priest to make the necessary atonement to avert calamity in the town. They said news of the deaths had given the town and state a bad name.
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