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Abigail Nwajei whose son, Nnamdi, tried to murder two days to 2010 on an allegation that a church revealed that she was behind his misfortune, has left hospital. Emmanuel Onyeche writes her near tragic story.

Abigail Nwajei

Although Mrs. Abigail Nwajei, whose son, Nnamdi,attempted to murder by slicing off her throat two days to 2010, has left hospital, the scars of that near tragic experience may never leave her.

At 50, four of her front teeth are gone - knocked off with her son's hammer - and the scars of the attack, though healed, run rings round her neck.

"I took five pints of blood to stay alive", she told our correspondent at her Ajangbadi resident in Lagos last Tuesday, a claim confirmed by a doctor at Goodness Hospital in the same suburb. The doctor simply gave his name as Durotimi. "We had to call in a dentist to fix the aspect concerning her teeth", Durotimi added.

Nnamdi, 22, a 2006/2007 Accountancy graduate of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, had allegedly attempted to murder his mother with a hammer and a knife on December 30 last year, accusing her of being behind the misfortunes of her children.

After policemen attached to the Ilemba Hausa Division of the Lagos State Command had arrested him, he said while being paraded on January 5 this year that he approached his mother for, "a mother to son talk" following numerous revelations in a branch of Mountain of Fire and Miracle church, Lagos, which he did not give its location. He said that the church revealed that his mother was responsible for his misfortune.

"I wanted to talk to her to let her see reason why she should release us, her children, from bondage, especially as we enter the new year. But she started shouting. I picked up a knife to scare her and she took a hammer. I snatched it from her and used it on her. I did not plan to kill her.

Things happened so fast. I regret my action and I blame myself for taking the church revelations seriously," he said.

But Nwajei said, "The incident happened at 8.30pm. He came in hailing me 'Malee' (a corruption of 'mother' used mostly by people from the Niger Delta region of the country to hail their mothers). He was demanding food and searching every where. There was no power supply and he went and put on the generator. It was at the same time that I was also ready to eat so I brought out food for the two of us.

"He did not touch the food but suddenly pounced on me and started attacking me with the knife. He wanted to stab me with it but I prevented that with my hand. I was shouting for help and mentioning his name but I guess people did not hear me because of the noisy generator. He was much stronger and when he had overpowered me, he started slicing my throat with the knife. He also brought out a hammer from his pocket and hit me on the head several times with it. That was all I could remember until I found myself in the hospital," she said.

Nwajei's saviour was Festus, a motorcycle rider, who she graciously accommodated in a room in her house.

Festus said, "I came around but saw that the gate was locked from inside. I heard shouts but I thought it was a church pastor praying for Mama. I peeped through a hole and saw a figure moving. From the hand that I saw, I knew it was a young man. I concluded it was a thief and started shouting and neighbours were attracted".

By the time they got to Nwajei, Nnamdi had scaled the fence and bolted. She was found in the pool of her blood and passed out after she had managed to reveal that it was her son that had attacked her. Festus and her neighbours rushed her to Goodness Hospital where she went through tremendous pain and trauma trying to hang on to life.

Ironically however, Nwajei was still seemed concerned about Nnamdi as she expressed the hope that he would be freed soon several times during her short interview with our correspondent.

The authorities of MFM, when contacted, said that the man was not a member of the church since he could not mention the branch that gave him the revelation. They added that the church never asked any of its member to kill.

But Nnamdi's motive, as he confessed to the police, brings to the fore the growing issue of religious incitement which we seem to be ignoring currently. Some messages preached in churches nowadays are nothing short of outright incitements. The preachers seem to ignore that some of the listeners are unable to distinguish between things of the spirit from those of the physical.

At a new generation pentecostal church in Lagos recently, the congregation were asked to pray facing the direction their enemy resided. Later, they were urged to fight their enemies. A man got home and descended on his wife saying it was her he saw in his vision while he was praying against his enemy.

In another pentecostal church in Lagos that has an outspoken pastor, the congregation were once told to come to church on a certain Sunday bringing logs of wood. Nearly 95 per cent of the congregation did. Apparently, however, the pastor was just performing an experiment with them.

On the Sunday in question, he asked all those who had brought their logs of wood to stand up. When they did, the pastor was shocked. He shook his head at their naivety and asked them to dispense with the wood.

If religion is indeed the opium of the masses, it is indeed time we exercise caution.