Akatikoro

Photo credit: buzzfeed

Beatrice never believed in anything diabolical. She acknowledged that there was evil and knew that she had that covered in her prayers. She lived her life intentionally oblivious of principalities and power.  That rubbed off on me and my siblings and so we grew up never giving any thought to diabolism. Regardless of my upbringing, I love to hear strange stories of mamiwota(mermaids), ogbanje/amosu(witches), and UFOs. I find such stories both amusing and fascinating.

My first close encounter with strange powers was one early morning in Umunogo street in Enugu where we lived, it was about 5 am and all of a sudden, we could hear someone screaming, as we came out to the balcony to see what the noise was all about, we found out we were late to the party because some people were already out of their homes trying to hold down a certain woman.

We had to go downstairs and onto the road to get a clearer picture of what was going on and the person in the center of all the brouhaha was a not-so-loved “akatikoro” (this was another derogatory name for unpopular spinsters). This particular lady was not very liked for several reasons. I still remember how she looked; she was about four feet five inches tall and always wore high heels, she walked like she owned the whole street, and her shoulder pads did not help matters; they made her look like she was about to grow wings and fly away.

She lived in a one-bedroom apartment, and I must admit she went about her business without bothering anyone. She was also an okuenu as she had a job and paid her own bills. No one knew much about her and the few who lived in the same compound as she, said she was quarrelsome the few times they communicated with her. For that reason, she was definitely labeled frustrated.

Her unpopularity grew worse when she began to live with a handsome musician who had lost his fame and fortune. To so many people, she was a desperate woman who had no problem bringing a man to live with her. This musician had no business living with this lady as they appeared to be worlds apart; he was well educated and from a noble and wealthy family; he was polished and very well-spoken.  He was such a fine young man and I remember that almost every young girl around in those days had a massive crush on him including yours truly.

Nobody understood what he found appealing in the woman that he cohabited with. She did not match his pedigree and managed to string some correct sentences in English. The few times I overheard the older girls talk about the odd pair I saw the envy in their eyes, they would rather the handsome former musician was with any of them and not the older lady whose looks were not so complimentary.

Jide was the name of the musician, he spoke just the way sang, his voice was so soft to go with his British accent and I once eavesdropped as two older girls discussed him; one of them said she always got turned on whenever Jide said hello to her. I had to search for the meaning of the phrase "turned on" and when I did, my young mind felt violated.

Sometimes the mystery behind someone commands a lot of respect and this was Jide’s case.  When the people of Umunogo hardly knew him, they loved and admired him and never missed an opportunity to listen to him play his guitar and sing one of his hit songs, the most requested was “Tonight”. After a while, Jide's popularity began to fade;  as he became friendly with almost everyone, he began to lose his magic because he was demystified.

The young boys who were once fascinated by him got too close to him and would visit him in the one-bedroom apartment he shared with his akatikoro lover. The young boys were the ones that started the rumor that he was under a spell because he showed them different concoctions that his lady friend mixed and kept at different parts of their abode, and he asked them not to touch them. They also spoke of the strange objects that she hung around the house; she had no idea that anybody came into her home while she was at work.  She became even more unpopular as more people learned that she was diabolical. Also, Jide’s glory faded because people detected that he was a bit off, something was not quite right with him; sometimes, he was seen smiling to himself and he often went off on a tangent during conversations.

One day, Jide’s family came and took their son away from where he had lived like a prodigal son for a while; they had endured enough embarrassment. It was shortly after Jide’s exit from the home of his lover that the event occurred. I remember that morning like it just happened, as a curious child I went all the way to the battlefront; Beatrice was already in the church for morning Mass which made it easier to get that close to the situation.

A woman who lived at number seven was the prayer warrior that morning, she was binding and casting the demon out of the lady who was saying all sorts of things like, “the kingdom of the devil must prevail” “the world must know that the devil is king”, as soon as I heard what she was saying, I took to my heels, the prayer warrior was saying to her, “I bind you in Jesus Name” while other women tried their best to cover her nakedness. 

She ran out of her home in a sheer gown that exposed her body.

While some men enjoyed the view, some good ones helped the woman lift her off the ground where she was rolling from side to side. She was truly manifesting and that really scared me. She made it very difficult for people to lift her as she acted with the strength of ten men. When the people were finally able to lift her up, they took her into the home of the prayer warrior who had sent for some other pastors from her church. They took over from there, they prayed for her for a long time as their voices were heard all the way from the prayer warrior’s living room where she lay.

After that event, the lady was never the same; she seemed defeated and no longer walked as if the world belonged to her. Some people missed her pompousness while some felt that the shame and exposure were good for her. She knew that each time she passed a group of people, they talked about what happened to her. She was referred to as a witch, she knew it and when she could bear it no longer, she moved out of Umunogo.