A teacher in Agba village, Ekwulobia, in the Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, Chiadikobi Ezeibekwe, who secretly married his 17-year-old sister, narrowly escaped being lynched by some angry youths.
The wedding was said to have been conducted by Ezeibekwe’s elder brother, Chijioke, who is the pastor in charge of Dwelling Fullness of God Church, Agba, where the ceremony took place.
The irate youngsters succeeded in setting the church ablaze before they were stopped from unleashing terror on the ‘newly-weds’ and their family members by the traditional prime minister of Ekwulobia, Chief Gabriel Ezeukwu, who warned them against taking the laws into their own hands.
Ezeukwu said “If it were to be in the olden days, the entire family would be burnt alive because this is a grave abomination and sin. But we can’t take the laws into our own hands now in the 21st century. I have discussed with the family members and we have scheduled a date for cleansing oblation,” the community prime minister added.
The teacher, who said he was of the Sabbath sect, said he received direct instruction from God to ‘marry’ his sister, a student of the Federal Government Technical College, Awka. He justified his action by quoting from the book of Deuteronomy to illustrate that siblings could marry each other.
He had said, “One advantage of this is that such marriage discourages divorce. It also retains family values and norms.”
It was gathered that the teacher’s action generated controversy in the community which described the ‘marriage’ as an abomination.
Ezeibekwe’s father, Luis and mother, allegedly supported the so-called marriage but the eldest son of the family, Emeka, who reported the incestuous act to the kindred leadership, vowed that the marriage would not stand.
“It is over my dead body that they will call themselves husband and wife. It can’t happen,” he had threatened.
Although Ezeibekwe’s mother had fled the family house when our correspondent visited the place on Thursday, some of her children, who disapproved of the marriage, explained that she saw nothing bad in the relationship.
Ezeibekwe said “I don’t feel guilty; I don’t feel ashamed; I don’t feel intimidated in any way. Only God can stop us. They said they would do cleansing to stop us, but I will only listen to the voice of God,” he had said.
He, however, changed his position on Thursday when he told SUNDAY PUNCH that he had been prevailed upon to end the ‘unholy’ relationship.
Sounding very remorseful, Ezeibekwe said, “We have decided to dissolve that marriage because of pressure from our community. So, that marriage is no longer an issue. It’s now in the past.”
He said the family had been contacted on the cleansing the community had planned over the now-defunct marriage.
