Fear Of Revenge As Stump Of Evil Ancestral Tree Cut Down Stands Upright In Lorji,Aboh Mbaise Imo

Gripping feeling of fear of death has now enveloped the ancient com­munity of Lorji in Aboh Mbaise Local Gov­ernment Area, Imo State as the stump of an an­cestral tree which fell last year to the amazement of the entire members of the community, has “risen up” throwing the people into panic.

Penultimate week, precisely on May 7, 2015, the shrine of the Alaukwu deity community became a tourist attraction as members of the community trooped out in their large numbers to behold the mys­terious “resurrection” of the tree stump, which fell last year and its trunk was processed into planks. But people were surprised to see the stump that once laid on the ground now standing upright.

The Sun reliably gath­ered that it would have taken the efforts of over 200 able-bodied men to lift the massive stump of the ancestral tree, which rose back to an upright position. What was also surprising was that the roots had mysteriously attached themselves back to the stump.

A member of the community, simply identified as Shedrack, who himself was amazed at the development told The Sun that some time ago that Chris­tians in Lorji under the aegis of Lorji Believers Association had embarked on what he described as the cleansing of the land of all ancient deities.

He further disclosed that during the cleansing exercise, the Christians had cut down ancient trees suspected to be evil in all the shrines across the entire community. But effort made by the Christian group to cut down the ancestral tree at the Alaukwu shrine proved abortive as it refused to fall.

However, he pointed that the tree unexpectedly fell on its own accord to the joy of the Christian group last year, and that even the trunks had already been processed into planks while the massive stump was left lying on the ground.

Shedrack further said that the entire community was shocked to discover last week that the massive stump of the ancestral tree was now standing erect.

“Following the mysterious “rising” up of the stump of the ancestral tree, there has been widespread fear that disaster looms in the community as the people are now living in fear that the Alaukwu deity may be on vengeance mission over the desecration of its shrine,” Shedrack said.

Similarly, one of the elders in the community who only spoke to The Sun on the condition of anonymity recount­ed how a similar ancestral tree of one of the deities fell, and claimed the lives of many peo­ple in the community for alleged desecration of the land.

But the Lorji Christian community has assured the people not to panic over the alleged “rising” of the stump of the ancestral tree as no harm will come to any member of the community, stating that deities are powerless as they have been chased out of the land for good.

Evangelist Godpower Nwachukwu of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries maintained that the power of God is greater than the power of any deity including Alaukwu Lorji deity.

“The power of God is greater than Alaukwu Lorji and will nullify the power of Alaukwu or any other deity from wreaking havoc on the land and her peo­ple,” Nwachukwu said.

Meanwhile, Mr Chidi Nwa­madi, an agricultural scientist at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, has explained that the sudden rise of the ancestral tree was as a result of a neutral phe­nomenon called phototropism.

He said: “Since the stump is still attached to the roots the tree simply responded to the natural phenomenon called phototro­pism.”

He however failed to explain is how the stump that was previously lying horizontal­ly could now stand upright.