A 111-year-old Nigerian woman is dead, not of natural causes, but in a hut fire set after the deceased, known as Mama Martha Lgyuse Bonka, had been publicly labeled a witch.
The murder suspect, 35-year-old, Tyoakaa Ijoho, set fire the Chafa family’s thatched homes after consulting an oracle about his father’s recent death by snake bite. The oracle had disagreed with the cause of death and instead had gone on to accuse Mama Martha’s relatives, the Chafa family, of murdering the man. These accusations of witchcraft then prompted Ijoho to retaliate, killing and injuring two innocent women in the process. Others in the nearby village seized Ijoho after the deadly fire and turned him over to the police, where he is being held in Vandeikya.
Ironically Ijoho had previously left the village some 20 years prior to his father’s death because of accusations against his own family for practicing witchcraft.
Currently the investigation against Ijoho remains ongoing.
