The oldest man in Awka, Ozo Ibe Nwosu (Otochalu-Awka) and other custodians of culture of the community have sued a prophet, Chukwuemeka Ohanaemere a.k.a Odumejeje for insulting their monkeys and calling them worshippers of monkeys.
In a petition to the Commissioner of Police in the State by their lawyer, Ebelechukwu Nsofor dated 14th May, 2020, they called on the police to wade into the matter.
The petition was titled: “Threat to life and conduct likely to cause breach of peace against prophet Chukwuemeka Ohanaemere aka Odumejeje”.
Named as petitioners were Ozo Ibe Nwosu ( Otuchalu-Awka), Ozo Awka Society, Ndi Ichie Awka, and Chief Priest of Imo Awka for themselves and indigenes of Awka.
They said the prophet in a comment that had gone viral both in social and conversational media called them fools for having monkeys which could not be touched by anybody.
The petition alleged that, “The prophet threatened to tear our clients and their monkeys to piece any day he catches them.”
They said after considering the prophet’s comment, they found that there was no reason for the unwarranted attack by the prophet on them, both in law and in moral.
They added, “The comment is capable of causing unimaginable proportion of breach of peace if care is not taken by the relevant authority.”
They urged the police to wade into the matter by calling the prophet to order, while reminding the prophet that the Nigerian constitution guaranteed freedom of worship and that no religion is superior to other.
Their petition was copied to the Director, Department of State Services, Awka, Anambra State.
