By Vincent Ujumadu
Cornelius Chiadi Ezeibekwe, 25, recently caused a stir in
Ekwulobia in Aguata local government area of Anambra
State when he wedded his younger sister, aged 17. In
Igbo land, such a marriage is a taboo and it was on the
basis of this that youths of the community burnt down the
Sabbath Church where Chiadi and his sister were thought
to have been joined as husband and wife. Chiadi, the
sixth of 10 children (eight boys and two girls) by Mr.
Louis Ezeibekwe, is a mathematics teacher at Community
Secondary School, Isuofia, also in Aguata local
government area. At the time Sunday Vanguard visited
their home at Agba, Ekwulobia, Chiadi was busy marking
examination scripts and there was nothing in the
compound to indicate that any abnormal thing happened
there.
Chiadi Ezeibekwe
His sister is a student of Federal Government Technical
College, Awka, but she left school to enable her observe
what Sabbath people call ‘Shimta’. During the
observation, which Chiadi said lasts for one year, she
must remain in the compound. It was during the
observation that the marriage took place.
Before then,
she had left school because of the controversy generated
by her marriage with her elder brother.
Louis Ezeibekwe, their father, 78, and who recently buried
his mother who died at the age of over 100, appeared not
to be in control of the behavior of his children as he
exhibited signs that all was not well with his health.
His eldest son, Emeka, who lives in Port Harcourt and who is not a member of the Sabbath Church, said he belongs to the Winners Church.
He also confirmed that their father
was not well. Though members of the family were
originally Catholics, they later changed to Seventh Day
Adventist Church and subsequently to their own brand of
Sabbath worship, with Paul, one of the children of Louis
Ezeibekwe, as pastor.
Justifying his reason for marrying his sister, Chiadi said:
“I am a Sabbath and, in searching through the scriptures,
I discovered that one could marry his sibling. So, we went
ahead with the arrangement to marry my younger sister.
“The marriage ceremony was observed inside our family
compound, which also serves as a place of worship for
us. My immediate elder brother, Paul Ezeibekwe, the
pastor, was present during the ceremony.
“What happened is that when we decided to get married,
we told our parents our intention and my father asked us
if we knew what we were about to do. I told him that we
searched through the scriptures and that God sanctioned
it. It was after this that our parents consented.
“However, our other relations objected to the idea when
they learnt of the plan and when we ignored them and
went ahead with the marriage, they and other villagers
burnt the Sabbath Church where we used to worship
because they thought it was in that place that we worship,
not knowing that we have since abandoned the place and
worship in our compound. The burning of the church does
not mean anything to us.
“God told me to marry my sister and she also saw same
vision. There are places in the Bible that support such
marriage. Those in doubt should read Songs of Solomon
Chapters 4 and 5 and 1st Corinthians Chapter 7.
“Since we took this decision, I have not felt anything
unusual, or felt that I did anything wrong.
In the school
where I teach, many people ask me about it and I boldly
refer them to the Bible”.
Worried by the development in the community, some
elders went to the traditional prime minister of Ekwulobia,
Chief Gabriel Ezeukwu, to lodge a complaint because the
traditional ruler of the area, Igwe Emmanuel Onyeneke, is
out of the country.
After consultations with other elders in the community,
Ezeukwu ordered that the marriage be dissolved and a
cleansing of the community of the bad omen arranged.
Sunday Vanguard gathered that the Parish Priest of St
Joseph’s Catholic Church, Ekwulobia is handling the
cleansing process, especially when it was realized that
the family was originally Catholic.
Asked if he would subject himself to the cleansing by the
Catholic Church, Chiadi said in as much as he would not
like to break the law of the land, he would leave everything
to God to decide because it was God that gave him the
vision to marry his sister.
He said further: “Except my eldest brother, Emeka, other
members of the family supported the marriage and our
father only changed their minds following the uproar
generated by our action. It is not the beauty of my sister
that made me to marry her. The attraction is that when
God wants you to do something, you should do it.
“One of the reasons for marrying my sister is to avoid
divorce which is rampant these days because even if we
divorce, we will remain in the same family. Besides, by
marrying one’s sibling, there will not be the possibility of
introducing ugly situations, like diseases or social vices
into the family”.
The traditional prime minister of Ekwulobia, Ezeukwu, a
mass communication lecturer at Madonna University,
Okija, said the people of that village reported the matter to
him.
He said: “Before coming to me, they were considering
various options, including whether to involve the police,
resort to jungle justice or parade those involved round the
town before subjecting them to other rituals.
“But I advised that the first thing was to investigate the
matter thoroughly. I personally went to their compound
and met their parents. I did not see the young man
involved and when I was told that he was teaching at
Community Secondary School, Isuofia, I went there, but
still did not find him.
“I saw a burnt structure that looked like a church beside
their house and I urged those who gathered at the scene
to disappear in their own interest.
“Because what they committed was a cultural offence, I
invited the family to my house. I knew that what they did
was bad and I ensured that the matter did not escalate by
further unwholesome action.
“But when I invited the family, their mother and children
ran to Abakaliki, Ebonyi State where their mother hailed
from. I sent a delegation to the area and their people
confirmed that it is also not in their culture for someone
to marry his biological sister.
“After receiving the information, I summoned a meeting of
the Igwe’s Cabinet and members of the family and we
deliberated on the issue for several days until the children
admitted that they committed atrocity. I made it known to
them that they will purify the land and that is why we
went to the Parish Priest of St Joseph’s Catholic Church,
which is the family’s original church.
“However, I ensured that the girl in question was
subjected to rigorous pregnancy test to ascertain that she
had not been impregnated by her brother and, after
several tests, it was confirmed that she was not
pregnant, which is a relief to everybody.”
Ezeukwu said they met with the Parish Priest four days
ago on the purification process, expressing delight that
the affected family was already showing remorse.
According to him, March 17, 2018 has been fixed for the
purification ceremony.
He said the surprising thing was that even the Sabbath
Church, which the young man claimed supports such
marriage, had since denied and disowned them, advising
that the development in Ezeibejwe’s family should serve
as a lesson to everybody.
The good thing is that the eldest son of the family, Emeka,
33, has vowed that nothing would make his siblings get
married, adding that he had never heard such a thing in
Igbo land. “I cannot be alive and see them live as
husband and wife in this compound,” he insisted.
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