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ÓGÙ was a like predator that stalks its prey and pounces on them when they least expect it. He was like a leopard that invades pens in people’s compounds, when everyone and their livestock are asleep, devours the animals, drags them with its sabertooth mouth and scales the fence effortlessly as if it were not carrying any burden.

It started after Ekemma had her last nightmare. First, two children went to fetch water from Okirikiri River and never returned. According to Nkwo, an eye witness, Ógù appeared from nowhere and hit the children so hard that they lost consciousness. Then, with an effortless ease, he carried the children and disappeared.

Nkwo said that he was going to check his line at the river when, just few metres from the bank of the river, he saw the ugly sight. He had hidden in fear and restrained himself from raising an alarm because of the fear of attack from Ógù. According to him, Ógù now looked like a gorilla — very huge, unkempt and hairy. He said that his disappearance was a mystery because he couldn’t tell which direction he went through.

Has Ógù become a spirit that disappears in the thin air? I wondered after Nkwo narrated the incident. But if he is now a spirit, Nkwo couldn’t have seen him at all. Or, did he just realize the Nkwo had seen him and then he disappeared?

Movements were restricted in Obodo Nta for security reasons. Children were no longer allowed to go to the river alone.

The parents of the children, whom Ógù had allegedly kidnapped, stormed my compound and hauled curses at me. They invoked the vengeance of the gods of our land to strike me and my entire family. I didn’t blame them at all. It was not their fault; it was all mine. Their actions were justified.

But who was sure that Ógù was responsible for recent attacks? Nkwo’s account of the kidnapping might have been instigated by sheer reservations for my decisions that culminated in the tragedy that had befallen our town and my family.

When the man (or spirit) behind the recent attacks saw that movement to the river had been restricted, he extended his attacks to people’s homes.

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