Three year old Mma Abumi Edet, pictured below, is currently the
toast of her community. Cos according to Punch, her people, the people
of Mbarakom community in Akampkpa Local Government Area of Cross River
State believe this “mysterious’’ child, who they also believe is their
reincarnated queen that died in 1980, has not only helped in
resolving an age-long monarchical struggle in their community, but put
an end to a catalogue of evils that had befallen them for over a decade.
The new monarch of the community, Sylvester Etim Eta-Agbor,
told Saturday PUNCH that living things like snail, periwinkle, which
were common sights in the community had vanished because of the evil
things that were going on in the community. That after the demise of
its king, Effiong Nyong, in 1997 they had been entangled in
controversies which led to the coronation of his successor (name
withheld) who was dethroned after Mma-Abumi allegedly revealed that he
was not the right person for the throne. Hence they would forever be
grateful to Mma-Abumi, adding that it would take full responsibility for
her education to any level and in any institution of her choice.
On how Mma Abumi suddenly became a star in the community, her
father, Mr. Ekpe Edet, told Punch's correspondent that his daughter
had on January 13, 2014 told him that the problems confronting the
community were as a result of a wrong choice of monarch, that she knew
the solution to the myriad of problems that had bedevilled the
community.
“It was difficult for me to believe her because I ran away from that
village many years ago and she didn’t even know the village. I was
initially confused because she had never visited the village and I had
never mentioned the name of the community to her before,’’ Edet
explained.
Narrating how he succumbed to his daughter’s pressure, Edet, who is a
carpenter in Oban, a distant community within the same Akamkpa LGA,
said he had to break his vow of not visiting Mbarakom after a series
of instructions from his daughter on the need to intervene in the
community kingship tussle.
“She had warned that the community was having problems because of the
wrong choice of monarch and ordered that a new monarch be crowned,” he
said.He further said, “I had a vision before and after Mma-Abumi was
born in 2010 to go home and make peace with my people but I ignored it.
Years later I didn’t obey the instruction that came in form of a vision
until she was three years old and I became seriously tormented
spiritually. On January 13, while our family fasting was ongoing, we
were returning home from the church when my daughter suddenly insisted
that we shouldn’t go back to the house but should rather proceed to
Mbarakom, otherwise she would die. She immediately fell on the main road
and did not allow anyone to touch her that was why we went to Mbarakom.
To cut a long story short, after so many prayers and revelations in
Mbarakom, she instructed that a royal cloth be sown for the new
monarch.”
He said that since the time he got the true identity of his daughter, he had stopped flogging her.
“She once told me, ‘Don’t you know I’m a queen, I don’t want you to
be flogging me or treating me badly.’ Before then, anytime I beat her,
she would run out of the house to a lonely and quite place and cried
and each time she cried she cried like an adult,” he said.
Her mother, Mrs. Maria Edet, said apart from having strange
experiences when she was carrying the pregnancy of Mma-Abumi, the little
girl had soon after she started talking as a one-year-old child, been
telling her things she (the mother) could not comprehend.
“She told us that she was a great woman in Mbarakom. She also told us
that her staff and the stone she usually placed her legs on to take her
bath were still in her house in Mbarakom. For some time my husband and I
were disobedient to her instructions but because of what started
happening we were forced to take a trip to the community and all the
things she mentioned were confirmed,” she said.
The community said the fact that Mma-Abumi’s directive on the
installation of a new monarch was right was confirmed by the killing of
a python that had attempted to swallow a goat by a middle-aged man,
Stanley Okpu, after the new monarch was installed. The killing of a
python whenever a new monarch is named, according to the traditional
belief of the community, is an indication that the right monarch has
been installed.
Okpu told Saturday PUNCH that he had gone to the farm with his
grandson who later called his attention to the scene of a python that
had just started swallowing a goat.
“I was in the farm with my grandson and while I was busy tilling the
ground, he called my attention to a snake some distance away trying to
swallow a goat. I immediately went to the scene with my cutlass and
killed the python with four strikes at different spots,” he said.The
news filtered through to the village and with the help of other
villagers the dead snake was taken to the monarch’s palace amid
jubilation.
The traditional ruler of Mbarakom explained that in the community’s
tradition, such killing was significant as it indicated that his
coronation was genuine.He said:
“This is a sign for us to know if I am the true king because after
crowning a new ruler this kind of thing must happen. Before now the
community was in total chaos and God in His own way sent this girl to
come and show the people the truth. This Mma-Abumi was a queen who now
reincarnated into the family of one of her grandchildren who resides in
Oban. When she came here with her parents, she took us to where she was
buried. As of today, there is no building there because the house then
was a mud-house which had collapsed. The piece of land is now full of
thick grass. We are aware that she died in 1980.”
On the killing of the python, the new Mbarakom monarch explained:
“In our tradition the killing of the python, especially after
crowning a new king, indicates that the true king has emerged. For some
time now, living things like snail, periwinkle, which were common sights
in the community had vanished because of the evil things that were
going on but after I was crowned things have become normal again.”
