Fon Ritualizes Village against Boko Haram

Benjamin Ngah

          The SDO for Bui Division in the North West Region, Nseke Theophile  has hailed the Fon of Nkar for the strategy he has adopted “to blow away” Boko Haram from infiltrating not only into his Fondom but other parts of Bui Division as a whole.

          He was speaking in Nkar on Sunday the 25^th of July, 2015 during a twin occasion organized by the Fon of Nkar, Moloo II to present an award he received in honor of some widows and orphans in and around the Nkar, and also to present to the SDO some heavy technical equipment for a cottage industry to be implanted in Nkar. The equipment calculated to the tune of hundreds of millions FCFA is the fruits of cooperation between an NGO in the palace and one in the USA under the coordination of Shufai Ntumdzef aka “Shufai America.”

          During the occasion, the SDO told the teeming crowd that by invoking the gods of the village against Boko Haram in what is known as “Shireeh,” the Fon of Nkar has set an example worth emulating by other Fons around Bui Division.

          “shireeh” is once in a life time traditional ritual performed around all cross roads in the village to wade off all evil that threaten the live of the people. It is performed in the night and is often initiated by the Fon himself.  

           While promising to convene a security meeting whereby he would ask other Fons to emulate the example, the SDO encouraged Fon moloo II to keep on with his good works and say “No” to Boko haram.

           The elated SDO also commended the Fon of Nkar for his dynamism, clairvoyance and love for humanity as demonstrated in his care and concern for the plight of widows and orphans. Drawing from his reservoir of Tikar proverbs, he told the widow not to relent in working hard and to avoid being dependents.

          It was Fon Moloo who told his subjects that Boko Haram was a plague and must be “blown out” of the village using wood ash as the custom demands.  The age old tradition is effective and any one who doubts and creates any links with Boko Haram was surely going to die before time, he declared. While imploring them to be one another’s keeper and to be united so that no evil would penetrate them, he called on the population to collaborate with the forces of law and order. To the widow and orphans, he told them that they were not alone. “If today I have received an award, it is because of you,” he told the widows and orphans.

          Speakers during the occasion dwelled on the need for the village to be united against Boko Haram and to work together to better the livelihood of widows and orphans. Many of them congratulated the Fon for dismantling those obnoxious traditional beliefs that were detrimental to widows and orphans.