The family of a 42-year-old housewife, Mrs. Rosemary Oranye, has raised the alarm over her sudden disappearance, along with her children, from her home in Ogbaru, Anambra
State.
Rosemary’s husband, who simply identified himself as Mr. Kanayo Oranye, told our correspondent that he returned home one day in 2016 only to discover that his wife and their children were nowhere to be found.
Oranye said at first he thought they would return home before the end of that day, but to his surprise, two years after, their whereabouts had remained unknown.
He said that he reported the matter to the police in the state, who had yet to find any traces of the missing woman and their children.
When asked whether his wife had any issue with anyone in the community before her mysterious disappearance, Oranye said Rosemary, who hails from the Agadaga family, was once accused of being involved in lesbianism with one other woman (names withheld) said to be her ‘lover.’
He explained that the allegation of such an improper sexual relationship with another woman, which was declared a taboo by the community, made the elders of her own village to summon her and her children, especially the female ones, for some ritualistic cleansing.
Oranye said that the community elders had insisted that his wife and his children must undergo the cleansing to avert the “dire consequences” that would befall his family
members.
It was learnt that Oranye’s wife had been threatened on many occasions by the elders of her community before her sudden disappearance along with her children in 2016.
Her distraught husband told our correspondent that due to the mysterious disappearance of his wife and children in the past two years, he had developed a high blood pressure and had been admitted in hospital on several occasions.
Oranye insisted that he had not seen or even heard from his wife and children since they disappeared in 2016, despite all his efforts to find them, including reporting the matter to the police.
“Please, I don’t know what else I can do. I have searched everywhere for her and my children since 2016. The trauma has seriously affected my health. Now, I have to battle with High Blood Pressure. We reported to the police, but they’ve not been able to make any headway. I’m just totally fed up now. Please, help me,” he said.
But one of the elders in the community, who pleaded anonymity, told our correspondent that the missing woman and her children must come out from hiding to undergo the compulsory “ritual cleansing” to save her family future untoward consequences.
“She has no other option than to show up for the cleansing or else wait to suffer unimaginable dire consequences along with her children and entire family members,” he said.
