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Thunder kills 36 cows on Ondo sacred hill

Published

6 years ago

September 23, 2019

Thirty-six cows were reportedly struck dead late Saturday by thunderbolt on top of a sacred hill at Ijare town in Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo State.

The dreadful hill known as ‘Oke Owa’ was located on the outskirts of the sleepy community.

Sources said only the town’s monarch (Olujare,) and some chiefs normally visit the town once in a year.

This is usually during the celebration of the new yam festival to perform some rituals.

An indigene of the town, whose house was on the way to the hilltop said the incessant striking of thunderbolts accompanied the evening rain made them suspecting the strange occurrence.

It was learnt that nobody knew that the thunder had actually caused havoc until a hunter came in the morning to reveal that during his hunting expedition, he saw some dead cows on the hilltop.

This development gingered the traditional ruler of the town, the Olujare of Ijare, Oba Adebamigbe Oluwagbemigun Kokotiri 11 to send a delegation of chiefs to report to the police and visited the scene to assess what actually happened.

The incident consequently attracted several people in the community especially youths who trooped to the hill to see wonders.

At the hilltop, there were 36 dead cows lying flatly on the ground without any mark on their bodies.

Speaking with reporters, the Olujare of Ijare, who spoke through his second in command, Chief Wemimo Olaniran, the Sapetu of Ijare, it was an act of God.

The Sapetu of Ijare said the herdsmen had been destroying their farmland for a very long time which had led to a confrontation on many occasions.

He said it was surprising to them when they heard five days ago that some Fulanis were ascending the sacred hill to settle after they had destroyed many farmlands and created fears in the minds of the people.

His words”We were there this morning and we saw about 36 cows dead apart from the one inside the bush. It has happened and there is nothing we can do, we regards it as the act of God which nobody can be query.

“There had been occasions like that but not as massive we are having it now, to some individuals who desecrated the land. In the past, we did witness thunderbolt attack, when you desecrated any part of Ijare particularly the sacred places.

“The dead cows will be there forever it is part of the history in our land for people to see as testimony in future that such a thing happens, a whole Oba buried there live and heaven did not fall talk less of ordinary cows.

“Oke-Owa is a sacred hill where the Oba and some of his chiefs visited once a year during the new yam festival to offer sacrifices on behalf of the community.

” Even those chiefs accompanying the Oba must not go to the inner part of the hill because there is a particular place where only the Oba has to enter and spend a night.

“This is a hill that the herdsmen wanted to desecrate with their herds. It is taboo. When we heard about the incident, we invited the herdsmen and they confirmed that it was thunder that struck the cows.

” We went to the police station to report the matter and the Divisional Police Officer was contacted before chiefs including myself went there.

“Those cows would remain there and rotten because nobody must touch them otherwise there would be problem”

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for Ondo State Command, Mr. Femi Joseph confirmed that the matter was reported at Ijare Police Station.

Joseph described the incident like a natural disaster that is unfortunate and which nobody can do anything about.

The Nation.

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Featured

CELEBRATING A CENTURY-OLD CIVIL AVIATION SECTOR TRAJECTORY IN NIGERIA

Published

3 weeks ago

December 1, 2025

The Gleamer

This week, millions of Nigerians and others across the globe will join the Ministry of Aviation and Space Development under the irrepressible leadership of the Honourable Minister, Festus Keyamo(SAN),and all the notable Aviation sector stakeholders in and outside the country,in celebrating a century of Nigeria’s civil aviation history.

There is no doubt that under the present leadership of the Honourable Minister and within the short spell of time in his stewardship,he has consciously and intentionally embarked on a “silent revolution” for the industry with very veritable and laudable landmarks that have consistently grown the industry.

Some of these spirited efforts for instance have consequently led to trust restoration amongst international lessors, financier,any global partners.Of note also is assidiously working for the full domestication and implementation of the “Cape Town Convention Agreement” ,which gives Airlines access to modern fleets of competitive rates as well as enforcement of IDERA(Irrevocable Deregulation and Export Request Authorization).

Having well applauded these vital contemporary initiatives,it will also be germane to cast our minds in retrospect by taking a peep into our history over several decades to recognise some of the notable forebears in the industry whose impressionabl efforts cannot be overlooked,as they took the impetuous initiatives of breaking the ice at the nascent stage.
It will aptly corroborate the truism which says that… ” a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step”.

The above is vividly captured from a tribute by the First Republic Minister of Aviation Chief Mbazulike Amaechi at the funeral of late Igwe of Oba,HRH Peter Ezenwa(MFR) in 2018.
It states inter alia…”One significant thing I will say many people didn’t know is that the first indigenous airline that was to run in Nigeria was known as “STANDARD AIRLINE”.It was founded in 1966 by a company formed by Igwe Peter Ezenwa from Oba,and had on board,John Nwankwu from Abagana,Edward Ebo from Ezinifitte,(all from Anambra state),John Anyaehie from Nkwerre in Imo state,and lastly my very self Mbazulike Amaechi.
The five of us later acquired two brand new aircrafts,and had four pilots,namely;Unachievable,John Emma Ngwu and Felix Offor,who was to be the General Manager of the airline.
But just about the time for the take-off the crisis of the military takeover erupted in the North as the planes were on their way for delivery to us.In fact the bank handling the transaction was to allow the planes to be flown from the USA,but the news of the war broke out in 1967,the insurance company cabled for the cancellation of the deal as they will not be able to cover the risk cost of aircrafts being flown into war zone.
So,we asked the manufacturers to take the two aircrafts back to their country and hold on for six months with the hope of that the war will end within the requested time frame,but the war didn’t end as thought.We consequently asked for refund and they deducted some money and refunded the balance which was deposited at the London branch of African Continental Bank(ACB).

When the government took over the operations of ACB,we still hoped for the refund but unfortunately were disappointed that the Federal government took over the whole money and we lost everything.”

Further in line with our historical perspective,it will also be pertinent some of the later years reformists in the likes of Engr Onyereri and Harold Demuren who advertently sponsored some far reaching regulations that eventually steered the industry towards greater autonomy with the passage of the 2005 Civil Aviation Act,which I was also a prime participant of in my capacity as an Aviation sub chair in then House of Representatives.

As we mark this great century milestone,and with the clear evidential pathway set out by the current managers of the industry under the indomitable leadership of Honourable Minister, I do not see the sky posing any limitations as they say,but rather availing new vistas of limitless growth opportunities.

CONGRATULATIONS.

Hon Chidi Nwogu
Former member House of Representatives & presently Governing Council member
,African Aviation and Aerospace University,Abuja.

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