It was a script out of a horror movie when scores of masquerades, part of a traditional group in Oruk Anam, Akwa Ibom State, stormed a funeral ceremony this past Saturday, seized the corpse of the deceased and insisted that the Christian denomination conducting the ceremony cannot bury the deceased.
One Nsikak Ibatt, who can be quoted, explained via his social media post that, “the masquerades took over the corpse when it was to be interred, claiming the deceased was their member and not a Christian.”
It was additionally learnt that church members ran in all directions as the matchet-weilding masquerades and other members of the group who disrupted proceedings, further threatened to harm whoever stands in their way.
The masquerades later stood guard as their group performed final burial rites on the deceased before burying him. Spell bound spectators volunteered no further information, fearing the wrath of the group.
