Chief (Dr.) Chigbo Enendu is CEO Osighelu Mkpume Herbal Enterprises, Godian Priest in charge of Uke and Abatete stations in Anambra State, Vice President ,South East Traditional Medicines Practitioners, President Moon And Star Traditional Medicine Practitioners, Anambra State. In this interview with our correspondent, AMAECHI PERCY ONYEJEKWE, the curative native doctor speaks on the need to harmonize orthodox and traditional medicine, local drugs production, oke ite, occupation of rivers in Anambra by security operatives among other issues. Excepts.
What is your area of specialization as a traditional medicine practitioner?
I am a curative native medicine Practitioner. I specialized in curative medicine. We cure a lot of diseases known to man including, kidney related diseases, ulcers, STDs,blood related diseases, fibroid, erectile dysfunction, infertility among others. We apply the treatment but God does the healing.
How do you diagnose patients to dictate diseases?
We use, divination , incantation, other spiritual means for diagnosis. We call it afa. The orthodox doctor uses the laboratory and X-ray. We use divination. And we use herbs and roots, incantation, magically prepared solutions, herbal foods and , lotions to cure or heal the sick. Where orthodox medicine fails, that’s where we come in. Some diseases and sicknesses have physical, psychic and spiritual causes. Such diseases must be treated psychically and spiritually. With divination you can find out what the cause is and remove it using the appropriate root and erbs . That is why we cure a lot of patients with varied sicknesses and diseases.
In what ways can traditional and orthodox medicine be harmonized to achieve wholesome health care delivery for Nigeria?
The words doctor and dibia mean the same thing. Dibia is Igbo word for doctor. And both of them do the same job using different methods. The orthodox doctor uses refined drugs got from roots and herbs to cure the sick. The traditional doctor uses the roots and herbs in their crude form to achieve healing. The primary source of all drugs, roots and herbs is Nature. Both traditional and orthodox medicine can complement each other to achieve health. Both of them can be harmonized to achieve good health care delivery for Nigeria. The Federal Government can make, initiate an enabling policy and law to that effect. The challenge is non recognition of traditional medicine by the government. Government can harmonize both practices by initiating policies for use of herbs and roots and the orthodox doctor drugs to complement each other. Some diseases have refused dictation by the laboratory equipments. Orthodox medicine has often time failed to cure the sick. Let both be recognized.
What have you to say on the need to produce herbal drugs locally. Can this be achieved?
With God there is no impossibility. Nigeria has the potential to produce these drugs locally, these drugs which we import from other countries including herbal drugs and solutions. The raw materials to produce these things are here in Nigeria.We have qualified pharmacologists, pharmacists and traditional spiritual doctors who can combine effort, knowledge and experience to produce the drugs we import from other countries here in Nigeria. Government should give us those equipment with which the Whiteman produces drugs and we will produce the drugs here. We don’t have the money to purchase them. It is only the government that has the huge amount needed to engage in that. I tell you, we can cure covid-19 and HIV here in Nigeria We have the raw materials, herbs and roots here.
Governor Soludo has urged traditional medicinemen, native doctors, voodooists among other practitioners in Anambra to register with the state government. How do you look at that even as he had signed into law The Anambta State Herbal prctice Law and The Anambra State Indigenous Tradiitional Medicine Practice Law 2024 and 2025 respectively.
It is a good idea. Soludo is trying to winow the grain to separate chaff from the corn.
The governor is trying to sanitize traditional medicine practice in in Anambra. We tried to do same using our organization, Moon and Star Traditional Medicine Practitioners, but we aren’t government. We produced documents and registers and urged them to register. But it is only the government that can sanitize the system, and enforce that law. So, it is a good thing. For that I would name Governor Soludo Odozi Omenala (Keeper Of True Tradition). However the registration exercise would face some challenges because the fake, the bad would rush to register first to avoid being detected. They have money.
It is good government intends to bring traditional medicine into the healthcare systenin the state.
As CEO of Mkpume Herbal enterptises what has the herbal outfit got to offer humanity?
We render healthcare service to all irrespective of sex, religion, class, status, colour, tribe or race. We have our curative medicinal products too which have been of immense help in the healthcare delivery system. Herball solutions among others are here.
How do you look at the alleged occupation of the water bodies in Anambra by security operatives in the state, even as they have stopped sacrifices at the river?
Water serves multifunctilonal purposes including healing. The healing powers of water has oten attracted alll kinds of people with different intent. Some Churches, pastors, individuals go to the river to perform diffetent rituals imcluding baptism., to appease the water gods and godesses, to obtain favour and to heal the sick. But in recent times, the water bodies have been descrated to the extent that the gods are now angry. The bad has made the rivers dumping ground for corpes, raping , killing and maimimg among other evil things. Sacrifice is good. It brings favour among other good thngs. Human sacrifice has stopped. If you read the Bible you will see that God provided a lamb for Abraham to sacrifice for Him instead of Isaac. Donations, giving to others , using biscuits, bananas, sweet to give are sacrifices that are acceptable to the river gods and godesses However, if the secirity operatiives continue to occupy the rivers , it would spell doom for Anambra. Calamity would befall the state.
Perhaps the security operatives are at the river to chase away Oke Ite ritualists and yahoo boys. What iis the much-talk-about oke ite, the great pot ?
My father from whom I took over and under whose tutelage I passed warned me about oke ite. He said oke ite is an evil medicine not indeginous to Igbo. It is not part of Igbo culture and tradition and practice. It was learned at other places outside Igboland and brought here by money-hungry chalatans who now claim to be native doctors. Our youths should not engage in oke ite ritual because it has grave, negative Karmic consequences!
Those who practice oke ite are impostors who are bent on cutting down okosisi. They are not native doctors.okosisi means human beings. They kill human beings.
However, it is not evetythimg in earthen pot is oke ite. Arobunagu is in a pot. Aja ana obi is placed in the pot. Agwu is in an earthen pot. Anyanwu na agbala are placed in an earthen pot. These spirits and things are ancient things. They are not oke ite.It is only an expert, traditional medicineman that can distinguish between them.
You said sacrifice is good excluding human sacrifice.What do you say should be done under the present situation?
What government and those of us on top should do is provide a common place for sacrifices. That is how it was in ancient times. There were common places of sacrifices inside the bush. There were Y or triangular marked places for sacrifice that needed that. There were + or cross roads marked places for sacrifices that should be done at cross roads. The place was known as ochuchuaja , the place of sacrifice. With the advent of Christianity and modern civilization, those places were lost. Nobody knows anything anymore. When those places were lost because of modernization, people began to offer sacrifices in the streets, at cross and triangular roads in the villages and towns in the country.
Nigeria is a secular state and it is unconstitutional to stop people from practicing their religion according to their conscience. Islamists, Christians, Judaists, Hinduists,, Buddhists, Godian Religionists among other religions in Anambra, in Nigeria need water for various rituals at the river or at home. What has to be stopped is evil.
As a renown, long standing traditional medicineman, have you had any special case you would like to share with our readers?
There are many of such cases but let me just mention one of them.. There was a woman who rushed to me after about three consecutive foetus eruptions. Last one, she was delivered of stillborn. At the level of afa (diagnosis) it was found that when her uncaring husband returned home from business, she narrated what happened. The husband walked pass her, went to where the lifeless body was laid, picked it up, went into another room where he threw it into an earthen pot and left the woman to grieve alone.
The woman’s problem was later solved. .When her husband discovered what happened, that his wife had been saved, he found out who did it and came after me. He dragged me to court. Yes , he dragged me tp court for saving his wife.
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