Ombatse: Profile of deadly cult group

At another part of the Nasarawa State capital, an Eggon complained he is being distanced by his friends, and neighbours.Stories of how co-workers are now keeping some distance from their colleagues of Eggon origin abound, even among senior staffs of government offices. Within the law enforcement agencies, especially the police force, the growing stigma is […]

At another part of the Nasarawa State capital, an Eggon complained he is being distanced by his friends, and neighbours.
Stories of how co-workers are now keeping some distance from their colleagues of Eggon origin abound, even among senior staffs of government offices. Within the law enforcement agencies, especially the police force, the growing stigma is even worse. So far, 17 Eggons have been arrested and detained, 14 of them policemen of rank and file, and three civilians, in connection with the lead of the ill-fated operation on Alakyo, to Ombatse.
This is just a mild outcome of the February 7, Alakyo incident where over a hundred policemen and operatives of other security agencies were killed, and their corpses gathered and burned after about 14 truckloads of armed security agents stormed the village at the outskirt of Lafia, to raid a shrine, and arrest its chief priest whose identity is only known as Babalakyo.
The police and government accused members of Ombatse, an Eggon spiritual group, of the gruesome murder of their officers and men, although Eggon leaders have said the group is a cultural, and peace loving one, only concerned with instilling purity in adherents, using the traditional religion of the people. Also, Eggon Cultural Development Association (ECDA), which has been speaking for the group since Ombatse leadership have kept sealed lips after their ban by the state government last year – said 21 of their people were killed too, by the policemen.
“Time Has Come”
Inquiries have shown that nothing was heard about this group’s existence before 2011. Shrines of Eggon origin, where the adherents go for initiations, and worship  have existed since time immemorial, and have been passed on to one generation, from the other. No violence has been known to be associated with the devotees who visited this shrine to their worship, just as authorities are not known to have challenged them before now.
Christianity and Islam are strong among Eggons whose people spread across all zones of the state, but age-long traditional values including the worship in shrines still have their place and roots, and are being jealously guarded against erosion.
The shrines have played host to politicians, businessmen, athletes, artists and other persons of African descent for a long period now, further inquiries have shown. Many say politicians across Africa have always poured in to seek powers, especially at election periods, Weekly Trust heard.  
Ombatse, Eggon for “time has come”, is said to be born out of this traditions handed to the Eggons by their ancestors. According to Eggon News  a local newspaper, Ombatse was founded by six leaders, namely Sgt Alaku Ehe, Zabura Musa Akwanshiki, Shuaibu Alkali, Hasuna Musa Zico Kigbu, Iliyasu Hassan Gyabo and Abdullahi Usman, with Zico, a former Jerusalem pilgrim, and Akwashiki, as chairman and secretary, respectively.
In the report, Zico, the chairman, who claimed that the group has over 50 branches scattered all over Nigeria, particularly in Eggon land, was born from a revelation through a dream where the ancestors directed the male natives to rise up and cleans the land of sundry societal ills.
Ombatse, according to the leadership, seeks to cleanse society of sundry ills, including adultery, fornication, public theft, drunkenness, smoking, envy, killing; to pave the way for the culture of morality and chastity.
But widespread speculations say Ombaste’s existence is purely political, since its birth was only known about after the 2011 elections, where the Eggons who have always sought to government the state, parted ways with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), to embrace the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), which defeated the former after 12 years of PDP in power. The speculations say Ombatse is a political movement to actualize the dream of Eggon to produce a governor in a state where they claim they have the largest population.  
Ombatse came to be known sometimes in 2012, and have become bold among the people, with its leaders claiming that heightening societal ills provoked them into a crusade in the hope to cleanse the land.
Its day is Saturday, according to the practitioners, who said on such days, new members are initiated, and oaths are administered to converts to cleans them of their sins. Women are said never to be allowed to go near, except unmarried teenagers believed to be pure – who go near to sell food and drinks. 
Alogani, at the foot of Eggon Hills in Nasarawa-Eggon, is said to be one of the strong points of the group. Alakyo is also another point.
Ombatse was first heard of, around September of 2012. Minor misunderstandings between Eggons and other ethnic groups, would set off gun battles with gruesome killing and burning in a manner not known to the state since 2003, when barely six years after the state creation from the old Plateau, a serving female commissioner, Maimuna Joyce Katai, was killed alongside dozens of others in an ethnic hostility between Bassa and Igbira of Toto area.
It started with Assakio, a large settlement few kilometers from Lafia, along Shendam Road. The town which is inhabited by Eggons and Alagos, fell into the hands of arsonists who killed and burned in a clash that lasted days. The fighters dressed in traditional Eggon, and Alago styles, and brandished charms of various forms, as they sang war chants.
On Saturday, November 17, the devotees were having a ceremony at Alogani. Soldiers and operatives of the State Security Service (SSS), stormed there to arrest Babalakyo, without any success because they had to face gunshots, and their patrol vehicles burned. The leadership of ECDA alleged that no member of Ombatse fired a shot, while security operatives said the devotees did so. Later, the group poured into the federal highway at Nasarawa-Eggon, in a violent protest, that had to attract Governor Al-Makura to plead for understanding.
That event irked members of other ethnic groups who began to infer that the governor condoned arson. 
Not long, Eggon settlements of Angwan Kuje, Angwan Alaku and Angwan Railway station, in Giza Development Area was turned into a battle field, where not less than 13 were reportedly killed. Fulani mercenaries and Eggon militia were accused. Not long, Agyaragu, another town at the outskirt of Lafia, the state capital – along Makurdi Road – was hard hit in 10 straight hours of massacre that happened between morning and late afternoon of November 21, drawing serious concerns over the tactics used by the arsonists who dressed in a particular style to indicate they had good training. Not long, between January 9 and 14 this year, Nasarawa boiled again. This time, Bassa, Burumburum, Barkin Abdullahi and Agbashi and neighbouring communities were hit, leaving dozens dead, thousands displaced, and houses as well as other properties destroyed. Fighters believed to be Eggon militia clashed with Fulani mercenaries, were accused by the police for perpetrating the killings which have left sour taste in the mouth of dozens of families between Eggon, Fulani and Agatus.
Kwandere, the governor’s home town, in Lafia, was next. Over five straight hours of invasion persons suspected to be Eggon militiamen, between afternoon and evening of February 7, hit Kwandere, and spilled into Lafia, the state capital. The whole of the palace of Ahmadu Al-Makura, Emir of Kwandere, and elder brother to the governor was razed down. Many, particularly Fulanis. Who had been taking refuge there, were killed. The fight had started at Angwan Amanza where the two ethnic groups first clashed; and Kwandere where the fight heightened; as well as Ombi II area of Lafia, where tension continued to build, sending residents into fleeing.
The widespread ethnic crisis touched almost every ethnic group in the state, but Eggon and Fulani continually featured prominently in the campaign of violence that rocked the state in the better part of 2012, and the end of February this year.
When members of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly (NSHA), sent the governor an impeachment threat last year, over the widening gun violence in the state, they associated him with the arsonists, saying he befriended them. Many ethnic groups also accused him of befriending arsonists. But the governor denied, saying he had to use tact in dealing with violent groups so that he does not provoke more serious crisis.
The relation between the governor and Senator Solomon Ewuga (CPC, Nasarawa-North), became strain within this period of attacks and counter attacks. The two had a robust relationship in the days of the electioneering, when they parted ways with their old party, the PDP. The raging attacks and counter attacks have been widely blamed on them, with many inferring that the two CPC leaders are at each other’s jugular because of 2015. Al-Makura’s association with Senator Abdullahi Adamu (PDP, Nasarawa-West), a former governor in whose period Ewuga faced the worst betrayals of his political journey, is also believed to have worsened the relation between the two CPC leaders. 
Little is known about Babalakyo, the 72-year old chief priest. Same for other leaders of Ombatse, especially as the government outlawed the group. ECDA National President, Chris Enva Mamman, speaks for all Eggons. The 1984 graduate of Sociology, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, became the Eggon cultural leader in September last year, after the association was formed in 1972.