'My Mother Had Been Behaving Strangely" - Daughter of Alleged Abuja 'Witch'

A middle-aged woman, Ope Kubona, caused a stir in Kubwa, Abuja, yesterday when she was found naked on the rooftop of the All Saint’s Fellowship Church close to the Kubwa Village market.

According to reports, Kubona, who was well known and sold beans cake (akara) in the area was immediately branded a witch by the huge number of spectators that were drawn to the scene and would have been lynched by the angry mob if not for the quick intervention of the police.

She was eventually brought down from the rooftop by a police team, led by the Kubwa Divisional Police Officer, Surajudeen Ayobami. Her children brought clothes to cover her before she was taken
to the station.

Talking with PUNCH Metro, the DPO said Kubona was brought to the station and placed under protective custody in view of the aggression of the crowd towards her. He said:

 “We rescued the woman from the All Saint’s Fellowship Church, where we found her naked on the rooftop. I learnt she has psychiatric problems, but the spectators believed she was a witch and wanted to attack her, so we had to bring her to the station and place her under protective custody.”

However, at the Police station, the woman went berserk, shouting at her children and the policemen. She almost attacked a pregnant woman, who attempted to take her picture with a smart phone. Talking to no one in particular, she described herself as a “prayer warrior” and abused her children for disrupting her peace. Attempts to engage her in a conversation failed as she refused to respond to questions from PUNCH Metro.

One of her children, Elizabeth, 21, said her mother had been behaving strangely for about three months, adding that moves to take her back to her village in Okitipupa, Ondo State, failed, as she refused to leave the house.

On that fateful day, Elizabeth said she observed that her mother disappeared from their room around 4am, only to be found later stark naked on the roof of the church.

“It was around 4am that I noticed that she was not in the room, but I didn't know where to search for her because it was dark. But in the morning, one of our neighbours saw her on the roof of the church and came to tell us that our mother was on the church roof. The police later came and brought her down, “she said.