Court jails popular Anambra native doctor for 11 months over ritual practices

A High Court sitting in Awka, Anambra State, on Friday sentenced a popular native doctor, Chidozie Nwangwu, also known as “Akwa Okuko Tiwaraki,” to 11 months’ imprisonment over his involvement in ritual practices popularly called “oke ite” and related offences.

The judgment was delivered by Justice Jude Obiora, who found Nwangwu guilty on four out of the 10-count charges filed against him.

Nwangwu was arraigned alongside two other native doctors, Eke Hit and Onye Eze, over allegations bordering on money rituals, “oke ite,” and the preparation of charms for criminal activities, among other offences.

The trio was arrested in February 2025, about a month after Governor Chukwuma Soludo ordered a clampdown on native doctors following the signing of the Anambra State Homeland Security Law. The move led to the establishment of the Agunechemba and Operation Udo-ga-chi security outfits.

The state government had maintained that the activities of some native doctors were contributing to insecurity, noting that the situation had improved since the introduction of Agunechemba.

During the trial, the court struck out six of the charges against Nwangwu and upheld four. He was initially sentenced to six years’ imprisonment with an option of a N60 million fine, to run concurrently.

However, following a plea bargain agreement between the defence and the Anambra State Government, the sentence was reduced to two years.

Justice Obiora further noted that the convict had already spent 13 months in detention under the Agunechemba Security Squad while awaiting trial. Consequently, the two-year concurrent sentence was reduced to 11 months.

The court also ordered Nwangwu to publicly renounce ritual practices by producing videos to be shared on all his social media platforms.

In addition, he was directed to serve as a Youth Entrepreneurship Ambassador for the state and to create videos and reports discouraging youths and members of the public from engaging in wealth-seeking practices linked to “oke ite” and other rituals.

The court further ordered the destruction of his shrine and the confiscation of items recovered from him before his arrest.

Part of the judgment read: “He will become an Ambassador for youth re-orientation. His oba shrine is to be destroyed. He will no longer practise Oke ite and will not administer such charms.

“Upon completion of his imprisonment, he will make public statements denouncing Oke ite and such charm practices.

“He will serve his imprisonment at the Awka Correctional Centre.”

Reacting to the ruling, defence counsel, Ogwuedom Iwuoba, described the judgment as a product of mutual agreement under a plea bargain arrangement.

He said: “Yes, there is no way I will say I am not okay with it because it is a plea bargain agreement. That was the agreement we signed with the government when we agreed on the issue of plea bargain, and the government kept its own side by sentencing him to 11 months’ imprisonment.

“We made a bargain with the state government, so it is a consent judgment that we agreed to, and there is no need to go on appeal.”

The ruling, the court noted, is aimed at discouraging ritual-related practices and promoting youth reorientation and lawful entrepreneurship across the state.