•It’s not an ordinary snake—Mallam Rabiu, snake
charmer
•How it was discovered, killed; Area boys turn it
to delicacy
By Ike Uchechukwu
CALABAR—Senior Pastor of the MegaFaith
Ministries, Calabar in Calabar South Local
Government Area of Cross River State, Rev Tony
is said to have seen numerous miracles in his life
and undeniably, the Almighty God has used him to
do the extraordinary even for others.
All the same, the messenger of the Most High did
not plan for the unusual that he witnessed, last
weekend, at his 10 Ekpiken Close domicile.
Rev Tony Amba
Unknown to the oracle of God, a 19 –year-old
python, measuring 20-metre, supposedly feeding
on dogs, fowls, rats and lizards for ages, had
been a co-dweller with him and his children in the
same apartment for about a decade. The moment
he stepped out on the revelation day, the
ravenous python from its hideaway in the roof,
decided it was time to materialize and use one of
the children for its next meal.
Amba’s words, “Everything that happened that
day was nothing less than a miracle. What if this
beast had injured anyone, they would have said a
lot of things about me and the ministry, I cannot
thank God enough for what he did for my family
and me because I have been living in that house
for about a decade. Only God knows how long the
snake came into that place.’’
Angelic visit
Rev Amba told Niger Delta Voice, “Two of my
children were home alone when they saw that a
something like a machete was piercing through
the ceiling so they ran out of the house.
Fortunately, one of our members was coming to
the house at that time, and he is the one, who
inquired from them what the matter was and they
told him what they noticed in the ceiling.”
Shocking discovery
“In trying to find out if there was someone with a
machete in the ceiling because the opening made
was quite obvious, they set up a form of ladder to
climb and look into the place, but saw something
that looked like a tyre, but they discovered it was
shining. They decided to use a bigger torch light,
what they saw was a python and they were
shocked,” he said.
His words, “I just came back from a journey
where I went to see my father in the lord in Abuja
and also attended a conference there. My coming
into Calabar was to prepare for our yearly
programme, ‘September to Remember,’ but before
coming back, I already knew that a battle had
been won because God is always in control.”
September to remember
“The occurrence did not come as a surprise but it
was not natural, because what could the snake
be possibly eating for those years it has spent in
that place, it is indeed a September to remember
for me ,my family and the MegaFaith Ministries,”
he added.
Amba further said, “When I was alerted, I decided
to call the police so that they can kill it because I
am not the kind of person, who reads meaning to
every little thing. But they refused, arguing that
they could kill it and it transforms into a human
being based on the incident that led to its
discovery, so they left without doing anything.”
Snake charmers
Man carrying the dead python
The clergyman said neighbours referred him to
some Hausa snake charmers from Bogobiri. He
complied and invited them. According to him,
”When they came (the Mallams), they first went
into the ceiling to ascertain the size of the snake
and came down to tell me that they will collect
N60,000, but we bargained till they came down to
N20,000, which we paid. I left them to continue
the work of my Father because I had communion
to administer that evening.”
He disclosed that by the time he returned, they
had killed the snake but area boys did not allow
the snake charmers to take it away, as they
turned it into a delicacy.
Attack: An eyewitness, who preferred anonymity,
told Niger Delta Voice that the snake almost
disappeared after they (Mallams) led by Danzaria
Rabiu climbed the ceiling the second time to kill
it.
“When one of the ‘aboki’ climbed the ceiling, they
could not find the snake anymore, so they started
breaking the ceiling all over and the creature fell
down in fury, started attacking them, but the four
of them over powered the about 20 meters long
creature” he stated.
The eyewitness added, “The incident was really
strange although there is a little bush behind us,
but it still does not explain how the snake
entered and have been living for years, how did it
survive for that long in that place, what was it
feeding on? He asked.
Not an ordinary snake
Mallam Rabiu, who spoke in Pidgin English, said:
“The snake don live there for a very long time don
live there for up to 10 years and when we kill am.
I discover from the counting say the snake don
live up to 19 years. There is a way we dey take
count the mark wey dey the belle to know how
long the snake don live.”
The python
“The snake enter there when e still dey small , na
for there wey the snake stay grow because we
see different kind of fowl , rat ,lizard and dog
bones, that na wetin we see for inside that ceiling
be that.”
He, however, said that the snake did not look
ordinary because it almost disappeared while they
were trying to kill it after they had finished
negotiating with the pastor, who called them to
come and kill it.
He said: “When we come inside the ceiling the
second timer, we did not see the snake again. We
come begin break the ceiling before the thing
come fall down.
“With the kind things wey dey our body, the snake
no suppose attack us. I surprise when e begin
open mouth to bite us.”
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