It was a horror story that many found hard to believe. What Mr. Jere Otoyo blurted out during a live service at The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations sounded like a scary folk tale but as the story gradually unfolded, the reality of it became more apparent. It was the sole reason Mr. Jere Otoyo had travelled all the way from Ghana to The SCOAN in Lagos, Nigeria. Many were left in shock as he relayed the terrible story. As T.B. Joshua and the congregation listened intently, Mr. Jere Otoyo reported that his 80-year-old mother-in-law, Mrs. Akon Etta, had been branded a witch and was accused of the death of her 48-year-old daughter. For the past one year, she has actually been made to live in the house with the corpse of that daughter. This dire situation had adversely affected Mr. Otoyo’s wife and consequently put a strain on their marriage.

Touched by the case, Prophet T.B. Joshua requested that Mr. Jere Otoyo bring his wife and family to The SCOAN. They arrived the following week: Mr. Jere Otoyo, his wife Mrs. Cherish Otoyo and his mother-in-law, Mrs. Akon Etta. To confirm the story, Mrs. Cherish Otoyo, Mrs. Etta's 34-year-old daughter, explained her mother’s ordeal, stating that her 80-year-old mother had been beaten and made to live with the corpse of her daughter for the past 1 year and 2 months following allegations of witchcraft. The corpse had remained unburied due to the fearful belief that if her body was buried, another person in the family would die.

Problems reportedly began for the elderly woman after she mysteriously lost four of her 12 children to various illnesses. She is alleged to have killed her daughter, Dorcas Affiong Etim, who, until her death, was trading in the neighbouring Cotonou, Benin Republic. A so-called prophet, who was later exposed as a fake, prompted the rumour that the old woman was a witch and had a hand in the successive deaths of her four children.

Mrs. Cherish Otoyo, who resides in Ghana as missionaries with her husband, Jere Otoyo, said that the man told them that if they buried her late sister (Dorcas), one other person would die almost instantly. This declaration reportedly scared the Etim family members and their community, forcing them to put Dorcas' burial on hold indefinitely. Cherish said, “Since the man said another person would die if we bury our sister, everyone was scared. None of us wanted to die and my brothers and sisters ran away from home.

Led by the Holy Spirit and speaking the mind of God concerning the matter, Prophet T.B. Joshua declared the accused woman, Mrs. Akon Etta, innocent of witchcraft and publicly announced that she was not a witch.

Imagine the horror – a frail old woman living all alone with the corpse of her own daughter - whom she was falsely accused of killing, stigmatised by her community and beaten on many occasions. How would she be feeling?
Mrs. Etta lamented in tears, “It was a painful experience. I was always going into the room to light the lantern at night. I also slept in the room at night with the embalmed corpse on the bed.” She said that her relationship with the villagers became strained and she was also accused of inflicting some people with barrenness. After the incident, they would attribute any death in the village to her supposed witchcraft, she said.

Moved by this tragic story, T.B. Joshua sent the Emmanuel TV team to the village in Akwa Ibom to vindicate her and reconcile the Otoyo family with the rest of the community. The team were also sent to ensure that the body of the late daughter, who had been embalmed and kept in a room in her mother’s house for the past 14 months, received a worthy burial. In T.B. Joshua’s own words, “We will take the battle back to the village”.

The Emmanuel TV Team followed the family back to their village in Akwa Ibom where they came face to face with Mrs. Etta’s cruel reality of life. Living in isolation, she explained that every day at around 6 pm she would enter the room to light a lantern, in efforts to stop rats and rodents from eating the body of her daughter’s corpse. Taking her mat, she laid it on the floor next to the corpse, demonstrating that this is where she has been sleeping every day for the past 14 months.

On behalf of T.B. Joshua, evangelists from The SCOAN met with the leaders and elders of the community who received them warmly and listened to the case. They accepted and agreed on preparations for the burial for which the Emmanuel TV would take full responsibility. The Emmanuel TV Team purchased the casket in which the now decomposed corpse was buried, as well as donating the sum of N150,000 and bags of rice to the family.

Arriving outside The SCOAN in Lagos, the team are thankful to God for the success of their mission; the stigma of witchcraft has been removed from the family, as has the fear of further deaths. Following the reconciliation of the family with the village and the burial of the Etta family’s dead sister, the entire community can now live together in peace and unity. Glory be to God!