How teenager was rescued alive 3 days after drowning in Benue river

15-year-old Inalegwu Emewa was found alive after he drowned for three days in a river in Oiji Community, Apa Local Government Area of Benue State. This report captures the mood of the residents as well as the factors that they believed led to the safe return of the boy who had since resumed school. 

On Wednesday, October 12, 2022, a teenage boy who reportedly drowned in Oiji community river in Apa Local Government Area of Benue State was rescued alive three days after he went missing under the water.

The 15-year-old, Inalegwu Emewa, was drawn out of the river on the morning of Saturday, October 15, hale and hearty by a rescue team who had earlier in the past three days combed the waters in vain for his presumed dead body.

Inalegwu, however, told our correspondent in an interview about one week after the incident that he felt normal even after his three days disappearance in the river.

Presently a SS3 student of Aduma Memorial Secondary School Oiji, the teenager narrated that he was with three other friends in the river as usual taking their bath and swimming when he suddenly began to sink and could no longer come out of the water despite how much he tried.

“I was coming from the farm. I entered the water to swim alongside my friends, then I couldn’t come out again. I was in the water for three days but I didn’t see anything. I didn’t eat anything during the period but I’m fine,” he said.

Inalegwu, who didn’t respond to any further questions but only replied on what profession he would like to practice in the future, simply added that, “I want to become a soldier in future.”

His father, Emewa Okala, excitedly explained that it could only have been a miracle, referring to what happened to his son.

Okala said, “I give thanks to God. I was with him (son) in the farm. Water had occupied our village and he is a student but that fateful day, their principal had asked all of them to go back home because of the flood. Meanwhile, birds had been disturbing my rice farm and he is the one taking care of it for me, usually after school. 

“When he met me in the farm because there was no school, I handed over food and every other thing in the farm to him and left for home. After about two hours, I was sleeping when people woke me to say my son was missing inside the water. 

“When I got to the scene, people had already crowded the river in search of him. Besides, the water had overflown its boundary because of the flood. 

“The next day, the town crier went round the community announcing that no villager should go to either the farm or market, so hundreds of people went to the river to look for him, yet no way and that was the second day. By the third day, the chief of the village again announced that nobody should go anywhere except to go look for my child – that’s just because of the love they have for me. They searched everywhere in the river and still could not find him. And that was when we consulted and were told he was inside the water and not dead. 

“I was told what to do and on that third day, within five minutes of our coming to the river, that my child will come out. And it happened exactly like that. While we were there, we saw him floating, coming out of the river so the youths ran and fetched him from the water. 

“He was recovered alive from the water at about 11am on the third day. He was rescued without any form of injury found on him. He is normal too; as we speak, he has resumed school.”

On whether he (son) had any encounter with spiritual beings while in the water, the father said he hadn’t questioned his son yet about any such things.

“You know, those people that carried him may not want their secrets revealed. So, we didn’t ask him what he saw in the water. But he hasn’t behaved strangely in any way.

“This kind of thing has never happened in our village before not even in the whole of our local government area. I’m so glad and it’s only God that I can give thanks to because it was a miracle. I pray that such things never happen again,” Inalegwu’s father said.

Meanwhile, the community immediately went agog as villagers attributed the mysterious recovery of the boy alive to the handiwork of their deity.

The villagers said their deity of ‘Eha’; the gods of warfare who had long defended the Oiji ancestry through a priestess popularly referred to as ‘Enegeha’ or Mama Kano, showed up for the teenager.

A witness, Kelas Onum, told our correspondent in Makurdi, that the boy had drowned while swimming across the river with four other age mates.

He explained that immediately the others who swam to safety noticed that Inalegwu was missing, they raised an alarm which attracted able-bodied young men in the village to launch into the river in search for him without any success.

“For the next three days, the search party continued to search for him but hoping to find his dead body as all hope was lost over his survival.

“Surprisingly, the boy was recovered alive on Saturday morning, October 15 after being in the river for three days. He could however not talk immediately after his rescue. Only God can explain the mystery,” he said.

Onum, while speaking about the priestess, added that, “We were born to meet that woman in my village; in fact, she is in charge of the shrine called Eha. She said nobody should go to the farm, that every body should be at home because the boy was arrested by spirits who tied him down but that they would release him. However, what she needed was an old coin for sacrifice. They brought the coin to her and after some incantations, she threw the coin into the water, then directed people to go into the river and look for the boy. 

“So, able-bodied young men jumped into the river, especially the point where he drowned while they alerted the next village in case his presumed corpse floats to that area. At the first entry that Saturday morning, he wasn’t found; it was during the second entry that one of the rescuers said he saw the boy’s hand somewhere under the bridge and that was how they were able to get the guy. It was actually mysterious.”

Onum believed that the teenager’s rescue was divine, following the intervention of the community’s oracle manned by the priestess who pleaded with the river gods for his release.

Narrating a slightly different version of the story, one of the youths who participated in the rescue of the teenager, Onyilokwu Eneche, said the villagers were still excited over the role played by the deity of the land whose shrine is presently being overseen by the powerful priestess.

“We were so grateful for what happened; it has become a testimony to Oiji community in particular and Benue State at large. The 15-year-old boy had gone to farm with his father to watch over their rice farm by chasing away birds but the father had returned home before the boy on his motorcycle. 

“On his (Inalegwu) way back home, he had a stopover at the river so he could take his bath. They were four age mates who swam in the river but when the others came out, he didn’t. The other three boys did all they could to find him and help him out of the water to no avail. They tried so hard to drag him out of the water but couldn’t when they eventually sighted him drowning.    

“Two hours after their efforts to rescue him failed, they ran home to inform the father because they heard the boy calling his father to come and rescue him. The father on hearing this went to the river himself to rescue the son but was prevented by people who felt the development wasn’t ordinary. So, throughout that day, the community did its best until dusk to rescue him to no avail. The following day, we went to the river again as early as 6am until dusk again without any success. 

“But, on the third day, by the grace of God, between 10am and 11am, following the different types of sacrifices performed; the boy within five minutes began to float on the water, and so we helped him out of the river. The Ene Eha is a priestess of the river who performed the sacrifice that led to the boy’s rescue. For those three days, the priestess engaged the spirit and didn’t sleep until the boy was rescued,” Eneche posited.

Apart from Eneche, most of the villagers believed that it was the intervention of their priestess that saved the day, especially as according to them, the teenager was found worthy so he was released to the living in good health.

The development has propelled the villagers to nickname the teenager, ‘miracle boy’ even as some affirmed the potency of their traditional belief.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) SP. Catherine Anene, replied in a text message that she wasn’t aware of the incident.