The youths also burnt his other valuable property and destroyed his yam barn and farms.

The youths carried out the dastardly act following a prophecy by a prophet, who is simply identified as Prophet Ubadimma. The youths claim that according to Ubadimma’s prophecy, the victim was responsible for the backwardness and other misfortunes in the area.

An indigene, Nwota Gabriel, told our correspondent that a prayer programme was held by the villagers and they invited the popular ‘Prophet’ Ubadimma for the three-day event to fish out the evil men in their village.

According to him, “From the report, they said that this young prophet, if invited to any village for a crusade, will use his power to fish out evil men in the village, thereby making the villagers free from all forms of captivities. Ubadimma goes from village to village, if invited, with his team for a crusade.

“Unfortunately, this particular one got everybody confused and Ubadimma pointed at the man (the victim) at the crusade ground as one of the evildoers in the village.

“When he was pointed at, the man insisted that he was innocent; but the villagers insisted that he should be treated the way others are treated.”

He said that on the fourth day of the programme, the man invited the police to disorganise the programme, noting that after the whole scenario, the angry youths in the village came out and demolished his houses, motorcycle, farm, and other property for denying that he was not responsible for the village woes.

Meanwhile, the traditional ruler of Ndieze Autonomous Community in the council area, HRH Eze Hyacinth Nwokpor, has banned prophets and prophetesses from operating in his community.

He claimed that prophets and prophetesses had caused many problems in the community.