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Top Contributors - 2025
These members spark lively discussions and attract the most attention in July 2025.
New Discussions
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Glad to connect and grow together
Mike Esowa
26 mins ago00 -
Youths Are Tired—Not Lazy
Nature
31 mins ago00 -
Stop Praising Leaders for Doing Their Jobs
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The Politics of Power Supply in Nigeria
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36 mins ago00 -
I am Africa
Richie
1 hr ago00
Esther
22 hrs agoThey warned him not to go near the shrine after sunset.
But like most 17-year-olds, he didn’t listen.
Sent to the village to “reconnect with his roots,” he found nothing to connect with but mosquitoes, silence, and his own restless curiosity. That was until someone whispered a name — Okpuru — the abandoned shrine at the edge of the forest.
They said the last priest died in 1993, and since then, the gods had been silent… but not sleeping.
That evening, just after sunset, he crept out of the compound. With a dim torchlight in hand and boldness in his chest, he followed the narrow path lined with whispering bushes. As he passed the twisted iroko tree, his light flickered — once, twice — then steadied.
The air changed. It grew thick, almost heavy, like something ancient had just taken notice of him.
He reached the shrine. Its bamboo gate hung open, almost inviting.
He stepped in.
Silence.
Then the drumming began.
Boom. Boom-boom. Boom.
It was deep and deliberate, like a heartbeat echoing from the earth itself. But there was no drummer, no movement… just him.
Then a voice came, old and hoarse, floating from the shadows:
> "Nwa nwoke… gịnị ka ị na-achọ ebe a?"
(Young man… what are you looking for here?)
He spun around — no one.
He ran. Branches scratched his arms. His feet slipped in the red clay. But he didn’t stop.
They found him asleep on his mat the next morning, barefoot and trembling. His feet were stained with clay — not the soft brown of the compound, but deep shrine-red.
Beside his pillow sat a small, black talking drum.
To this day, no one knows who put it there.
But that night, several villagers claimed they heard drumming too.
And none of them live near the forest.
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If you were him… would you have entered the shrine? Or would you have respected the silence of the gods