A pastor was shocked to the marrows when he discovered a huge python which had lived with the family for over ten years in Calabar South Local Government Area of Cross River State, .
The Senior Pastor of the MegaFaith Ministries, Reverend Tony Amba, who has numerous miracles to his credit made the discovery at his house located at No. 10 Ekpiken Close in the state.
The 19-year-old python, which is as long as 20 metres, supposedly fed on dogs, fowls, rats and lizards for ages, and had lived with the pastor and his family for about a decade.
The python came out of it’s hideout on the fateful day but was unfortunate as it got caught by some area boys who subsequently turned the meat into a delicacy.
Narrating the incident, the pastor said: “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.
“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.
“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.
“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.
“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.
“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.
”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.”
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.
The witness said: “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.
“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?”
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 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.”
Below are some of the photos of the huge python. (Click on any image to enlarge).
