Why Abuja is besieged by serpents
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Why Abuja is besieged by serpents
Ubale Idris, 42, is unarguably Abuja’s No. 1 snake charmer and with his skill, he has removed them from the home of the rich and powerful, as well as the common men. He told SUNDAY SUN that he has become busier than ever because of the seeming large number of snakes in the city. He also shared his world of snakes with us…
Two types of Cobra snakes now in Abuja
“The normal cobra has always been there in Abuja in large numbers, and that is the black cobra. But the other specie now trouping into the city are those that can fly, jump and run. They grow taller than myself (6 feet) and they have started arriving in their thousands and have started laying eggs massively – this is very, very dangerous in my view.”
“I tell you that some snakes are hatching eggs, and we have found that they have been migrating from Gombe, Plateau towards Abuja and the Western side, they are advancing from Kogi State towards Abuja. It is like they want to come and meet in the Federal Capital. That is why we are advising the Federal Government to take action. They are types that get into people’s ceilings in Abuja here and they are called riders, they can fly.
“Earlier, we did not have them in Abuja, but they have started laying plenty eggs everywhere in Abuja. Anywhere they call us to catch snakes, these particular cobra, we just pack plenty eggs and we don’t want them to start hatching. If they hatch, the people in Abuja are in danger. That is why we advise government to do something about these snakes coming to Abuja before it is too late. A single snake can lay 56 eggs and these snakes coming are thousands in number. Like that one we caught recently had laid 36 eggs and it had not finished laying.”
My Relationship with Snakes
“First of all, I was actually born with a snake. After my mother gave birth to me, two-three hours, a snake followed. So that is the genesis of my good relationship with snakes. And with that, I control snakes anyhow I like.”
So you are a twin brother to a snake?
“Yes, and we are still together.”
Where snakes like to live
“You know, snakes are cold-blooded animals, so they stay in warm places. But some do stay in water, in caves, cracks and the roofs of our buildings. Where we keep chickens, snakes get attracted, especially to the shells, no matter how far, those shells can attract them to come to the house. And from there, they find habitat in our surroundings like soakaways.
Black snakes can stay in the hole or in soakaways for many years, because they can feed on cockroaches, rats.”
Snakes in the Toilets
“This is why we advise that where there is a broken soakaway, sewage system or septic tank, people should try to block it in order not to allow snakes find their way inside. Don’t be surprised to see snakes upstairs or right in your toilet. They are able to find their way there through the septic tanks, through the soakaways located either down or upstairs.
“Remember a case in Kaduna where somebody was bitten by a large snake within his toilet. The man was a Deputy Director of NITEL in Kaduna. He went to the toilet only to be attacked by a snake from under his groins, and he died instantly as a result of that snake bite. I went there, caught the snake and brought out the man’s dead body.”
Most Dangerous Snakes
“You see all snakes are dangerous, but certainly some are more deadly than others. For example, we have the Echis Ocilatus snakes that when they attack, blood would just be rushing out from all the hair-roots, the mouth, ear and nose of the victim, and only 5 out of 25 victims may survive chances. Carpet viper is another, then (black) cobra, puff adder, horn viper, flying viper, Naja-Haje, very deadly snakes and are mostly found in this country.”
Prevalence
“We find the Echis in Kaltingo (Gombe State) and Langtang (Plateau State). In Abuja here, you can find black cobra. Our latest finding now is that cobras lay eggs in the rocks surrounding the capital city of Abuja. They have started coming down from the rocks into people’s houses. So if you hear some noises in your ceilings, don’t be surprised that it is a cobra, because we have caught many cobras. You will come across many of them even in the Ministers Hills, very dangerous cobras, they are found in Asokoro, Aso drive, Apo Legislators quarters (they have a rock there inhabited by a large number of snakes).
“Also, if you go to Wuse, Zone 4, where there is a stream flowing, plenty of snakes are there. In that Zone 4 alone, we caught 6 cobras in the ceiling of a house. One police officer just heard some noise and thought it was a rat or lizard, but to his shock, he observed that the long tail was that of a snake, and as he shouted the snake went back into his ceiling. he reported to our office in the Federal Ministry of Health. They phoned me immediately and we went and applied these powders and they came out and we caught them.
“At the Maitama Federal Housing Estate, we caught a very mighty snake and very old too.”
Abuja Snakes were displaced
“You know when the FCT was created, Abuja development started on a virgin land (jungle) and some houses were built on the houses of snakes and they will remain there, hiding in the background. The very old and big ones can disturb the lives of the whole population in that area. You know if we meet that kind of old snakes that prove stubborn, when you use the scientific method of dealing with it without success, you have to now apply the traditional method. So I had to treat it in the traditional method which was to take it into a bush and use some incantation to keep it away from people.”
Do Aging Snakes Transform to Spirit?
“Do you know that with old age snakes can change to something else? I assure you that whenever snakes reach 250 years they can change into anything. You know they can live up to 500 years and at old age we normally use traditional medicines either to control them to stay with us or we just take them to the bush.”
Do snakes Communicate?
“Of course they do. Any time you see a snake, you talk, he will listen to you very carefully but he can’t talk, so you can’t hear what he is saying. But as I told you I was born with a snake, my brother can talk to me, I can talk to him. We understand ourselves.”
How do you communicate – what language?
“Do you want to hear him talk to me?”
Drama
Then Idris sprinkled some strong-scented liquid around the room and then suddenly a noise from a corner. Idris said that his ‘brother’ was greeting everybody. And they continued discussing in that way with Idris talking in Hausa.
Snakes’s Food
“You know snakes like meat. Those in my custody, I give them fresh meat, like goat meat and fresh egg.
In the bush, they get rats and small insects, but those we keep in my house for the research we give them meat and eggs which we purchase from the market.
“But more than any other thing they like eggs. There are some white (foreign) rats which we breed specially for them, because they (rats) are very poisonous and the snakes extract the poisons from the rats. Snakes also swallow frogs, but one thing with them is that they only do that to extract the poison of the frog and spit it out. They don’t keep frogs for more than 3 hours in their belly, otherwise they will die together.”
Snakes Waste Products
“Yes traditionally, we use the excreta of snakes for curing eye problem. We also use their skins to produce the powder for driving (exorcizing) them from holes, houses, and any place. The snake urine are used mainly by hunters because when they apply it to their eyes, nothing can hide from them in the bush.
It’s like a magnifying glass or even Binoculars.
Something hidden or too far away can be sighted by the person who wears snake urine in his eyes.
“How many victims of snakebite I have treated? Here in Abuja, between October 2003 and now, I have treated over 350 cases, even as recently as April a victim was brought here from Pankshin, Plateau State.”
Two types of Cobra snakes now in Abuja
“The normal cobra has always been there in Abuja in large numbers, and that is the black cobra. But the other specie now trouping into the city are those that can fly, jump and run. They grow taller than myself (6 feet) and they have started arriving in their thousands and have started laying eggs massively – this is very, very dangerous in my view.”
“I tell you that some snakes are hatching eggs, and we have found that they have been migrating from Gombe, Plateau towards Abuja and the Western side, they are advancing from Kogi State towards Abuja. It is like they want to come and meet in the Federal Capital. That is why we are advising the Federal Government to take action. They are types that get into people’s ceilings in Abuja here and they are called riders, they can fly.
“Earlier, we did not have them in Abuja, but they have started laying plenty eggs everywhere in Abuja. Anywhere they call us to catch snakes, these particular cobra, we just pack plenty eggs and we don’t want them to start hatching. If they hatch, the people in Abuja are in danger. That is why we advise government to do something about these snakes coming to Abuja before it is too late. A single snake can lay 56 eggs and these snakes coming are thousands in number. Like that one we caught recently had laid 36 eggs and it had not finished laying.”
My Relationship with Snakes
“First of all, I was actually born with a snake. After my mother gave birth to me, two-three hours, a snake followed. So that is the genesis of my good relationship with snakes. And with that, I control snakes anyhow I like.”
So you are a twin brother to a snake?
“Yes, and we are still together.”
Where snakes like to live
“You know, snakes are cold-blooded animals, so they stay in warm places. But some do stay in water, in caves, cracks and the roofs of our buildings. Where we keep chickens, snakes get attracted, especially to the shells, no matter how far, those shells can attract them to come to the house. And from there, they find habitat in our surroundings like soakaways.
Black snakes can stay in the hole or in soakaways for many years, because they can feed on cockroaches, rats.”
Snakes in the Toilets
“This is why we advise that where there is a broken soakaway, sewage system or septic tank, people should try to block it in order not to allow snakes find their way inside. Don’t be surprised to see snakes upstairs or right in your toilet. They are able to find their way there through the septic tanks, through the soakaways located either down or upstairs.
“Remember a case in Kaduna where somebody was bitten by a large snake within his toilet. The man was a Deputy Director of NITEL in Kaduna. He went to the toilet only to be attacked by a snake from under his groins, and he died instantly as a result of that snake bite. I went there, caught the snake and brought out the man’s dead body.”
Most Dangerous Snakes
“You see all snakes are dangerous, but certainly some are more deadly than others. For example, we have the Echis Ocilatus snakes that when they attack, blood would just be rushing out from all the hair-roots, the mouth, ear and nose of the victim, and only 5 out of 25 victims may survive chances. Carpet viper is another, then (black) cobra, puff adder, horn viper, flying viper, Naja-Haje, very deadly snakes and are mostly found in this country.”
Prevalence
“We find the Echis in Kaltingo (Gombe State) and Langtang (Plateau State). In Abuja here, you can find black cobra. Our latest finding now is that cobras lay eggs in the rocks surrounding the capital city of Abuja. They have started coming down from the rocks into people’s houses. So if you hear some noises in your ceilings, don’t be surprised that it is a cobra, because we have caught many cobras. You will come across many of them even in the Ministers Hills, very dangerous cobras, they are found in Asokoro, Aso drive, Apo Legislators quarters (they have a rock there inhabited by a large number of snakes).
“Also, if you go to Wuse, Zone 4, where there is a stream flowing, plenty of snakes are there. In that Zone 4 alone, we caught 6 cobras in the ceiling of a house. One police officer just heard some noise and thought it was a rat or lizard, but to his shock, he observed that the long tail was that of a snake, and as he shouted the snake went back into his ceiling. he reported to our office in the Federal Ministry of Health. They phoned me immediately and we went and applied these powders and they came out and we caught them.
“At the Maitama Federal Housing Estate, we caught a very mighty snake and very old too.”
Abuja Snakes were displaced
“You know when the FCT was created, Abuja development started on a virgin land (jungle) and some houses were built on the houses of snakes and they will remain there, hiding in the background. The very old and big ones can disturb the lives of the whole population in that area. You know if we meet that kind of old snakes that prove stubborn, when you use the scientific method of dealing with it without success, you have to now apply the traditional method. So I had to treat it in the traditional method which was to take it into a bush and use some incantation to keep it away from people.”
Do Aging Snakes Transform to Spirit?
“Do you know that with old age snakes can change to something else? I assure you that whenever snakes reach 250 years they can change into anything. You know they can live up to 500 years and at old age we normally use traditional medicines either to control them to stay with us or we just take them to the bush.”
Do snakes Communicate?
“Of course they do. Any time you see a snake, you talk, he will listen to you very carefully but he can’t talk, so you can’t hear what he is saying. But as I told you I was born with a snake, my brother can talk to me, I can talk to him. We understand ourselves.”
How do you communicate – what language?
“Do you want to hear him talk to me?”
Drama
Then Idris sprinkled some strong-scented liquid around the room and then suddenly a noise from a corner. Idris said that his ‘brother’ was greeting everybody. And they continued discussing in that way with Idris talking in Hausa.
Snakes’s Food
“You know snakes like meat. Those in my custody, I give them fresh meat, like goat meat and fresh egg.
In the bush, they get rats and small insects, but those we keep in my house for the research we give them meat and eggs which we purchase from the market.
“But more than any other thing they like eggs. There are some white (foreign) rats which we breed specially for them, because they (rats) are very poisonous and the snakes extract the poisons from the rats. Snakes also swallow frogs, but one thing with them is that they only do that to extract the poison of the frog and spit it out. They don’t keep frogs for more than 3 hours in their belly, otherwise they will die together.”
Snakes Waste Products
“Yes traditionally, we use the excreta of snakes for curing eye problem. We also use their skins to produce the powder for driving (exorcizing) them from holes, houses, and any place. The snake urine are used mainly by hunters because when they apply it to their eyes, nothing can hide from them in the bush.
It’s like a magnifying glass or even Binoculars.
Something hidden or too far away can be sighted by the person who wears snake urine in his eyes.
“How many victims of snakebite I have treated? Here in Abuja, between October 2003 and now, I have treated over 350 cases, even as recently as April a victim was brought here from Pankshin, Plateau State.”
Anyone that can fry 3 sets of plantain without putting any in their mouth can keep a secret.
COMPLETE UTTER BULLSHIT
Ayton Senna wrote:On a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit. And you then go for this limit and you touch this limit, and you think, 'Okay, this is the limit.' As soon as you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high - Ayton Senna
FORZA JUVE
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Scipio Africanus
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Akamoke
I HOPE THIS STORY HAS TUAGHT YOU A LESSEON, BECAREFUL WHEN USING YA' TOILET, WHEN YA' STANDING TO PISS, STAND A FEW FEET AWAY, UNLESS YOU WAN SH*T, THEN YOU CAN JUST DROP THE KING-SIZED BROWN BOMB, AND THE SMELL WILL SURELY POISON THE SNAKE, BECAUSE SNAKES CAN TATSE THE AIR.
Anyone that can fry 3 sets of plantain without putting any in their mouth can keep a secret.
AAAHH! Flying snake????“The normal cobra has always been there in Abuja in large numbers, and that is the black cobra. But the other specie now trouping into the city are those that can fly,
“First of all, I was actually born with a snake. After my mother gave birth to me, two-three hours, a snake followed. So that is the genesis of my good relationship with snakes. And with that, I control snakes anyhow I like.”
So you are a twin brother to a snake?
“Yes, and we are still together.”
Racist!!Black snakes can stay in the hole or in soakaways for many years, because they can feed on cockroaches, rats.”
Not true.Most Dangerous Snakes
“You see all snakes are dangerous,
Do Aging Snakes Transform to Spirit?
“Do you know that with old age snakes can change to something else? I assure you that whenever snakes reach 250 years they can change into anything. You know they can live up to 500 years and at old age we normally use traditional medicines either to control them to stay with us or we just take them to the bush.”
Do snakes Communicate?
“Of course they do. Any time you see a snake, you talk, he will listen to you very carefully but he can’t talk, so you can’t hear what he is saying. But as I told you I was born with a snake, my brother can talk to me, I can talk to him. We understand ourselves.”
How do you communicate – what language?
“Do you want to hear him talk to me?”
The snake urine are used mainly by hunters because when they apply it to their eyes, nothing can hide from them in the bush.
It’s like a magnifying glass or even Binoculars.
Something hidden or too far away can be sighted by the person who wears snake urine in his eyes.
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xxmanB2003
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This is very scary stuff. If it is true that snakes are threatening to take over the federal capital, the govt should act very quickly and decisive to wipe them out and make sure that they don't come back. If they bite oyibo, it is going to bad for the image of the country cos foreign press will use it to complete the poor image they have been painting of naija. So for the sake of everybody govt should stop the invasion of snakes to FCT. This is not a laughing matter abi. 
With God everything is possible.
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General Trousers
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Well ... I must say my piece. My life in Nigeria was filled in encounters with snakes.
When (while living in Zaria) I was 3 or 4 I saw a snake resting ON TOP of the toilet bowl. Not knowing what it was, I went to mumsie and said there was a "worm" on the toilet. She shooed me away. I repeated this complaint about 2 more times. The third time, I came back, I said "the worm is looking at me and sticking its tongue at me", She immediately dropped her pencil (she was teaching my older brother mathematics), and rushed to wake up my dad (who was lying on the couch), he in turn rushed and using a long pole scattered the bath room
The second time was when I encontered a black snake in PH. It was indeed in a never completed suckaway pit behind my class, and we only found out about it after someone looked down in it. These black snakes are actually black mambas, which are very fast and quite poisonous. We hurled many stones on it and killed it.
Of the "flying snakes" cobras and a few other tree vipers leap and can glide for a few meters, thus giving the impression that they can fly ... Nigeria is full of snakes and all kinds of strange animals ...
When (while living in Zaria) I was 3 or 4 I saw a snake resting ON TOP of the toilet bowl. Not knowing what it was, I went to mumsie and said there was a "worm" on the toilet. She shooed me away. I repeated this complaint about 2 more times. The third time, I came back, I said "the worm is looking at me and sticking its tongue at me", She immediately dropped her pencil (she was teaching my older brother mathematics), and rushed to wake up my dad (who was lying on the couch), he in turn rushed and using a long pole scattered the bath room
The second time was when I encontered a black snake in PH. It was indeed in a never completed suckaway pit behind my class, and we only found out about it after someone looked down in it. These black snakes are actually black mambas, which are very fast and quite poisonous. We hurled many stones on it and killed it.
Of the "flying snakes" cobras and a few other tree vipers leap and can glide for a few meters, thus giving the impression that they can fly ... Nigeria is full of snakes and all kinds of strange animals ...
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theYemster
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Aging snakes turning into spirits 
....They turned what would otherwise be a serious issue into something comical.
That's the advantage of living in a cold city...the good thing about winter here is that the snow and icy cold air it prevents all these pests...insects, snakes etc.
Although ever since I saw a news report of a snake crawling out os some dude's toilet, I always leave the cover of my toilet bowl down...just in case.
....They turned what would otherwise be a serious issue into something comical.That's the advantage of living in a cold city...the good thing about winter here is that the snow and icy cold air it prevents all these pests...insects, snakes etc.
Although ever since I saw a news report of a snake crawling out os some dude's toilet, I always leave the cover of my toilet bowl down...just in case.
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Scipio Africanus
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It is always a good idea to leave your toilet bowl down, snakes or no snakes.theYemster wrote:Aging snakes turning into spirits
That's the advantage of living in a cold city...the good thing about winter here is that the snow and icy cold air it prevents all these pests...insects, snakes etc.
<b>Although ever since I saw a news report of a snake crawling out os some dude's toilet, <u>I always leave the cover of my toilet bowl down...just in case.</u></b>
Think about the very fine aerosol spray of s.h.i.t created everytime the toilet is flushed after a good dump. According to reliable scientific studies, these very fine droplets of s.h.i.t, (< 0.5 microns in diameter) rise and end up on everything from toothbrushes to towels.
Wha choo looking at?!