Relatives were waiting for Mustafa Obbo when he returned home to Tororo, Uganda on Oct. 19, 2021. (Courtesy photo)
Uganda Christian News has learnt of a brutal attack on a former Sheikh in the eastern region of Uganda, who left Islam 3 years ago for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
On 19th October, 2021, Mustafa Obbo was beaten with sticks by his Muslim relatives after he had rushed from Mbale to his mother’s home in Tororo upon hearing that she was seriously ill.
Speaking to media, Mustafa explained that it was his first visit home since threats and violence from relatives for leaving his family religion drove him from the area in 2018.
Mustafa had notified his brother about returning to Tororo, who in turn alerted other relatives that he was returning home.
“I thought they had forgotten all about my conversion,” Obbo told U.S-based persecution watchdog group, Morning Star News (MSN) in a report published Thursday.
Adding: “As I arrived home, my dad and uncles ambushed me, tied me up and flogged me with several long sticks and said they were going to kill me if I did not recant my Christian faith.”
His older brother was shockingly also among the assailants, he told media.
As they beat him, Mustafa felt he was going to lose his life.
“But by grace, as they were sending someone for petrol to burn me up, a Toyota vehicle was approaching the homestead,” Obbo narrated. “When they saw the vehicle entering the compound, they took off each in his direction.”
MSN reports that Mustafa’s former classmate arrived with food for his ailing mother, found him and untied him.
The former sheikh sustained injuries to both legs, sources reveal, including a bone fracture in one, along with a back injury, bleeding and swelling. He was immediately curried away from the scene.
Fearing retaliation from his family or other Muslims, he has not reported the assault to police, he said, according to MSN.
Coming to Christ
Mustafa left Islam for Christ after an encounter with a preacher of the Gospel. His family soon noticed that he had stopped the five ritual prayers each day.
“My family organized a meeting and questioned why I was not attending the mosque,” he said. “I told them that I had not been feeling well, and the meeting ended.”
While in the house, however, he received two phone calls from Christian friends, and Obbo answered “Amen” to their exclamations of, “Praise Jesus,” he said. Thinking his relatives were out of earshot, he told the callers, “God bless you,” and “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you,” he said.
“I didn’t know that my dad was listening,” Obbo narrated. “He got a stick and hit me on my shoulders while calling me a deceiver. I managed to escape. Since 2018 I had not returned back.”
News Agencies contributed to this report.
