Who is Julius Obi from Girls at War, and Other Stories and what is their importance?

Julius Obi is a clerk who works near the Great Market in Umura, near the Niger River. The town is still beholden to the stories of spirits and gods that walk among men, but Julius considers himself too well educated to believe them. One day, the evil spirit Kitikpa demands a sacrifice to the soil. Until it is made, no citizen of the town is safe. Kitikpa does not kill his victims though; he marks them. That night, Julius visits his betrothed, Janet, but her mother insists that, as long as Kitikpa is in the village, he and Janet should sleep apart. Julius wanders the Umura streets awhile, unconcerned with Kitikpa. Suddenly, in the darkness he hears the dangerous night-mask marauding beginning. Knowing he could well be killed, Julius begins to run for cover. In doing this, he steps on an egg offered in sacrifice to KItipka. Julius escapes the masks, but after that day Janet and her mother bear the mark of Kitipka.