Opinion
Ortom And Fear Of Witches In Benue State
Published
3 months agoon

By Leo Igwe
The Ortom-led administration in Benue state is obsessed with witchcraft fears and anxieties, and this obsession is undermining efforts to combat abuses linked to witchcraft beliefs and accusations. Otherwise, how does one explain the government’s opposition to a campaign against witch persecution especially the activities of the Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AfAW) in the state? How does one situate the official misrepresentation of a seminar on witch persecution? I mean why a state panic over the ‘meeting of witches and wizards’, whatever that means? Do witches exist? Can the supposed meeting of witches perturb any state that worth its salt in this 21st century?
Abuses linked to witchcraft and occult beliefs are pervasive. People in Benue are aware of these violations and are often helpless. People despair and resign to this unfortunate predicament. There is a culture of silence over these atrocities. Witchcraft accusations and witch persecutions are widespread because the government is doing little or nothing to address the issue. Witch hunters operate with impunity mainly in rural areas across Benue. Witch persecutors are seldom brought to justice. People accused of witchcraft are subjected to jungle justice and trial by ordeal; they are attacked and murdered in cold blood. For instance, two elderly men were mobbed and murdered after being accused of witchcraft in October. No arrest has been made. No one would be brought to justice for this heinous crime. Alleged witches have reportedly been stoned or strangled to death in many parts of Benue state. Impunity reigns across the region.
READ ALSO: AfAW Urges Victims, Survivors Of Witch Persecution In Benue To Speak Out
In response to these atrocities, the AfAW announced a seminar on superstition and witch persecution in Benue in September. The objective of the event was to explore this vicious phenomenon and how to tackle it. But the police invaded, disrupted, and stopped the event. The police claimed that they got some ‘intelligence’ that witches were meeting at the venue and were instructed to stop the meeting. They did not provide details of the intelligence! The police invasion was an embarrassment to the organizers, who explained to the police and other security operatives that the event was meant to address abuses linked to witchcraft beliefs. The police claimed that they were misinformed, but insisted that the event would not go ahead. The police advised the organizers to reschedule for another date. They asked the organizers to notify them before the next date of the event. A senior police officer told the organizers to come with a letter that clearly stated that they were not witches!
The police forgot that the accusation of witchcraft was a crime under the Nigerian law which they were commissioned to enforce. Sections 210 of the criminal code and 216 of the penal code criminalized witchcraft accusations. And by designating the organizers as witches, the police committed a crime. The police demonstrated a lack of knowledge of the law and a failure of their duties as constituted authorities.

A survivor sharing his experiences
Meanwhile, there was no allusion to how to compensate the organizers for the expenses incurred. Some officers told us that the problem was from the government house. They did not provide details. The AfAW rescheduled the event for December 21, 2022. It invited the relevant stakeholders, the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the police, media, NGOs, etc. About a week before the program, the Department of State Security (DSS) invited the organizers to come and inform them about the event. This invitation was disturbing. The DSS works in secret. And an invitation meant that they must have secretly uncovered or accessed something of real concern. I wondered if the DSS also entertained the same misconception of the AfAW and its event as the police. I tried to engage the spokesperson in Abuja via whatsapp. But he accused me of ‘grandstanding and raising unnecessary alarm’.
The meeting with the DSS went well. They advised the organizers to extend an invitation to the state police command which we did. Two days before the event, the DSS invited the organizers again for a meeting. At the meeting, the officers asked the organizers to meet with the divisional police officer for the area where the event would be held. We met with the DPO, and he took us to the state police command. He said the Commissioner of Police(CP) wanted to see us. At the state police headquarters, we first met with the Deputy Police Commissioner(DCP) who took us to the CP’s office. But the CP was not present. They asked us to wait for him. While we were waiting, we met with the Police Public Relations Officer(PPRO) who told us to meet with the CP. From all the meetings, it was clear that something was amiss. For no cogent reason, a fringe AfAW event was a security concern in the state. It was annoying that in the course of these meetings, police officers including the PPRO referred to us as these ‘witch people’ even after a repeated explanation that the AfAW advocated for alleged witches and against witch persecution.
READ ALSO: People With Dementia Are Not Witches, They Need Care – AfAW
The police officers refused to learn and unlearn. The CP later arrived and the DCP took us to his office. The meeting like the one we held with the DSS was positive and encouraging. After a brief introduction of the AfAW and its activities, the CP made it clear that people were misinformed about the Advocacy for Alleged Witches; that the name of the organization conveyed a different message and understanding. He called the chief security officer at the government house and explained to him; he made it clear that the AfAW had been misrepresented. That its organizers had very noble intentions that the government should support.
The CP asked if the CSO could agree to meet with us or get the governor to meet with us so that we could explain and clarify issues. It was at that point that it became clear to me and other colleagues that Gov Ortom was behind the disruption and stopping of our event in September. The CP asked us to go and meet with the CSO at the government house. We went to his office and he was not present. His assistant said he went to see the governor; that we should come back the following day. I tried reaching the CSO through his assistant to discuss and resolve the issue, but he was not picking up my calls. The following day, the organizers met with the DSS and they insisted we get some clearance from the police. The officer asked us to meet the DPO again. The DPO said that he had not received any signal from the CP and asked us to return to the CP. We did but this time, the DCP did not allow us to see the CP. He asked us to go and meet with the CSO for clearance. At this point, we decided that we had had enough; that we would go ahead with the event, and if the police came and disrupted it we would disperse as we did in September.
Before leaving the police station, an officer who was familiar with our case, told us, off the record, to go ahead with our event, that the state house would not give us any clearance. We were told that Gov Ortom called the police and instructed them to stop our event, the ‘meeting of witches’ in September. And the order had not been revoked. The seminar went ahead as planned at the Staff Development Center on December 21. The organizers anticipated police disruption as was the case in September but it did not happen. The program took place without any incident. Fifteen persons attended the event including representatives of FIDA, NHRC, and the media.
READ ALSO: Police: Fear Of Witches And Law Enforcement In Benue
Due to the uncertainties over the organization of the program, we could not mobilize people to attend. One survivor of witch persecution was at the program and recounted how his son accused him of being responsible for his wife’s miscarriage and threatened to kill him. The son attacked him with a stick but he resisted him. Family members raised alarm and were able to subdue the son before he could harm him. The son used the stick to smash the windscreen and windows, head and rear light, and mirrors of his car. This survivor came from a distant village to attend the event after listening to a public enlightenment program on the radio Benue the previous day. The AfAW pledged to support him with a sum of 50,000 naira. We will explore ways to empower and rehabilitate other victims of witch hunts in the state and continue to send the message that alleged witches are innocent. Victims and survivors of witch persecution need a platform where they can share their stories and experiences. They need the support of the government and society. But survivors would not get the support that they need if the state government is against advocacy for alleged witches; if the government cannot make a distinction between a meeting to address abuses linked to witchcraft beliefs and a meeting of ‘witches and wizards’.
The Ortom-led government is mistaken and needs to get rid of the misinformation about the activities of the AfAW and efforts to combat abuses linked to witchcraft accusations. It should take measures to dispel witchcraft fears and anxieties and rally against witchcraft allegations and witch persecution in the state.
Dr Igwe directs the Advocacy for Alleged Witches which campaigns to end witch persecution in Africa.
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By Toyin Falola
“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” – Galileo Galilei
Religion remains a much-debated issue, especially in Africa. It is one of the determining factors of our identity. It determines who we are, our beliefs, actions and reactions, and even our thought processes. Africans had their own culture and traditional religion until the advent of western civilization, which brought with it the ‘gift’ of Abrahamic religions—,Christianity and Islam—and judged African traditional religious practices as evil, pagan practice and witchcraft. The missionaries did a thorough job of making people believe that their religion was superior and righteous. Africans accepted these imported religions, and their traditional beliefs began to fade. Christianity and Islam are now the new order, and people are extremely devoted to these newly found Gods.
The Toyin Falola Interviews recently played host to music composer and songwriter, Beautiful Nubia. The question of Beautiful Nubia’s stance on religion pops up during the interview. He is known to promote African spirituality but has also defended foreign religions as advantageous. In response, he talks about his ancestral line: his paternal family were Olu Orogbo devotees (the Yoruba god of letters), and his maternal family were Ifa priests and Esu devotees. He said, “religion has always fascinated me like it gets people’s minds.” He opines that spirituality ties into what gets people so much into religion. Although he no longer practices religion, he affirms that these religions have positively influenced people to do good and show kindness to their fellow human beings.
He states, “Any organized religion has a set of dogma or doctrines they use to guide you to put you in there. You are there; it is like a strait jacket to keep you on the straight and narrow. Why I said religion is a good thing is because the purpose of this is to ensure that you stay on the straight and narrow, that you do good things.” We can agree that religion has contributed to the rise of morals to a certain extent, as the fear of God keeps many people from doing evil. It has curbed wickedness and negative traits inherent in humans and made many people see the world in a new light. Religion has spread the message of doing good and becoming a better human being.
Beautiful Nubia
The issue, however, is not the practice of these religions but the ability of leaders to sway people easily. Although imported religions have helped to stop the extremities of African religious practices, it has only accentuated people’s gullibility. Beautiful Nubia further states, “What is wrong with religion is that it gives certain people the power to use their followers. It is not the religion itself; it is the human beings who run these religious organizations who use their power to extract money from them and push them in the wrong direction.” Owning a church is one of the easiest and quickest ways to get rich, particularly in Nigeria. All that is needed to succeed in this business is to be a good actor, have nice clothes (suits, particularly), can win people over with words and give yourself an extraordinary title such as Rabbi.
It is common knowledge that the major reason why people attend church and Jumat services religiously are that they seek solutions to their problems. As much bad governance is enough to seek God’s intervention for various human issues ranging from terminal illnesses, protection, promotion, unhappiness, barrenness, unemployment, and marital problems, to poverty, which is an average African’s motivation to seek God’s face, also cause people to become staunch believers. To get swift, miraculous answers to these problems, many people fall prey to the traps of “men of God”, who only look to fill their pockets and bellies. This explains why a “pastor” would shut down his church after winning a 100 million Naira bet.
Pastors and Muslim clerics are considered mini gods who can do no wrong. The Bible verse, “touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm,” is an ever-ready response by Christians in defense of their highly revered pastors who would not think twice before taking advantage of their desperation to get their problems solved. They forget that a “man of God” is first a man. Religion has rendered humans gullible to the extent that they excuse things their religious leaders do that are not even in tune with what is written in the Holy books. How do you explain a pastor who sleeps with a woman looking for the fruit of the womb and says his sperm is the anointing that will cause her to have her child? What do we say to a pastor who instructs his congregation to bring a greater percentage of their salaries to him so that God can answer their prayers? Should the man who claims to be an alfa but has exploited so many people in the name of being a ‘wonder healer’ be left alone? Churches and mosques nowadays see the desperation of people and feed off it. Many people come to church for prosperity and get ripped off the little they have, all in the name of miracles, signs and wonders. You could be in a church service and then suddenly hear the pastor say, “I see seven stars. I need seven people who will give the Lord Seven Hundred Thousand to come out now at the count of seven. One, Two…Seven!” You will be amazed at the number of people who will run to the altar to give the ‘Lord’ that amount of money in this present economy. Unsurprisingly, some borrow money to give to their pastors to receive blessings, then struggle to pay back the borrowed money. Monkey dey work, Baboon dey chop.
These men of God add false doctrines to their fraudulent, shady activities. Beautiful Nubia quotes his mother, a Christian singer, as saying, ” any church where they are a lot of people there, you know there are telling them lies there.” He made an example of a Muslim cleric who tells his followers that every other person is evil, an infidel and a pastor who tells his congregation that their Jesus is not a Jesus of poverty, that He died for them to be wealthy. It is now rare to find churches that preach about the kingdom of God and how to live a life that pleases God. Churches today entice and then mislead people.
Sometimes, people realize all these things are wrong but lack the courage to question these atrocities. According to Beautiful Nubia, “…as a child, you are fully indoctrinated, and as an adult, you are scared to question these beliefs.” Asking a pastor why he preaches only prosperity and how to get rich as a Christian would be considered as seeking the wrath of God because the pastor can call down fire to consume his ‘enemy’. Questioning an Imam on why he sleeps with young girls will only attract curses from the Quran on such a person, followed by “who are you to question God’s prophet? The ways and dealings of God are mysterious”. Really, who dares question these men of God? The fear that has been unconsciously programmed into your mind from a very young age holds your voice and makes you look away from the evils of these religious leaders.
This is not to say that there are no genuine men of God, but there is a plague of greedy religious leaders who, because of their power over their members, influence them to bend to their will while satisfying their greed and lust. “We should not focus too much on religion being our enemy. We need to focus more on ourselves, fix ourselves, and we can use traditional wisdom to do that”, says Nubia. The way we question and demand accountability from the government should be the same way we question our religious leaders. Not every “God says” is true. The Bible in 1 John 4:1 says, “Beloved , believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” Many religious leaders are gods of their bellies and are only out to exploit people to put food in their fat stomachs and live expensive lifestyles with their poor congregation’s money. Child of God, shine ya eye!
This is Part 1 of the report on the interview with Beautiful on March 19, 2023. The extensive interview, which has received millions of views across different platforms, talks about the role of music in society. For the transcripts, see:
YouTube
https://youtube.com/watch?v=7fyHlf1QIsI
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By Toyin Falola
I
Death
Twilight-zone, Afterlife, What-Mays, and Whatnots;
Questions that transcend mortal thoughts.
Uncertainties plucked by the hands of certainty
pondering life beyond the galaxy.
Philosophies, religions, and sciences;
Ancient lenses to dissect and ponder.
Beliefs, opinions, and standpoints in their multiplicities;
Scalpels that open the heart of certain death
Blazing free the skins of uncertainty.
Science, a nobility I revere,
But it stammers answering to the afterlife.
For science is knowledge and knowledge from experience
But the dead neither speak, nor take records.
Their journeys, ordeals, triumphs or woes?
No one bears witness.
But as dead, we must all be witnesses;
witnesses that testify not.
So, for now, we survive the knowledge of death.
II
On my Agbàlàgbà head lies my Ọ́kpụ́ Ágwụ́
With eagle feathers, rare and honorable
Adorning it for three scores, a decade, and some more days.
I had flipped my Kente given by the Gaa
And danced to crescendos from Gàngàn drums
I have been celebrated and celebrating
For the miracles, I have worked with pen, paper, keyboard, and brain
I have taken the tales we tell in my village square beyond the Atlantic
Changed the songs that disdain us into appraisals
I have called my brothers not to point to our fathers’ house with their left hands
I have honed Africa and beyond
To answer the calls of the people’s need
I have reached the thinkable and done the unthinkable
So, I danced and keep dancing.
Suddenly, I felt a touch on my host?
Electrifying my hand, leg, brain, and my whole
Telling me that my jur from the Dinka people awaits me.
That my hourglass tells of crossing the bar.
I thought I knew what it was like,
But my grasping convictions of approaching jur were perceptions
Just surviving the death of the knowledge of death
So, arms wide open ready to abound
What was there to fear?
No catacomb of secrets
No palm oil-drenched white garments
I have taken many to my gourmet
To feast and to see.
What was there not to fear?
With medicine men and women,
Syringes, lights, water, ECG, Oximeters, voices, and touches
Hovering around me like a sacred etutu
Making conversations with me and beyond
I was thrown into a pool of reminiscence
one leg and a part of me were already in the boat
It beckoned but I heard another.
A loud voice like my mother’s.
Who takes a journey without locking his home?
Who takes the jur with unpatched palm fronds on his hut?
While the thunder rages up the sky?
The walls are broken and Balogun journeys?
So, I left the sea to clear the cobwebs and light up the night lamb.
The past few weeks have opened new lights of understanding to me. I now see the world from different hills and have helped to reach new resolutions. I know I have written about “transitioning to nothingness,” but my emphasis was on the “nothingness” with lesser attention on “transitioning.” I think we need to continue to ask questions. Philosophies, religion, sociology, psychology, science, and other ramifications are mere perceptions and we are uncertain. The transitioning occurs when death becomes an angel to hug not a beast to fear. We do not know what it entails but one must always endeavor to go with clean hands.
My recovery from an illness may have offered me a fresh opportunity to shout some more, point to societal needs, and settle unfinished businesses. No, not those caused by my personal undoing, but rather those of the people who would be left unguided, and for matters untold about life, society, and individuals. I can say I have passed through the lessons of tantra transfiguration, to use an elegant phrase that I recently came across, to move from secular to sacred activism. No one survives death because of its finality, but when it seems that you did, it is a renewed quest, offering a new purpose.
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By Tony Afejuku
The debate has progressed well so far. Our professors, whose strokes have centred on their fellow professor’s manned INEC have tried as best as they could not to confine their impressions solely to the prism of subjectivity. Even when their impressions seem to be subjective, they still make allowance for contrary views, for opposing views. This obviously gives clarity, objectivity and logic to the subject at hand. Is the will of INEC of a professor minder and mincer of words’ control the will of the people or of the masses? On whose side are the Professors who are as concerned as almost everybody is with what is going – or with what has gone on – primarily about our Presidential 2023 elections? Our Professors who are debating the subject constitute the courageous and prophetic Nigerian voices of our day. Their authentic and responsible thoughts are not restricted to the local or regional. They are also not confined to electoral duties and responsibilities expected of the umpire and the will that belongs elsewhere. The truth about the quality of leadership about our country and elsewhere is also told in the debate of the literati.
Professor (Mrs.) Razinatu Mohamed in her submission, in her salvo-cum-explosion actually, drew attention to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s explosive explosion in the presidency. If Professor Osinbajo had provided the right vice-presidential leadership there would not have been the need for him to explode as he did as per a viral video Professor Razinatu Mohamed referred her fellow debaters to. “What has he been doing in the eight years of their administration? Irritated my foot; he is complicit.” Not done, Professor Razinatu drew attention to the kind of leaders that Nigeria and Africa need: “Leaders that understand the rudiments of modern socio-economic development and systems; Leaders that understand the crux of requirements for economic growth. Leaders that could demonstrate to the rest of the world that just as the world needs Africa, African countries need the world in a symbiotic relationship and partnership context where assistance becomes a dual role…..”
Razinata’s concern is clear. Nothing in Nigeria will climb out of its hollow hole. In fact, the will of the people will remain hollow so long as a hollow mincer and minder is in charge of its electoral affairs.
Professor Da Sylva perhaps responds better to Professor Razinatu Mohamed’s algebraic stroke. “Unfortunately, Nigeria’s democracy is trapped in its primordial self-made ethnic and religious sentiments and so, standards, merit, competence and pedigrees are measured by their curious divides of religion and ethnic inclinations. Until we all come to realize that heavens help those who help themselves, Nigeria ain’t going no-where – meeen!”
But below is Professor Da Sylva’s sledge hammer response to Professor Razinatu Mohamed’s Osinbajo hammer blow:
“Prof Osinbajo’s office demands he does what he did. Besides, it shows maturity and spirit of sportsmanship on his part. Every loser in a game “healthily” contested, is naturally expected to do the same. The only difference which again shows Osinbajo’s magnanimity is that in this context, the contest under reference was neither healthy nor just. The umpire seemed compromised and merely worked to a prepared answer. Yet the gentleman did the needful. I guess, brothers and sisters, that we should put all that behind us, and work for our common good, and the wellbeing of the country, provided the mythical Aso cabal will let the President-elect be, and let the masses be, and as such, they should not create any cause for us to think otherwise, lest they provoke our sense of patriotism to take appropriate action! I guess that those were the reading or feelings of the dirty-minded Aso Villa cabal. People that kill with sword never wish that any folk should pass a sword over their heads, a wise saying goes in Yoruba. The human principalities simply suspected that should they allow PMB to give the VP the intended latitude, they might not be able to control him. I remember on his return from London, he commended the efforts of his VP while he was away. He said he would still continue acting while he would still have some more rest at home. The following day everything changed, PMB decided to take charge as the President. I suspected some back door politics was playing out. My co-debaters, quite naturally, you’ll agree with me that, it is not over-ambition or sheer opportunism as you might insinuate for any deputy in an office to aspire to the next higher office, in a legitimate manner, there is nothing really unusual about it, and it would amount to killing a mosquito with a sledge hammer, should Oshinbajo be crucified for that, if at all. And as for his wishing Buhari’s non-recovery, I think that, again, like my Sister R, is a little unkind and not fair to the gentleman who I know to be a servant of God. He knows as much as I do, by our true Christian orientation and Biblical injunctions that, should he ever wish Buhari’s death or wish him any form of misfortune in those trying periods of the President, God Almighty who we serve would deal mercilessly and ruthlessly with him. That is what Psalm 41:1-13 is all about. So rule that out, because it is not, and could never be in his character. I can vouch for him. Rather, I saw him in those times that he acted for his principal, as someone zealous and appreciative of the trust his principal invested in him, and as such he tried to do his very best to merit the trust and the opportunity! I know and I am also sure that this is what an IBK, or a Razinat, would have done too had they found themselves in a similar situation! It does not amount to wishing one’s principal any evil, not at all. Not everyone can be like Chief Obafemi Awolowo who resigned his position under Gowon when the regime became financially reckless shortly after the civil war. Awolowo also gave very profound argumentation to justify convincingly his actions. He also turned down some other appointments including the “49 Wise Men of the Constitution Drafting Committee.” Oshinbajo couldn’t have resigned, normally, and naturally his principal, PMB should have supported him as a capable successor, but again, the President’s ethnic and religious bigotry took the better part of the President. Besides, PMB’s mind was long poisoned against his VP, a clean job by the Aso Villa cabal. IBK, Lady R, until the faceless cabal is permanently silenced the wheel of Nigeria might continue to go round in a circle, and to nowhere in particular”.
And Professor IBK takes the floor: “Prof. DAO, yours is a powerfully convincing submission, at least in a large measure. Now I am willing to hold a slightly different opinion about Osinbajo. Yet, I cannot fathom why he chose to run against Tinubu, days or weeks after the latter had begun his campaign in the party primaries. There’s much we don’t know about why OSBJ decided to run against BAT. Nothing is wrong with that politically but a little problematic from an Ethical or, at least Moral, point of view. Osinbajo did a poor job of it and came out a distant 4th in the primaries. I think he didn’t read the situation correctly and was probably misled by some cabal of sorts. Either way Osinbajo made a politically fatal error in this regard. Perhaps he must have sensed, or was told, that BAT was not the anointed candidate, or that BAT would be crippled by some ill-health or a medical condition. I remember the party’s screening committee publicly recommending that only younger contestants would be recommended to the NWC or such. Clearly there was an attempt to sideline BAT. Whatever the explanation, Osinbajo make the error in his campaign of promising to be more Buhari than Buhari. A man despised by whole sections of the northern population, a man whose reputation for laziness and incompetence was on the ascendant. Anyway, all is now history and Osinbajo has not given a good account of himself in this particular case. Prof DAO, I think your concept of the Trickster should account for Osinbajo’s situation here. FULL DISCLOSURE: a very close family member of mine was drafted to head Osinbajo’s campaign effort in Kano. We discussed extensively about Osinbajo’s pledge to carry on with Buhari’s policies. There was bewilderment and shock within the members. A week later half of the membership resigned on account of Osinbajo’s increasing identification with Buhari’s policies. Many mistakenly thought that Osinbajo was Buhari’s anointed one! I could go on…”
Interestingly interesting and intriguingly intriguing, dear, dearly dear readers: this debate.
To be terminated by the columnist-terminator and terminator-columnist next week after Professor Olu Obafemi’s summation of the debate he presided over.
Afejuku can be reached via 08055213059.
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