Mr. X graduated from the university as a mass communicator for more than 5 years ago now but has not been fortunate enough to secure a gainful employment despite his good grade in second class upper and his successful completion of the mandatory one year national service. Similarly, Mrs. X got married 10 years ago but has not been delivered of any baby except miscarriages. Mr. Z. also has been bedridden for the past 5 years with no sign of recovery as medical doctors that have been attending to his case are yet to diagnose the actual cause of his problem. As if his predicament is not enough, the ailment has cost him his lucrative business and his once decent accommodation that he now lives a beggarly lifestyle.
The foregoing anecdotes are just few cases that illustrate how far witches can go in destroying the lives and truncating the destinies of fellow human beings. The anecdotes graphically illustrate some of the miseries, among many, which witches wickedly perpetrate against their friends and foes. When possessed, a witch is unsympathetic to those that are her friends, children, blood relations or enemies in the physical realm. She gives no one any benefit of sympathy when she is possesed by the spirit of witchcraft.
At this juncture, permit me to copiously quote from Wikipedia, the free online encyclopaedia, which says, “Witchcraft (also called witchery or spellcraft) broadly means the practice of, and belief in, magical skills and abilities that are able to be exercised by individuals and certain social groups.” It adds that “Witchcraft is a complex concept that varies culturally and societally; therefore, it is difficult to define with precision . It warns that the “cross-cultural assumptions about the meaning or significance of the term should be applied with caution”. It noted that “Witchcraft often occupies a religious, divinatory or medicinal role, and is often present within societies and groups whose cultural framework includes a magical world view. Although witchcraft can often share common ground with related concepts such as sorcery, the paranormal, magical, superstition, necromancy, possession, shamanism, healing, spiritualism, nature worship and the occult, it is usually seen as distinct from these when examined by sociologists and anthropologists”.
If I may guess, not a few readers of this piece may have wondered on why I delved into this esoteric piece. Some may have sneeringly asked, “Must this writer always express his views on any given issue?” The reply to the foregoing contemptible questions cannot be far-fetched as the journalistic instinct in me is literarily as strong and compelling as the urge for a cock to crow at every wee hours of each passing day.
I must confess that I was inspired to write this esoteric piece on account of an expressed view that I considered to be a misinformation to the youths that are invariably the leaders of tomorrow. As Buddha rightly said, “Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill”.
Against the foregoing backdrop, it is not an exaggeration to say that an article titled, “For Our Tomorrow and For Their Tomorrow” that was posted on the online edition of the Nigerian Observer by Leo Igwe on July 23, 2016 unarguably was well written but it is capable of misguiding vulnerable and gullible youths.
[Read For Our Tomorrow and For Their Tomorrow]
Igwe, who wrote a similar article titled, Witchcraft and the Nigerian court system” and posted on November 30, 2011on James Randi Educational Foundation, JREF Swift Blog, is a skeptical activist and a former representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union. He is reputed to have being involved in a research project on African Witchcraft Accusations at the University of Bayreuth in Germany.
However, in his recent article, which actually provoked this reaction, on the issue of witchcraft and posted on the online edition of the Nigerian Observer, he was vehemently against cases of witch hunting which pervade African countries.
The article which majorly dwelt on the meeting he attended in Kenya was convened, as his article made the readers to know, for delegates to deliberate and make contributions on how to strategize against witch hunting in Africa region. According to him, the meeting was attended by invitees from South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania and Burundi.
In the piece, he cited several gory tales from KwazuluNatal, Yendi in Northern Ghana and even Calabar in Southern Nigeria on how people were witch hunted and extra-judicially treated with jungle justice on allegations of being involved in the practice of witchcraftry. He noted in his article that “Young people make up the mobs that attack and burnt witches in Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Tanzania and in other parts of the region. He adds that “Young people are mainly the witch hunters; they are also the children and relatives of the witch hunted.” Apart from being violent against suspected witches, many innocent people, particularly old women in their 70s and 80s have been labeled as one by mischief makers across villages thereby making them to be feared and despised. In most cases, accusing fingers are always pointed at them whenever any evil occur within their neighborhood.
In as much as it is expedient to applaud Igwe in his dogged and resolute fight against witch hunting, I beg to disagree with his assertion in his article that witches are imaginary beings.
I must confess that the knowledge and satisfaction I was gaining from his well written piece was instantly terminated right at the point where he made the assertion that witches are imaginary being. The words of our elders, which was expressed in pidgin English that “Na small shit dey spoil white cloth” finds expression in Igwe’s article.
For instance, he wrote, “African humanist youths, the world needs you to make other young Africans to understand that there is no connection between lack of job and witchcraft, infertility and witchcraft, failure in exams and witchcraft, poverty and witchcraft, business failure and witchcraft, dreams and witchcraft, accidents and witchcrafts, death and witchcraft, disease and witchcraft.” He went on to say that “We need to make African youths aware that witches are imaginary beings and witchraft is an imaginary crime.”
Without any scintilla of hyperbole, Igwe in his view is swimming against the tide of public opinion on the reality of witches. If I may ask, if there are no withches, why is the witch of Endor used as a biblical example in the Bible? As stated in the Bible, The Witch of Endor, also known as the Medium of Endor, was a medium who apparently summoned the prophet Samuel’s spirit, at the demand of King Saul of the Kingdom of Israel in the First Book of Samuel, chapter 28:3–25. Also in the Bible, allusions that readily point to the reality of witches were made to in different books that made up the Bible. Prominent among the scriptures is the one expressed in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12 which says “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
If witches are imaginary beings, personalities that displayed convincing spiritual knowledge decades ago in Edo state would not have made their works on the issue of witchcraft known to the public. At this juncture, it is expedient to mention Chief Priest Ebohon in Benin City and Dr. J. O. Mume, Chief Tradomedical Consultant at Jom Nature Cure Centre at Agbarho, Delta State who was reputed to employ the services of one Jeje Karuwa, a confessed Wizard of Igbise as a consultant at the Jom Nature Cure Centre. Chief Priest Ebohon used to conduct African religious services on Sundays in Benin in his native language, and had in that light travelled to overseas to speak at seminars and meetings.
Also noted to have through his articles buttressed the point that witches are not imaginary was the late prolific opinion writer, essayist and author, S.M.O. Aka, who was one of the regular contributors to the Nigerian Observer in the 70s. In one of his articles, he called on the government to make offences committed by witches, if proven beyond doubt, a legal issue.
Having gone through Mr. Igwe’s article that is under critique in this context, there is no denying the fact that he is insinuating that some General Overseers of some Churches in the country that are reputed to be divinely gifted and possess doctorate degrees and had also lectured in prominent universities do not know exactly what they were called to do in the Christendom. This view was arrived at against the backdrop that most of the General Overseers that fall into this category are wont to raise prayer points against witches and had also written Christian literatures that majorly dwelt on how to spiritually fight against witches. Also, is Igwe in his argument saying that most learned Nigerians that can be found in different professions that are wont to attend crusades and vigil nights ostensibly to pray against witches do not know what they are doing or that they were engaged in wild goose chase?
Reiteratively put, one must not fail to commend Mr. Igwe in his exemplary fight against witch hunting but he should also extend his fight in form of campaign across villages where the practise is widely believed to be pervasive to dissuade them from practising the evil of witchcraft as it is retrogressive to the entire community where witches exist. It must be pointed out at this juncture that “Witches and witchcraft were fully believed by the learned and unlearned. In Elizabeth’s time the persecution was not so fierce as in that of her successor, and though some were executed witches were usually placed in the pillory or ducking stool, or tested by a peculiar system of water ordeal, and not condemned to death as they were later on. When the witch was thrown into a river, if she sank she was innocent, if she floated she was guilty. It is not stated whether, being proved innocent, she was ever rescued from the water. Even prominent and learned men believed in it. Lord Bacon, the greatest scientist of the day, prescribed “henbane, hemlock, mandrake, moonshade, tobacco, opium, and other soporiferous medicines,” as ingredients for a witch’s ointment; Sir Walter Raleigh was a firm believer in witchcraft, and Sir Matthew Hale, the judge, shared the same belief”.
Finally, the expediency of this article is hinged on the fact that if the youths are not well guided concerning the reality of witches in the society, they may become careless toward their spiritual lives. Some of them may resort to not praying against it anymore because Mr. Igwe has told them through his article that witches are imaginary being. With this, many of them would be prone to witchcraft attacks. I would therefore advise the youths in line with 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 8 that says “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour”.
Isaac Asabor, a freelance journalist, writes from Lagos.
