The Social Cost of Witchcraft

First time, I saw a woman accused of witchcraft in my life was in Benin City. She confessed she threw an intergalactic thunder and lightning on the coconut tree in our backyard. Some people’s parents believed her and paraded her around the streets with snail shells around her neck. However, she continued to live amongst us till we left Ofunmwengbe. Bravo to my neighbours.

My sister-mother-friend, Eni lived in Calabar, so I spent my favourite holidays in Calabar where Aunty Julie Ibok used to call me Mr Big Stuff. Unfortunately, shrouding my pretty memories of where I first experienced commercial motorcycles is an incident of terror. Though my eyes didn’t see it, my mind was brought for the first time ever to the horror of an old woman who was slaughtered as a witch. She was accused of causing her children to be backward in life. Perhaps, I was too young to understand by what mechanism she did. But killing by non-state actors using crude means like wood, axes, and stones shocked the balls out of me.

Of course, I spent some of my teenage years in Joseph Shyngle in Surulere where I never heard such horrific news.

Yes, my nomadic self was also in Kaduna, inside Queen Amina College. Not El Rufai’s brand of balkanised Kaduna, but the sweet Kaduna of the early 80’s where Muslims and Christians mingled and ate Salah rice and Christmas chicken in harmony. I never heard about witches, and social trust was high in that now murdered Kaduna that hugs my memory like Tina, my Kafanchan dark beauty.

Then came Eni, my unforgettable sister-mother-friend in her unkillable Beetle and I drove her all the way to steaming Sokoto of equally succulent memories. It occurred to me in Sokoto that all the witches and Satan, their said boss, lived in the South. Perhaps with a degraded outpost in Lokoja.

The witches in Akure weren’t so hostile. If they weren’t so local in membership, in Ondo town, I could have gladly subscribed. By the time I spent eleven years in Warri, I came to the following confusions.

Southern Nigerians often claim the trophy for being the most educated, most enlightened, sophisticated, modern and Eurocentric in Africa. Looking at their taste in fashion, their passion for trending supercilious things, their boasting seems in order.

But what kind of mind do we in the South carry inside our denim clad swaggalicious selves?

It appears that only a handful of prophets ply their trade in the south who have not bowed to Baal. Beyond the fallacy of sweeping generalisation,  I also have statistics and the yardstick for my comparison is witchcraft. Not the mere belief in the craft, but the henious crimes against humanity we have promoted by our actions, inactions or acquiescence. To be clear, if your pastor slaps a defenceless girl on grounds of witchcraft and you feel that’s worth applauses, you’re one of the mobsters roasting witches in the South-South.

Witches North and South

Accusations of witchcraft and witch killings are most prevalent in Southern Nigeria than Northern Nigeria.

In Southern Nigeria, accusations of witchcraft and witch killings are more common in the Niger Delta region.  Witchcraft accusations occur in cases of illness, death, and other misfortunes. The accused person is usually subjected to physical torture and other forms of abuse to extract confessions. Warri was incomprehensible to me. One of my close friends was an igbe, they wore white like the witches I saw in Oba Market and Ondo. They worshipped on Sundays somewhere near the refinery, yet it appears some people feel they are witches or the word igbe doubles as witchcraft. Maybe someone here will enlighten me. Most confusing for me was that many churches focused all their energies on witchcraft and the dread of witches. Puzzling is the fact that Warri has some of the most enlightened sophisticated people until the subject matter is about ‘winshes’ and ‘winzad.’

In Northern Nigeria, witchcraft accusations are said to be prevalent in rural areas, but the killings are not common. Accused witches are often ostracized from their communities and subjected to banishment or/and public shaming.

According to a report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in 2014, it was estimated that up to 15,000 children were accused of witchcraft and subjected to various forms of abuse in Southern Nigeria every year. The report also highlighted that there were several cases of children being tortured, starved, and even killed as a result of witchcraft accusations.

Comparatively, in Northern Nigeria, the  Nigerian Human Rights Commission (NHRC) reported in 2013 that there were about 100 cases of witchcraft accusations and killings in the region over the previous five years.

The mother of all ironies is that there is some evidence to suggest that Pentecostalism has played a role in fueling accusations of witchcraft and witch killings in Southern Nigeria, while Muslim clerics have not been as vocal on the issue. Ironic because we Pentecostal Christians emphasise the importance of the Holy Spirit and the belief in miracles and spiritual gifts.

 We stand accused of promoting beliefs in witchcraft and demon possession. We claim to be the very ones who carried the cross for Jesus. We speak in devious tongues and use witchcraft accusations as a way to gain influence and control over our congregations. We often conduct exorcisms and other spiritual practices to rid individuals of supposed evil spirits, which we claim are responsible for causing sickness, death, and other misfortunes. Including loss of jobs and bad roads.

In contrast, Muslim clerics in Northern Nigeria have not been as vocal on the issue of witchcraft accusations and killings, due to the fact that the belief in witchcraft is not as prevalent in Islamic teachings as it is in our Christian denominations.

Are we simply the most fearful and superstitious, or do witches prefer the blood and meat of Christians for midnight snacks?

There is evidence to suggest that Pentecostalism has played a role in fueling accusations of witchcraft and witch killings in Southern Nigeria, though it’s important to avoid making sweeping generalisations. The numbers point at us, though my brotherly friend says the Catholic church is angling for a slice of the market through their charismatic branch.

It’s not just the death and injury toll we have to worry about.

The prevalence of this toxic belief in witchcraft and the practice of accusing and killing people for witchcraft in Southern Nigeria has inflamed the lack of trust between neighbours. The fear of being accused of witchcraft or of having a neighbour who is practising witchcraft can create a sense of suspicion and mistrust in any community. This can lead to social isolation and the breakdown of community relationships which possibly plays a role in escalating cases of depression.

In contrast, the lower prevalence of witchcraft accusations and killings in Northern Nigeria may contribute to a greater sense of social trust between neighbours despite the higher poverty indicators in Northern Nigeria.

In conclusion, I agree this is only one of many factors that can influence the level of trust between neighbours, but stitching one hole out of ten leaves nine. We’re either modernist in our worldview or we are not. It’s not enough to be like whitewashed sepulchre, pretty to the eyes, but host to degrading bones and impurities.