Of Nigerian Christians and Resilient Witches

(By Immanuel James Ibe-Anyanwu) - In Defense of Witches 

Witches have lost again. In prayer houses, Nollywood and, finally, on campus, they always lose to Christian Talibanism. But be sure they will be back. The war on witches never ends, nor do those urchins stay vanquished long on the ground. The University of Nigeria has said the “witch conference” should choose another venue—and that is an unfair phrase, witch conference, as headlines call it. Witches have always had bad reportage, yet they rise. 

Never mind having a Supreme Father, never mind all the assurances of safety in the Bible by that Father, the Nigerian Christian is the most afraid creature on earth. Sleepless in his fear of something he declares has no power, suspicious of every noise within range. “Killing”, casting and binding in a tautology of chants against an agency whose apparent immortality never compels a rethink. 

What if there are no witches? Maybe witches, alongside the devil in that binary of good and evil, were invented to keep spirituality perpetually on course? Or perhaps they exist, but not in the touted sense.

African Churches and Their Hunt for Witches

(By Leo Igwe)--It cannot be overemphasized that churches in Africa are instrumental to the witch craze in the region. Programs and activities of faith organizations continue to fuel witchcraft suspicions with sometimes horrific consequences on alleged witches. There is an urgent need to counteract this dark and destructive process. We must call witch-finding churches to order or rue it!

The main issue remains: How do we put this vicious campaign to an end? How do we restrain witch-imputing churches that exist and operate across Africa? Getting African churches to join the campaign against witchcraft accusation is important because if this horrific trend must stop, the process will start in the churches, from the churches, with the churches, and by the churches. Christian groups must lead the way. They must champion the cause of making witch-hunting history in the region.

Unfortunately, this is not yet the case. Pentecostal churches are still in the business of hunting witches. They invoke and exorcise witches and wizards. Witchcraft evangelism is still the ‘religious order’ of the day in the region.

Time To Abandon Beliefs in Witchcraft

Ijabla

(By Raymond Ijabla) – It's Time To Abandon The Belief In Witchcraft Because Witches Don't Exist

Since declaring, I'm a humanist and someone without religion, many respondents have asked if I believe that witches, wizards, demons and evil spirits exist. Some asked, "how do you decide what is right or wrong if you don't believe in God?" I shall address the first part of these important questions in this article and the rest in future articles.

Funke is a six-year-old girl who lives with her uncle and his wife. She lost her parents in a car crash when she was only a few days old. Uncle Segun and his wife, Ngozi, have been married for four years now but have no children of their own. Ngozi has suffered recurrent miscarriages.

They have been to different churches and attended various crusades and have done everything they have been told to do - from fasting and prayers, anointing themselves with olive oil, tithing, to paying all the special offerings specifically targeted at couples looking for the fruit of the womb - to no avail. They even carry a white handkerchief that was specially anointed by the General overseer of their church wherever they go. At the end of a week-long session of prayers and fasting atop a hill known simply as Oke, the word of the Lord came to their pastor - Funke is a witch sent by the queen of the coast to destroy their lives. They thought, "Aha, that makes sense.

Nigeria's Witch Airways and Other Sad Tales

Let me warn you, reader, in advance: If you have a squeamish constitution, please do not read this piece. Just stop here and flee, for the story I’m about to tell is terribly ugly and disturbing. It is bound to leave you horribly unsettled, disturbed. In my career as a columnist I have written few essays that galled and upset me more. It is a piece I wish I didn’t have to write, but one that I feel compelled to write. A grandmother in my novel Arrows of Rain warns her son, “A story that must be told never forgives silence.”

I’m writing this piece in that spirit; it is a story, I believe, that must be told. It must be told despite its ugliness, or, in fact, because of it. Flee now, dear reader, if you can’t handle it.

Thoughts on Juju, Jazz, and Related Issues

As I might or might not have mentioned before, growing up as a kid I was more afraid of Nigerian movies or Nollywood movies as they are now called than I was of your typical Hollywood horror flick. I was more afraid of the witches, wizards, evil spirits, demons and witchdoctors (aka babalawo aka dibia) that were common in that period of nollywood history than I was of Freddy Kruger, Jason, Candyman or Chuckie (ok maybe Chuckie freaked young me a little bit). Why is this you ask? To my younger mind the threat of witchcraft, someone using native medicine to make you go mad, kidnapping you and using your body parts for rituals was realer (more real?) than Freddy Kruger who I knew was not real and seemed to only attack oyibo children (oyibo translates as white but refers to ‘western’ people). I was safe in Nigeria from Freddy Kruger I thought but was not safe from the Nigerian occult. Why did I think that? Growing up and this is still true today, the Nigerian society has stories of occult happenings floating around, stories perpetuated by people that never witnessed the original event or the real reason behind the event.

I remember stories about children who collected sweets from their nursery school teacher and the sweets turned into human fingers. How did they know this? Well apparently one of the kids did not consume his sweets when he was given and left it in his pocket. When his mother took his trousers to go wash them she felt something in his pocket and lo and behold it was a human finger.