Churches are using witchcraft narratives to undermine family bonds and affection across Christian Nigeria. And little is being done to combat their vicious trend. Some pastors and evangelists stage events and post messages online and offline that fuel occult fears and anxieties linking family problems to witchcraft and the occult. They make false attributions and cook up unimaginable stories, inciting hatred and violence within families. One such witch-hunting pastor is John Okene of the Divine Touch International Ministries. His church is based in Warri in Delta state. Okene uses his column in The Guardian to propagate witchcraft fears and suspicions.…
Author: Leo Igwe
Witchcraft is popular and entrenched because people are socialized to believe, and not question witchcraft claims from childhood. And as adults, they find it difficult to abandon the superstitious mindset. People pass on these irrational beliefs to their children, perpetuating the cycle of ignorance, unreason, and misconceptions. These misconceptions are not innocuous sentiments; they drive abusive treatment of suspected witches. Incidentally, it is not everyone that is a target witchcraft accusation and witch persecution. A local advocate further states, “The most vulnerable, the people most likely to be accused of witchcraft, are the elderly. Aged people, who are perceived to…
The Ex-cellence Project is an initiative that provides psycho-social support to ex-clergies who are non-religious in Africa. In the spectrum of irreligious demographics, former clergies are often ignored. While it is challenging for non-clerical religious persons to abandon religion, it is far more difficult for ex-clergies, that is, former religious workers such as former bishops, priests, pastors, nuns, monks, hermits, former Sunday school and catechism teachers, former preachers and evangelists, former Imams, sheiks, ulamas, former Quranic and theology school teachers to go open and public with their religious unbelief. Very often, those who exit, or are exited from clerical training:…
