Blighted by deadly superstition, children accused of witchcraft suffer shame, abandoned by families

The air around the house became thick when 11-year-old Mmeyene (surname withheld) walked in.

It was a Wednesday morning and her mother, Victoria, now late, and stepfather, Tony, 52, sat on a sofa facing the rear window. Two of her siblings shared a bench facing their parents. All eight eyes focused on Mmeyene as though she had overstepped her boundary.

She greeted them all, and before she could walk into the room to drop her bag, Tony ran to the door, locked it, and stood there.

“He asked me to tell him why I didn't want him or my mother to succeed and why I was sucking their blood. I was only 11 years old then. I began to cry but they said I should confess,” Mmeyene, now  14, told our correspondent during a visit earlier in the year in her Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, home built by a philanthropist for children like her.

The home, managed by a medical doctor (name withheld) built in a secluded area in the state, away from the prying eyes of the public, houses no fewer than 20 children who are fed, clothed and sent to school by the good Samaritan, who did not want his name in print.

Mmeyene, who is from the Etim Ekpo Local Government Area of the state, stated that that Wednesday afternoon was the last time she set her eyes on her mother till she passed away early last year.

She stated while fighting back tears, “My stepfather pushed me to the ground that afternoon, tied me up and everyone, including my mother and siblings, began to beat me. I had multiple fractures and I began to bleed, but they refused to stop. They told me to confess. To this day, I still don't know what they were asking me to confess to.

“They said I used to wake up in the middle of the night to suck their blood and spiritually steal money from their bank accounts. But, I only woke up to urinate or when I was feeling too hot and could not sleep. I am not a witch. I have never been one and I don't know anything about witchcraft.”

Her problem, the teenager recounted, began when she woke up one day and noticed that she had wet the bed. Her mother said it was not normal and took her to a Pentecostal church (name withheld) for ‘deliverance and cleansing'.

After three days of fasting and intense prayers, Mmeyene returned home only to continue bedwetting.

She stated that her mother would tie her up in the morning and beat her up, asking her to confess to her the ‘coven' she belonged to. Her siblings and stepfather, too, she said, would join in the torture.

After each torture, she said she would be kept in a cage behind the house and fed with leftover food. She would cry till she fell asleep. It would take the interventions of neighbours to release her from the bondage. But, that would not be for long.

Mmeyene narrated, “I knew no one else but my mother. My mother told me that my father died before I was born and that it was my fault. My other two siblings are for my stepfather and mom, but the hate I received from all of them made me question my identity as a person.

“Sometimes, I would run away but there was always a way they would lure me back.”

One bright morning, after a midnight torture by her mum, she decided to run away. She ran to a nearby village in the local government area where she met a non-governmental organisation, Safe Child Society (for abandoned kids, women and vulnerable persons), which was still operational at the time, who took her back to her parents.

She noted that her mother disowned her despite pleas from the NGO executives.

Mmeyene added, “That night, as I slept outside our house, I felt a hand lift me. When I opened my eyes, it was some youths in the area. They tortured me on my mother's and pastor's orders and asked me to tell them where I kept my siblings' destinies.

“I suffered so much in their hands that night that I cursed the very day I was born. If you check my back, you will see the marks. It was a neighbour in the compound who informed the NGO that came with the police to rescue me. My mother, I learnt, was arrested but was later released.”

I never said she is a witch – Stepfather

When our correspondent reached out to Tony, who is now partially blind, he said there was never a time when he said Mmeyene was a witch.

“She is my daughter. I only said she behaved like a witch. The pastor and her mother confirmed it, not me,” he explained.

When asked what he thought constituted the way witches acted, he said, “Mmeyene would wake up in the middle of the night and be sucking our blood. Her mother caught her on one of those occasions doing it. She would fly in from the window and begin to suck our blood.”

Probed on if he had ever seen her performing the act, he said, “No, I did not see her for once, but her mother said she used to see Victoria in her dream sucking our blood.

“It was even the pastor, Prophet Timothy, who told me to bring her for deliverance, but the spirit was stubborn. But, never for once did I call her a witch.”

A visit to the pastor did not go as planned. After he learnt that our correspondent had involved the state police in the matter, he escaped and was not seen till Saturday PUNCH left the local government later in May 2023.

Residents, however, told our correspondent that Prophet Timothy was seen preaching and praying in his church around October. Others said he only comes around at night. They also noted that he had no wife or child and that he was a popular ‘witch hunter' in the area, adding that several people from neighbouring villages always came to him to help them ‘identify' or ‘tame' witches.

Rejected by family

The programme officer of the NGO, Mrs Nkoyo Matthew, who was there from the beginning of Mmeyene's case, noted that the young lady was picked up and given life after she was rejected by her family.

Matthew stated, “It was as if Mmeyene had a mark of death on her. People in the area, who knew her, would beat her up for no reason whenever they saw her on the streets. It was a terrible situation. We, on several occasions, went to beg the family, but they said they didn't want her anymore. Up until the mother died of breast cancer last year, we kept going back, but she was adamant.

“We just couldn't leave her with the stepfather for obvious reasons, so we just took her as our responsibility. She will take her West African Senior School Certificate Examination in May next year and we hope she makes it.”

‘Burnt, left to die'

Frail-figured and with a calm demeanour, six-year-old Jonathan sat on a bench, munching on his slice of bread.

He had been rescued eight months before our correspondent's visit from his guardian, who alleged that he was a wizard who specialised in spoiling all of her valuables.

Although the young boy could not speak with our correspondent, Nkoyo explained that he was left on the streets of Uyo before he was picked up by a medical doctor, who kept him in his home after he reported the matter at the police station in the area.

She said, “The young boy was left by the roadside. He had been wounded and had pressing iron and cane marks all over his body. He didn't speak for more than two weeks. We thought he had speech impairment until we learnt that it was trauma.

“It was the medical doctor who had pity on him and took him in before informing us.”

There were several other cases with different children, including 15-year-old Tamunoebiere who said she was taken to her aunt's house in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to work as a maid but was later branded a witch and taken to a church, where she was tied to a post and beaten every morning and evening.

She alleged that she was given no food or water for days, adding that the prophets asked her to confess to them the ‘world' she ‘operated' from.

She eventually escaped and ran to a bus park, where she went to Uyo. She noted that her parents, whom she said were from Okrika, died two years after she was born, and that she had no siblings.

Efforts to speak to the aunt, whom she alleged brutalised her, were abortive, as the phone number Tamunoebiere gave failed to connect.

A fixer, who visited the neighbourhood on our correspondent's request, noted that the woman had relocated from Nigeria and now lives in Europe with her husband and two kids.

When contacted via the email address on her LinkedIn page on the allegations levelled against her by the teenager, she did not respond.

Witch branding

After the rescue of two-year-old Hope in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, years ago received social media attention around the world, several NGOs have focused their lenses on the state.

Abandoned by his family after being accused of being a witch, the boy was saved by an aid worker, who found him in Uyo. Hope was said to have been riddled with worms and had to have daily blood transfusions after his rescue.

The unfortunate truth is that Hope is one of only a lucky few who survive the neglect, abuse, and physical and mental health insults that arise from the stigma created by child witch-hunting in Nigeria.

Three-year-old Itoro was not that lucky. She was found dead in the streets of Etinan, Akwa Ibom State, in 2018 after she was abandoned by her stepmother on accounts of alleged witchcraft.

Neighbours, who shared the story with our correspondent, said the child was beaten to death. The suspect was said to have been arrested, but it was learnt that she was later released by the police for ‘lack of evidence'.

A senior police officer in the state, who claimed to be aware of the matter but did not want to be named in this report because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said the suspect was released because there was no link that she was responsible for the death of the child.

“It was an unfortunate incident. The three-year-old girl's corpse was deposited in the mortuary. The autopsy showed that she died of starvation and acute malaria,” the source added.

Several efforts to speak to the suspect proved abortive. When our correspondent reached out to one of her relatives, she claimed not to have any family member by that name and warned our correspondent to desist forthwith or face legal action.

“I am not the one who killed that child. I don't have a relative with that name. Stop calling me,” she said, despite pictures of her and the suspect scattered across her social media pages.

Several reports revealed that the practice of branding innocent children as witches was common in the southern areas of the country. However, there were a few cases in the North, like that of 11-year-old Amina, who was said to be possessed by demons, who allegedly whispered to her to kill her parents.

This is despite the fact that all states in the South have adopted the Child Rights Act (2003). Cross River, for instance, called its variant of the Act the Cross River Child Rights Law (2009). The law prohibits all forms of stigmatisation of any child, including those branded as witches or wizards.

A United Nations International Children Education Fund report, titled, ‘Children accused of witchcraft: An anthropological study of contemporary practices in Africa', noted, “Children accused of witchcraft are subject to psychological and physical violence, first by family members and their circle of friends, then by church pastors or traditional healers.

“Once accused of witchcraft, children are stigmatised and discriminated against for life. Increasingly vulnerable and caught in a cycle of accusation, they risk yet further accusations of witchcraft. Children accused of witchcraft may be killed, although more often they are abandoned by their parents and live on the street. A large number of street children have been accused of witchcraft within the family circle.

“These children are more vulnerable to physical and sexual violence and to abuse by the authorities. To survive and to escape appalling living conditions, they use drugs and alcohol. Often victims of sexual exploitation, are at increased risk of exposure to sexually transmitted diseases and HIV infection.”

As of 2008, a survey showed that over 15,000 children in Akwa Ibom and Cross River states had been accused of witchcraft.

The report also noted that children and babies, who had been branded as witches, had been chained up, starved, beaten, and even set on fire.

Cases of parents attempting to behead their children with saws have also been reported.

Reports have also shown that most parents and guardians give their children ‘esere', a poisonous bean-like seed found in forests. Its poison, according to research, damages the liver and body organs, inflicting a violent death on the person within days.

In that time, for instance, the cases began to spill to neighbouring Rivers and Bayelsa states.

Also affected is a Rivers State-based lady, 22-year-old Deborah, who shared the story of how her parents allegedly bathed her with steaming water because a prophet told them to do so to cleanse her of witchcraft.

After sharing a part of her story in a comment section on Facebook in October 2022, our correspondent requested a physical meeting that took more than six months to actualise.

When she eventually decided to speak in May, our correspondent visited her in her Agip, Port Harcourt home, Rivers State.

She said, “When I walk around, people ask me what happened to me that I have pale skin, and I cannot even open up to tell them. It was that hot water that peeled my skin. They (parents) held me down that morning and bathed me with it from my head to my toes.

“I shouted but they refused to let me go. They rubbed olive oil on me before they allowed me to go. I almost ran mad. I almost died. I was only 12 or 13 years old then. To date, I have no business with my parents. If not for neighbours, who rushed me to the hospital, I would have been a lost case.

“They (parents) said I was always alone, talking to the trees in the compound and I didn't have friends. They also said I was breaking a lot of things.

“I was just being a child, and they couldn't understand. My father is dead now. He was a pastor. My mother was a teacher. Yet, both of them came together and almost killed me because some prophet told them to do so.

“They were remanded in the police cell for a while, but they were later released after bail was paid,” she said.

The young lady, who said she was now engaged to a Nigerian student in the United Kingdom, noted that she had just gained admission to study Public Health at a university in the UK and was set to leave in two weeks.

“Imagine if I had died. What would have become of all my dreams? I have tried to forgive them, but I can't. I pray God is kind to them. They destroyed my life,” she quipped.

Witchcraft explained

A resident physician at St Mary Mercy Hospital and Research Scientist for the Exposure Research Laboratory, University of Michigan, Dr Utibe Effiong, noted in a report that belief in witchcraft was central in Nigerian society, particularly in the Niger Delta region.

He also noted that anthropological research had shown a strong belief in the existence of witches in the region.

“They argue that, through various supernatural feats, these people impoverish, harm, or kill their fellow human beings. Other research shows that both urban and rural people in the Ibibio society are entrapped in the deep-rooted fear of witches. It is enshrined in communal consciousness,” he said.

However, child health researchers, including psychologists, social workers and economists, believe that the stigmatisation of children as witches in Nigeria is a relatively recent phenomenon.

Several researchers note the trend has become widespread since the early to mid-1990s and has failed to abate to date.

As a result, thousands of children have been accused of being witches.

“Many have been tortured, or even killed. Others are subjected to inhumane abuse. They suffer severe beatings, maiming, burns caused by fire, boiling water or acid, poisoning, attempts to bury them alive, abandonment, rape and trafficking. They are denied access to health care and vaccinations. And they are blamed when they become ill and their diseases spread to other members of the family and community,” Effiong noted.

A sociologist, Dr Ukeme Titus, noted that two factors play vital roles in child witchcraft being perpetuated in Nigeria – religion and poverty.

According to Titus, the religious discourse of the new Christian Pentecostal movement has heightened the belief that child witches exist. The movement generally attributes failure and misfortune to the devil.

The sociologist added, “For some religious leaders, there is the lure of economic gain attached to child witchcraft accusations. The purported capacity to deliver people from the power of witches can generate huge earnings for pastors and prophets who engage in deliverance sessions.

“Research shows that those religious leaders encourage congregants to repeatedly attend church programmes, pay tithes regularly and give offerings and vows, all to generate more and more income from their followers.”

Widespread poverty is another explanatory factor. In 2006, for example, the United Nations Development Programme reported that within the Niger Delta region, high rates of poverty and environmental degradation were especially prevalent.

Seventeen years later, Nigeria, according to official figures, has over 133 million multi-dimensionally poor people, which translates to over 40 million households in extreme poverty.

Titus added, “Child witches are simply an easy target to blame for the economic misfortunes that befall families and communities in this region.

“Interestingly, research notes that the belief in child witchcraft is also considered to be reflected in and perpetuated by Nigerian popular media. Nollywood; the Nigerian movie industry, especially of the early and late 90s, has been blamed for making films that have played a role in popularising and disseminating the belief in child witches. Many of the older movies were produced by popular Pentecostal figures and churches.”

AU and the law

New guidelines have been adopted by the Pan-African Parliament to tackle witchcraft accusations, which can lead to torture, banishment, abuse, and ritual attacks, especially against people with albinism.

The Pan-African Parliament, the South Africa-based legislative body of the African Union, has adopted new guidelines to help prevent harm and abuse experienced by people accused of witchcraft and the victims of ritual attacks.

The parliament met in March in Johannesburg to officially launch a wide-ranging set of guidelines that aim to provide governments across the continent with strategies to help tackle often dangerous superstitions linked to witchcraft beliefs.

The proposals include legal steps such as criminalizing violent acts that result from accusations of witchcraft as well as outlawing the trafficking of body parts used in rituals. The directives also introduce non-legal efforts such as community education and awareness campaigns to address misguided beliefs that perpetuate witchcraft accusations.

Although data is scarce and cases underreported, violence and abuse toward people thought to be involved in witchcraft is widespread across Africa, but also exists in other continents. Contrary to some beliefs, witchcraft-related attacks are not decreasing, but appear to be on the rise, according to experts.

A recent United Nations report found records of more than 20,000 victims of harmful practices linked to suspicions of witchcraft and ritual attacks in the last decade across 60 countries.

Another survey, conducted in 95 countries and territories, found that over 40 per cent of all respondents claimed to believe in witchcraft. The survey also showed that this belief cuts across socioeconomic groups.

The communiqué released after the meeting read, “Children, women, the elderly, persons with disabilities, and persons with albinism are especially vulnerable to witchcraft attacks.

“Finger-pointing can lead to stigma and exclusion, including banishment to live in a ‘witch camp'. But being singled out as a witch can also result in physical violence and even killing. Persons living with albinism are especially vulnerable to attack and mutilation due to beliefs that their body parts hold special powers.

“Victims of witchcraft allegations tend to be outcasts and thus struggle to access education and employment. Similarly, persons with albinism or disabilities are often hidden away by their families for fear of attacks.”

Mental illness

A senior psychologist at the Remz Institute, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Usen Essien, noted that children who were tortured and asked to confess to being witches might have some underlying mental health conditions that needed to be identified and treated.

For instance, on April 11, a boy in Rivers State was said to have confessed to being a witch.

Paraded around the community almost unclad, residents claimed that he confessed to killing several people in the Mbiama community.

Despite the allegations by the mob, who made a video as they tortured the lad, and commentators on social media, who claim to be experts in witchcraft studies, no evidence points to him being a witch.

Fifteen days later, in Makurdi, a young girl, Blessing, was set on fire for alleged witchcraft, but was rescued by an NGO, Advocacy for Alleged Witches, championed by human rights activist, Dr Leo Igwe, who has been at the forefront of fighting the menace in Nigeria.

Igwe told our correspondent on Wednesday that Benue was a hotbed of witchcraft imputation and witch-hunting because belief in the occult force called Tsav among the Tivs was pervasive.

He said, “Witchcraft is popular and entrenched because people are socialised 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 of witchcraft accusation and witch persecution.”

He also noted that alleged witches were believed to cause illness, death, and accidents, adding that they were subjected to horrific abuses.

“This is even compounded for the child who does not know its left from the right. Witch-hunting ended in Europe centuries ago, but this wild and vicious phenomenon rages in Africa. Witchcraft belief is used to scapegoat individuals; incite persecution and violence against an innocent family or community member,” Igwe added.

He also called on the Christian Association of Nigeria and other religious groups to caution religious teachers who indulge in creating fear, violence, and hatred among families through witchcraft and exorcism sermons to desist from such acts henceforth.

No child deserves to suffer – Pastors

A clergyman, Pastor Itekena Chepaka, noted that no child deserved to suffer for whatever reason.

He said, “The Bible in Psalm 127 spelled it out that children are the heritage of God and the fruit of the womb is His reward.

“If children are indeed the heritage of God, is it possible that God will send children who are witches into families who will eventually begin to trouble and torment their parents?

“The Bible also says in the book of Proverbs that the blessings of the Lord maketh rich and add no sorrow to it. God has given children as gifts and blessings to the families they're born into. How could it be that God will give children who are possessed by demons and are witches to families to give them problems?”

The Senior Pastor, The Refiner's Fire Bible Church, Benin City, Edo State, Apostle Moses Omodamwen,  said, “ First of all, the church doesn't condemn anyone because Christ admonishes us not to. So, the issue of labelling or tagging children as witches and making them suffer debilitating wickedness, starvation and abandonment should not be supported by Christians.

“Yes, we do know that witches exist, but what Christians should do is to pray for them. Witchcraft is spiritual and must be dealt with spiritually and not physically punishing children, who might not even be witches because it is not written in the head for an ordinary man to see.”

He added that any preacher or prophet who physically harms any child on account of witchcraft does not know God, adding that God is love.

Efforts to get the Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, were unsucessfull.