Churches denounce African children as "witches"

This Aug. 18, 2009 photo shows children accused of witchcraft carrying water at the Children's Rights and Rehabilitation Network in Eket, Nigeria. The idea of witchcraft is hardly new, but it has taken on new life recently partly because of a rapid growth in evangelical Christianity. Campaigners against the practice say around 15,000 children have been accused in two of Nigeria's 36 states over the past decade and around 1,000 have been murdered. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

The nine-year-old boy lay on a bloodstained hospital sheet crawling with ants, staring blindly at the wall.

His family pastor had accused him of being a witch, and his father then tried to force acid down his throat as an exorcism. It spilled as he struggled, burning away his face and eyes. The emaciated boy barely had strength left to whisper the name of the church that had denounced him - Mount Zion Lighthouse.

A month later, he died.

Nwanaokwo Edet was one of an increasing number of children in Africa accused of witchcraft by pastors and then tortured or killed, often by family members. Pastors were involved in half of 200 cases of "witch children" reviewed by the AP, and 13 churches were named in the case files.

Some of the churches involved are renegade local branches of international franchises. Their parishioners take literally the Biblical exhortation, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."

"It is an outrage what they are allowing to take place in the name of Christianity," said Gary Foxcroft, head of nonprofit Stepping Stones Nigeria.

For their part, the families are often extremely poor, and sometimes even relieved to have one less mouth to feed. Poverty, conflict and poor education lay the foundation for accusations, which are then triggered by the death of a relative, the loss of a job or the denunciation of a pastor on the make, said Martin Dawes, a spokesman for the United Nations Children's Fund.

"When communities come under pressure, they look for scapegoats," he said. "It plays into traditional beliefs that someone is responsible for a negative change ... and children are defenseless."

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The idea of witchcraft is hardly new, but it has taken on new life recently partly because of a rapid growth in evangelical Christianity. Campaigners against the practice say around 15,000 children have been accused in two of Nigeria's 36 states over the past decade and around 1,000 have been murdered. In the past month alone, three Nigerian children accused of witchcraft were killed and another three were set on fire.

Nigeria is one of the heartlands of abuse, but hardly the only one: the United Nations Children's Fund says tens of thousands of children have been targeted throughout Africa.

Church signs sprout around every twist of the road snaking through the jungle between Uyo, the capital of the southern Akwa Ibom state where Nwanaokwo lay, and Eket, home to many more rejected "witch children." Churches outnumber schools, clinics and banks put together. Many promise to solve parishioner's material worries as well as spiritual ones - eight out of ten Nigerians struggle by on less than $2 a day.

"Poverty must catch fire," insists the Born 2 Rule Crusade on one of Uyo's main streets.

"Where little shots become big shots in a short time," promises the Winner's Chapel down the road.

"Pray your way to riches," advises Embassy of Christ a few blocks away.

It's hard for churches to carve out a congregation with so much competition. So some pastors establish their credentials by accusing children of witchcraft.

Nwanaokwo said he knew the pastor who accused him only as Pastor King. Mount Zion Lighthouse in Nigeria at first confirmed that a Pastor King worked for them, then denied that they knew any such person.

Bishop A.D. Ayakndue, the head of the church in Nigeria, said pastors were encouraged to pray about witchcraft, but not to abuse children.

"We pray over that problem (of witchcraft) very powerfully," he said. "But we can never hurt a child."

The Nigerian church is a branch of a Californian church by the same name. But the California church says it lost touch with its Nigerian offshoots several years ago.

"I had no idea," said church elder Carrie King by phone from Tracy, Calif. "I knew people believed in witchcraft over there but we believe in the power of prayer, not physically harming people."

The Mount Zion Lighthouse - also named by three other families as the accuser of their children - is part of the powerful Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria. The Fellowship's president, Ayo Oritsejafor, said the Fellowship was the fastest-growing religious group in Nigeria, with more than 30 million members.

"We have grown so much in the past few years we cannot keep an eye on everybody," he explained.

But Foxcroft, the head of Stepping Stones, said if the organization was able to collect membership fees, it could also police its members better. He had already written to the organization twice to alert it to the abuse, he said. He suggested the fellowship ask members to sign forms denouncing abuse or hold meetings to educate pastors about the new child rights law in the state of Akwa Ibom, which makes it illegal to denounce children as witches. Similar laws and education were needed in other states, he said.

Sam Itauma of the Children's Rights and Rehabilitation Network said it is the most vulnerable children - the orphaned, sick, disabled or poor - who are most often denounced. In Nwanaokwo's case, his poor father and dead mother made him an easy target.

"Even churches who didn't use to 'find' child witches are being forced into it by the competition," said Itauma. "They are seen as spiritually powerful because they can detect witchcraft and the parents may even pay them money for an exorcism."

That's what Margaret Eyekang did when her 8-year-old daughter Abigail was accused by a "prophet" from the Apostolic Church, because the girl liked to sleep outside on hot nights - interpreted as meaning she might be flying off to join a coven. A series of exorcisms cost Eyekang eight months' wages, or US$270. The payments bankrupted her.

Neighbors also attacked her daughter.

"They beat her with sticks and asked me why I was bringing them a witch child," she said. A relative offered Eyekang floor space but Abigail was not welcome and had to sleep in the streets.

Members of two other families said pastors from the Apostolic Church had accused their children of witchcraft, but asked not to be named for fear of retaliation.

The Nigeria Apostolic Church refused repeated requests made by phone, e-mail and in person for comment.

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At first glance, there's nothing unusual about the laughing, grubby kids playing hopscotch or reading from a tattered Dick and Jane book by the graffiti-scrawled cinderblock house. But this is where children like Abigail end up after being labeled witches by churches and abandoned or tortured by their families.

There's a scar above Jane's shy smile: her mother tried to saw off the top of her skull after a pastor denounced her and repeated exorcisms costing a total of $60 didn't cure her of witchcraft. Mary, 15, is just beginning to think about boys and how they will look at the scar tissue on her face caused when her mother doused her in caustic soda. Twelve-year-old Rachel dreamed of being a banker but instead was chained up by her pastor, starved and beaten with sticks repeatedly; her uncle paid him $60 for the exorcism.

Israel's cousin tried to bury him alive, Nwaekwa's father drove a nail through her head, and sweet-tempered Jerry - all knees, elbows and toothy grin - was beaten by his pastor, starved, made to eat cement and then set on fire by his father as his pastor's wife cheered it on.

The children at the home run by Itauma's organization have been mutilated as casually as the praying mantises they play with. Home officials asked for the children's last names not to be used to protect them from retaliation.

The home was founded in 2003 with seven children; it now has 120 to 200 at any given time as children are reconciled with their families and new victims arrive.

Helen Ukpabio is one of the few evangelists publicly linked to the denunciation of child witches. She heads the enormous Liberty Gospel church in Calabar, where Nwanaokwo used to live. Ukpabio makes and distributes popular books and DVDs on witchcraft; in one film, a group of child witches pull out a man's eyeballs. In another book, she advises that 60 percent of the inability to bear children is caused by witchcraft.

In an interview with the AP, Ukpabio is accompanied by her lawyer, church officials and personal film crew.

"Witchcraft is real," Ukpabio insisted, before denouncing the physical abuse of children. Ukpabio says she performs non-abusive exorcisms for free and was not aware of or responsible for any misinterpretation of her materials.

"I don't know about that," she declared.

However, she then acknowledged that she had seen a pastor from the Apostolic Church break a girl's jaw during an exorcism. Ukpabio said she prayed over her that night and cast out the demon. She did not respond to questions on whether she took the girl to hospital or complained about the injury to church authorities.

After activists publicly identified Liberty Gospel as denouncing "child witches," armed police arrived at Itauma's home accompanied by a church lawyer. Three children were injured in the fracas. Itauma asked that other churches identified by children not be named to protect their victims.

"We cannot afford to make enemies of all the churches around here," he said. "But we know the vast majority of them are involved in the abuse even if their headquarters aren't aware."

Just mentioning the name of a church is enough to frighten a group of bubbly children at the home.

"Please stop the pastors who hurt us," said Jerry quietly, touching the scars on his face. "I believe in God and God knows I am not a witch."

seattlepi

Nwanakwo’s death, the search for justice and the re-branding project

Absolutely shocking! Distasteful, traumatizing and unbelievable! Can this be another April fool? No, it is not. The news is indeed true: Nwanakwo is DEAD! This is state that beclouded the Child’s Right and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) Centre when the news of the death of 9 year old Nwanakwo Udo Edet from Ikono LGA who was receiving treatment at University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH) having been bathed with acid by his father.

Pitiful! Poor, innocent Nwanakwo was taken to the UUTH in July this year from General Hospital Ikono when his medical situation deteriorated. His sin is the acceptance to an invitation to attend a prayer meeting with a church in Urban, near Calabar, Cross River State Nigeria. “When I arrived the church, people were clapping and dancing. I prayed God to bless me and our family including my father; soon the pastor came, turning around, holding my head ‘Do you know that you are a witch?’ he asked me. I told him no, I am not a witch…” ‘He told me that I must confess or he will beat me, even as he slapped me immediately. He handed over a bottle of olive oil to me to be drinking at home. I was annoyed, and went and told my father so that he will arrest the pastor with police.

To his chagrin, his father merely told him that if he were a witch he would be cast out of the house. That was an understatement. After four days his father told him that they would travel home to see their relatives. The little lad was so elated by this offer. Did Nwanakwo and his father come back truly?

He told CRARN team who visited him at the UUTH in August that his father called a cyclist and whispered to him. They mounted on the bike and moved to a particular road that was bushy up to a distance where there were no houses and stopped there. His father took him inside the bush and pretended that he wanted to ease himself, while the cyclist waited. “He brought out a gallon from a sack bag and forced me on the ground, pressing my legs with his knees, he forced my mouth opened and poured acid into it. I cried and pleaded with him that I am his son; he shouted and called me a wizard and devil. He poured the acid on my face, head and body and ran away. Somebody came and took me to the police.” He said with a clear as is using a wireless microphone

Looking at Nwanakwo’s photograph, the acid burns are very glaring. The boy, who lost his mother four years ago, said he wants justice to prevail. “Even in my grave I want my father and Pastor King of Mouth Zion Light House, Urban to be arrested and brought to book.” The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of UUTH, Prof. Emmanuel Ekanem was contacted to know what measure has been taken to ensure that justice is done. “The Head of the Corporate Affairs Unit (UUTH) has contacted the Divisional Police Officer of Ikono LGA who said that his men have been drafted to investigate the matter …” the CMD had responded briefly.

This brutish act was committed in January this year, precisely eight months ago, and Nwanakwo died about four days ago. As at the time of writing this piece, there was no news as to the arrest of Nwanakwo’s father or Pastor King. Will justice ever be done?

Nwanakwo represents the hundreds or thousands of children in Akwa Ibom , Cross River, Bayelsa, Abia Rivers States, etc, who have suffered similar faith; either by being set on fire, thrown into the river to serve as delicious meal for the fish, buried alive, poisoned to death, slaughtered, hacked to death, pierced hot pokers into the anus, stoned to death, incarcerated and manacled in churches or prayer houses, sold to child traffickers or ritual syndicates, enslaved in brothels, strangled to death, starved, neglected, hung or suspended to die by piece-meal and or bathed with acid.

The rebranding of Nigeria is a project I so endeared and so I can die for it. But the rebranding has to start from the first rung of the ladder. The first rung is the children. The visit by the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Godswill Akpabio to children at CRARN Centre where over 200 stigmatized or witch-branded are rehabilitated children is an inroad to this concept of rebranding. Therefore, all the undoing committed against these children must be addressed and redressed. The Childs Right Law should not be allowed to be sleeping in archives and libraries unattended to. Its spirit should be evoked and allowed to hound the phony pastors, fake evangelists, apostles and prophets. The Child Witch Inventors should not be allowed to continue in the hoodwinking business using the name of God and garnering criminal awe and reverence while children continue to suffer, the image of Christianity and Nigeria remain in the mud; they must face justice. There should be no sacred cow. This to me is rebranding! Rebranding should be an egg we cannot trifle with, if sincerity is anything to go by. Parents who give themselves up to be brainwashed by the renegade men of God thereby unleashing all sort of terror on children should be made to face the full weight of the law. To say that the rate of child-witch branding with its attendant consequences on children is alarming is making an understatement.

This is not enough; there must be a Special Implementation Committee saddled with the responsibility of monitoring the activities of churches, liaising with the police in ensuring the prosecution child’s right violators in the truest spirit of the law. But I am confident that where the conventional law take some doses of sedatives and remain drowsy, fidgeting or opt not to wake up at all, the natural justice will brave the storm and fish out the untouchable and the sacred cows. ‘Be not deceived, God is not mocked…’

You will agree with me that I have digressed a lot. So I hereby plead for amnesty. Yes Nwanakwo, in the spirit of rebranding should be immortalized! This will awaken the consciousness in our psyche that children, the world over, deserve special attention; not assault and battery, not machetes cut, not hot iron-branding, not hot water-bathing, not even violent exorcism, but love, good food, education and good health. And that no one should be religiously irreligious as this sometimes leads to ‘insanity’-so giving the urge to harm others, especially vulnerable children.

Nwana, my sole-friend, your death reminds me of the 9 year old Mary Effiong of Oruko, Oron axis who was slaughtered in a broad daylight in 2007 by his beloved daddy because an apostle of God revealed to him that his frequent arrest by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency-NAFDAC for trading in Indian hemp and hashes, was the handiwork of his daughter who was a witch. He was arrested; but pressure from the elite and the community made him to walk the street like Fidel Castro of Cuba while in office. Justice was not done! So for Nwanakwo, will justice ever be done?

Sam Ikpe-Itauma is the President,
Child’s Right and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) Akwa Ibom State.

Kenya: Human Body Parts Don't Create Wealth

Nairobi — This week's kidnapping and eventual murder of a six-year-old Sudanese boy, Emmanuel Agwar Adar, in Nairobi was gory as it can be. But they rubbed it on cutting off his tongue.

Emmanuel's murder comes barely a month after the city's taxi drivers took to the streets to protest the murder of their six colleagues in mysterious circumstances.

The taxi men claimed all the victims had their private parts chopped off before being dumped in the outskirts of the city.

Although there was no official confirmation, the drivers' say these murders could be related to a mix of occult and extortion.

Witchcraft hasn't disappeared from African culture just as it refuses to go in the West. For centuries, human body parts have been used as ingredients for magical concoctions and charms. To obtain body parts, performers of these dark arts kill people in order to harvest specific organs for use in the occult.

Things haven't been easy for them with the advent of the nation-state in Africa where murder is a capital offence, meaning witchdoctors can only acquire these body parts from underground organ hunters.

Demand for human skin

Cases similar to that of the Kenyan drivers, where people disappear mysteriously, only for their bodies to be discovered several days later minus various body parts are so many in the continent today that they are treated as routine crimes in some countries.

According to the South African Police Service Research Centre reports, there is a belief that body parts taken from live victims are rendered more potent by their screams, which means victims must be subjected to pain before death.

Ritual killings have been reported in Mozambique where the country's Human Rights League has blamed them on the proliferation of witchdoctors from western Africa. Authorities have also confirmed that although most of the organs trafficked in that country are for transplants, extraction of organs for witchcraft purposes also happens.

Human skin appears to be one of the most sought-after things by ritual killers in Africa.

During the early 2000s, there were widespread cases of people being killed and skinned in Mbeya region of Tanzania and Mwiki outskirts of Nairobi. Investigations by the media and police revealed there was a high demand for human skin in Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, South Africa where it fetched $2,400 (Sh180,000) to $9,600 (Sh180,000) depending on the age of the victim. In an effort to raise awareness about the trade in human skin Tanzania's chief government chemist's office kicked up a storm at an international business fair in Dar es Salaam by displaying skin and other human body parts.

Nigeria has the highest number of occult killings in the continent. Not surprisingly, the vice has found thematic expression in the country's vibrant film industry. According to Nigerian authorities, the killings are perpetrated by people commonly known as headhunters, who act at the behest of juju men.

Murdered in London

Cases of children being abducted and ritually slaughtered are so many in southwest Nigeria that they sparked a spate of murderous protests and mob lynching early last year that left more than 20 suspected kidnappers dead.

The murder in London of a Nigerian kid, which British police named "Boy Adam" for lack of positive identification, in September 2001, brought to international attention to Nigeria's ritual killings.

Forensic examinations on Adam's torso, found floating in River Thames, revealed that he was a native of Yoruba Plateau in Nigeria and the state of the cadaver indicated a style of ritual killing practised in West and Southern Africa.

Although this case came about barely ten days after the September 11 terrorist attack on the US, it prompted such a huge media coverage that retired South African President Nelson Mandela and Nigerian soccer star Nwanko Kanu joined the rest of the world in appeals for clues leading to the arrest of Adam killers.

But even after the arrest of 22 West Africans in Britain and an aggressive campaign by Metropolitan police in Nigeria to track down the boy's mother, the case was never resolved.

A confidential report by the police afterwards established that children were being trafficked into the UK from Africa and used for human sacrifice. The report also claimed that "for spells to be powerful it required a sacrifice of a male child unblemished by circumcision".

Increased unemployment, poverty, food shortages, famines and greed for money are some of the reasons blamed for the recent surge of deaths attributed to human sacrifice in Uganda. The frequency of the killings is especially high in the country's poor north and eastern regions.

Although in 2008 alone more than 300 cases of ritual related murders cases were reported to the police, only 18 of them made it to the courts. The situation was made worse by the fact that several of the high-profile suspects arrested in these cases were parents and relatives of the children victims.

"My experience working with victims suggests that the perpetrators are greedy people who want to get rich quick. In rural areas, people can sacrifice their own child. In urban areas, educated and rich people will look for somebody else's," says Elena Lomeli, a volunteer with the British charity VSO.

The situation has been so bad that in January 2009, the Ugandan government appointed a special police taskforce on human sacrifice and announced that 2,000 officers were to receive special training in tackling child trafficking with the support of US government.

These incidences have prompted Bakayambira, a renowned Kampala theatre group, to come up with a production called Baffesa Iwa feza. In the midst of its humour, the production carries a strong condemnation of ritual killings. However, all these murders take a backseat compared to the killings of albinos in Tanzania.

Believed to have magical powers to attract wealth in a short time, albino body parts are a hot commodity for sorcery and witchcraft in that country.

Derogatorily referred to as zeru, ghost in Kiswahili, people with the pigmentation defect in Tanzania are not, in certain cases, safe even among members of their own families.

A 35-year-old man in Lake Tanganyika was accused of trying to sell his 24-year-old wife to Congolese businessmen for $2,000 (Sh150,000) while in Mwanga District a mother was alleged to have sold her albino baby girl to a group of men who slaughtered her and drunk her blood.

Danger lurks everywhere

"They are cutting us up like chickens. Our biggest fear now is the fear of living. If you leave work at night as an albino you are unsure of reaching home safely. When you sleep you are unsure of waking up in one piece. In the streets you hear people plotting how they can get you," lamented Zihada Msembo, Tanzanian Albino Society secretary general.

The case of Elizabeth Hussein, a 13-year-old girl from Shinyanga, is a testimony to the plight of albinos in Tanzania.

After leaving home alone to watch a film about Jesus in the village centre, the girl had signed her own death warrant. On her way back, she was waylaid and hacked to bits by a machete-wielding mob.

Official reports in Tanzania indicate that 35 albinos were murdered in 2008, mostly women and children, but leaders in the Tanzanian albinism community believe the number of deaths could be higher. The situation is so bad in some areas that children with this genetic defect have to be escorted to and fro school by community or government bodyguards.

Even in death they are not safe. Heavy rocks have to be placed on graves to deter grave robbers.

The growth of mining and fishing activities in the Lake Victoria regions of Mwanza, Shinyanga and Mara regions has led to a sudden rise in demand of albino body parts. Besides the three regions being known for witchcraft, some miners and fishermen believe that albino body parts cause instant success.

Fishermen for instance, have this macabre belief that if they weave strands of red albino hair into their nets, fish will be attracted by the glimmer. Although poverty and ignorance are the major causes of these barbaric acts, Nigerian films are being accused of touting the efficacy of witchcraft.

Reports also indicate that albino body parts harvested in Tanzania are being exported to neighbouring countries where they fetch higher prices. In one instance last year, a Tanzanian trader was intercepted travelling to the Democratic Republic of Congo with an albino baby head in his luggage. On further questioning the man confessed that a businessman was going to pay for the head by its weight. In North America and Europe one in 20,000 people have some form of albinism but in Tanzania it's five times as common with one in 4,000 being albinos.

Although various sources put the number of albinos in the country at around 300,000, the WHO says the number hardly exceeds 170,000.

The wave of killing sprees has led to many albinos seeking refuge in the remote Ukerewe Island on the shores of Lake Victoria where murders are rare. Albinism is a hereditary lack of melanin pigment which protects the skin, eyes, and hair from the sun's ultraviolet rays. But there is a myth in the lake region that a mineral in a native fish causes the high levels of albinism.

Al-Shaymaa Kwegyir, Tanzania's first albino MP, launched a spirited campaign in 2008 to sensitize the public on these heinous acts.

In October 2008, albinos staged a demonstration in the city of Dar es Salaam to raise awareness and many people supported it. But that same evening one of the demonstrators was followed home by unknown assailants who chopped off her hands and left her for dead. It's that bad.

During his monthly television addresses to the nation Preside nt Jakaya Kikwete has dwelt on the issue at length in several occasions, urging Tanzanians "to discard superstitious beliefs and shortcuts to wealth" and instructing the police to crackdown on traditional healers involved in the albino killings. May 4 is National Albino Day in Tanzania and draws representatives with albinism from Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal, South Africa and United Kingdom.

During last year's Albino Day forum in Dar, the Albino Association of Kenya chairman, Alex Munyere, urged Tanzanian authorities to stop the killings before they spread to Kenya.

However, albinos in Burundi, affected by the killing wave in Tanzania, got a moral boost when eight men charged with killing albinos in the town of Ruyigi were sentenced to life imprisonment.

"I think it will reduce the amount of attacks on albinos in our country," Mr Kazungu Kassim, spokesman for Burundi albinos, told journalists.

The stature of ritual murders and witchcraft in the past was reinforced by the rise of leaders like Jean-Bidel Bokassa and Idi Amin who, from their public utterances and evidence discovered in their homes after their ouster, had an affinity for human body parts.

Although the reason for ritual killing is squarely blamed on witchcraft, ignorance, poverty, greed for money and power, the quest to overcome diseases like HIV/Aids also contributes to the escalation of this barbarism.

In Swaziland for instance, a country weighed down by intricate traditions and superstitions, police and the press have reported an upswing in ritual murders during electioneering periods.

"It's a form of sympathetic magic where the life force of the victim is sacrificed to give power to the recipient" says Dr Thandie Malepe, director of the National Psychiatric Centre in Manzini, the country's commercial capital.

allAfrica.com

Nigeria: Film Producer Raises Alarm

Lagos — A renowned film producer and President/Founder of Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries, Evangelist Helen Ukpabio has raised an alarm over alleged threats to her life by agents of the Akwa Ibom State government due to her insistence that some people being sheltered by the governor should face prosecution over their infringement on her intellectual property.

Speaking through the solicitor to the Incorporated Trustees of the Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries, Mr. Victor Ukutt during a press conference in Lagos, Ukpabio accused the governor of using his position to frustrate attempts by detectives from the Police Special Fraud Unit, Ikoyi, Lagos to arrest one Sam Ita Uma, his wife and some British nationals namely Gary Foxcroft, Tracey Macvey, MagGaven and Sophie Okonedo who were being sought by the police over allegations of counterfeiting, and pirating of Ukpabio's film/home video entitled "End of The Wicked" as well as sending threat signals to her.

The evangelist further alleged that Ita Uma and others of super-imposing the pirated film to run a documentary entitled "End of The Wicked - Dispatches Saving The African Witch Child" where they claimed that she labeled children as witches and torture them thereof and then extort money from their parents or guardians in the name of deliverance. As a result of the documentary, Ukpabio has been subjected to abuses, insults, negative write ups and threats to life within and outside Nigeria.

While saying that at no time in her ministry has she ever labeled any person as a witch, torture or collect money from anybody in the name of deliverance, Ukpabio said following the release of the pirated documentary by Itu Uma, and others, Ukpabio's life has been in danger as many people that watched the film had threatened to lynch or kill her in London, Los Angeles, or any other part of the world.

She accused Ita Uma and others of allegedly using the pirated film as a conduit pipe to attract sympathy in order to get money from world governments, non-governmental organisations and members of the public, whereas the children they claimed to have collected the money on their behalf are starving.

"While Itu Uma initially escaped arrest, he was later re-arrested with his wife, but while they were being taken to Lagos, the Divisional Police Officer in Eket received a call that he had received an order from the above that the suspects should be released," she alleged.

She further accused Governor Akpabio of frustrating attempts by the police to prosecute Ita Uma and others. Ukutt said the governor allegedly sent his personal assistant to the Commissioner of Police and the Investigating Police Officer, IPO at Special Fraud Unit, Ikoyi to stall the investigation and prosecution of the suspects.

Wondering what can be the interest of Governor Akpabio in the whole saga, Ukutt said Akpabio should desist from obstructing the course of justice by allowing those wanted by the police to show up and answer for their crimes.

"Governor Akpabio should note that Charles Taylor once held sway in Liberia but today is on trial for crime he committed while in office. He should also remember what happened to Saddam Hussein in Iraq and therefore we want him to remember that he would be held accountable for his actions while he was in power," the evangelist said.

Ukutt warned that should anything like kidnapping, assignation or anything unpleasant happen to the lady evangelist, her family and legal representatives, the state government would be held responsible. The lawyer also demanded that that state government should produce Sam Ita Uma, wife and all the persons wanted by the police at the Special Fraud Unit Ikoyi Lagos to answer questions of crime committed by them.

allAfrica.com

Helen Ukpabio is a monster

By nigeriafilms.com - Nigeria Films

I've written many times on the issue of child witches in Africa. Every year, thousands of kids are abandoned, beaten or killed because their parents or family members suspect them of being witches. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that in Nigeria alone, over 930,000 children are orphaned by HIV/AIDS, and often their remaining family members believe that theses children were responsible for their parent's death.

One name keeps popping up that I can no longer ignore: Helen Ukpabio. Helen has been producing movies capitalizing on the fear of witchcraft for some time. The Nigerian film board has repeatedly tried to censor her dangerous and violent rhetoric, but because of their corruption and general ineptitude, these videos are allowed to circulate to the surrounding populous, creating fear, violence and hatred as a result.

Helen has done quite well for herself fanning the flames of fear. She boasts over 50,000 members to her church, and the future seems bright for her. The proliferation of her movies and her massive church attendance has made Helen a rich and powerful woman in Nigeria. With her obsession with child witches growing, it's difficult to imagine how this practice can be stopped.

If you want to know what the face of evil is, then look no further than this woman, who profits from the death and torture of little children. Nigeria is the most dangerous place to be a child, and it's because of people like Ukpabio and her ilk. This is the true danger of superstition: it makes otherwise peaceful humans into fearful monsters who would murder their own children. Women like Helen Ukpabio are shielded from responsibility for their crime by a bubble of religious delusion. No doubt she must think that WE are the ones who are monsters for allowing witches to run free. What a sad and ignorant world we live in.

Modern Ghana

Child Witch - Bishop, Four Others Arraigned

Uyo — Self-styled Bishop, Sunday Okon Williams, who allegedly killed 110 children in Akwa Ibom State, in an attempt to exorcise witchcraft from them, was yesterday arraigned before an Oron High Court, along with four others. They are facing torture and murder charges.

Williams, founder of a spiritual healing home at Ibaka, Mbo Local Government area, was arrested November last year, following a documentary: Saving Africa's Witch Children," broadcast by the United Kingdom (UK) Channel 4 station on November 12, 2008.

In the documentary, the accused, during an interview, allegedly admitted killing more than 110 children in Akwa Ibom State, as he claimed to possess the power to exorcise witchcraft spirits from children.

Embarrassed by the documentary, the state government, in conjunction with security operatives, moved swiftly to arrest and charged them to Court.

Although the accused persons pleaded not guilty when the charges were read out to them, the Presiding Judge, Justice Archibong Archibong, ordered that they be remanded at the Eket Prison.

The other accused persons include Pastor Samuel Excellence, Udeme Okon William, Ezekiel Bassey Oforkudok and Akpe Alfred Akpe.

Justice Archibong maintained that the accused could not be granted bail because of the serious nature of the case. He indicated that such application or order for bail should be made more formal before the court

In an interview, Commissioner for Information and Social Re-orientation, Mr Aniekan Umanah, said the appearance of the accused in court was a practical demonstration of the government's determination to safeguard rights of children of Akwa Ibom State, as enshrined in the Child Rights Act 2008.

The suit number HOR/3C/2009, State vs Bishop Sunday Okon William and Four others, was adjourned till June 8, 2009, for continuation of hearing.

AllAfrica

The Hullabaloo about Child Witches

Following reports that children branded witches in Akwa Ibom were being maltreated, a couple of foreign TV stations ran a documentary which was allegedly named, styled and culled from a film made by a local foundation titled “End of the Wicked”. The body claims the documentary has brought woes to the organisation. Mary Ekah writes

She has been under the scrutiny and attacked of the world press lately. By no fault of hers, she has been tagged “Heartless Wicked Woman”, “False Prophetess”, “Extortionist”, the list is endless. It is no other person but the evangelist, filmmaker and president of Liberty Gospel Church based in Calabar, Mrs. Helen Ukpabio.
She claimed to have suffered for the faith which she proclaims as there have been a whole lot of derogatory statements against her pasted on the internet by people all over the world. It does not just end there. Ukpabio claimed she has suffered several physical attacks by people while on her missionary journey abroad all on the allegation that her movies encourage the stigmatisation and maltreatment of children labeled witches in Akwa Ibom State.
The hullabaloo against Liberty Church Gospel Church started late last year, when on November 12, 2008, following the reports that children branded witches by pastors in Akwa Ibom were maltreated, channel 04 of the UK ran a two-hour telecast/documentary on “dispatches” titled, “Saving the African Child Witch”.
The documentary was named, styled and curdled from popularly film made by the Incorporated Trustees of the Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries and titled “End of the Wicked.” Ukpabio is shocked that “End of the Wicked”, which has been out since1999 and has been a source of deliverance to countless families, is posing a problem to some section of people even ten years after it was produced.
The story line of “End of the Wicked”, Ukpabio said, has nothing to do with children labeled witchcraft. The film, she stressed, simply says if a child is a glutton, he or she could be easily be initiated into witchcraft and the only way out for such child is deliverance through the Lord Jesus.
“There was no place in the film where children were branded witches rather, we saw greedy children initiated into witchcraft by other children who were witches in the school,” Ukpabio explained.
It was claimed in the TV documentary by UK broadcaster of Channel 4 that the views that she expresses has lead to a massive upsurge in children stigmatised and abandoned by their families in West Africa, particularly in Akwa Ibom State.
The documentary followed the activities of two charities, Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) and Stepping Stones Nigeria, a UK-based organisation that claim to look after the children who have been rejected by their parents for displaying what they believed to be signs of witchcraft.
“These scammers have so far collected over 200,000 British Pound Sterling from members of the public. The Akwa Ibom state government fell to these scammers by parting with twenty thousand pounds. The truth of the matter is that Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries never produced the pirated film “End of the Wicked” shown on the said documentary.
“The authentic film made by the ministry and approved by the National Board for Video Censorship Board was radically different from the pirated film wherein our ministries was wickedly libeled thereof,” Ukpabio said.
“No where in the film of Helen Ukpabio showed where children were labeled as witches, tortured or where parents of these children were asked to pay some amount of money,” the organisation's lawyer said last week.
Instead, the lawyer said Ukpabio's 'End of the Wicked,' showed how children or adult who has been initiated into witchcraft cult could be delivered through the power of Christ. The message passed by the documentary, he stressed, is completely different from the original message intended by Helen Ukpabio's “End of the Wicked”.
Consequently, the church has complained to the regulatory agency in UK, OFCOM concerning, what the lawyer described as, “the unprofessional telecast,” which he said is against OFCOM broadcast code of UK.
“We have also complained to the Akwa Ibom State Government to close down CRARN for being a conduit for 419 and keeping custody of children contrary to the laws of Akwa Ibom State and the Child Right Act 2007”, he said further.
The lawyer also revealed that the church has also complained to EFCC to arrest and prosecute Gary Fox Croft of Stepping Stones Nigeria and Sam Ikpe-Itauman of CRARN for using CRARN and SSN to perpetuate 419. The organisation is also instituting legal action against channel 04, and the narrator of the documentary, Sophie Okowedo, for libel.
Ukpabio said “If you know what I know and have seen the suffering people go through every day when they come to me for counseling, you would have even done more films on witchcraft with the intent of exposing their activities.
“I believe witch craft is a minor problem which we can handle effectively compared to what happen on the streets of Europe where kids get involved in drugs, murder and all sorts.”
She is also surprised at the way the Akwa Ibom state government has reacted to such trick, and then quickly gave out money to the organisation.
“It is so easy for jobless people who are not renowned people in their countries to come over here and play over the intelligence of the government.
“They are using Nigerians to make money and also capitalise on our ignorance. They feel we are still Nigerians of the 60s and so they can still come in and trample on us,” the evangelist lamented.

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