By Leo Igwe
The Advocacy for Alleged Witches urges the police and other state authorities in Rivers State to prosecute the pastor who abused children during an exorcism. This call has become necessary following the reluctance of the police to press charges against the reckless and irresponsible pastor and his accomplices. Some days ago, someone shared a video on social media showing over 20 children, between the ages of 2 and 5, some of them naked, or barely clothed, in a compound supposedly going through an exorcism locally known as deliverance. Four adults, two men and two women, supervised and presided over this exercise. One of the men, apparently the pastor, was seen flogging the children with palm leaves, while others watched, or assisted him. According to the person who recorded the video, for three days, children were brought to this church compound in Eneka in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, where they were bathed with ‘blood’, flogged, and maltreated. On seeing the video, the Advocacy for Alleged Witches contacted the police public relations officer in Rivers state. She confirmed seeing the video and said the police were working to verify the video and the church. AfAW also shared the video with other advocates in Rivers state.
The following day, some media outlets reported that the police had arrested the pastor and some church members. AfAW contacted the police PRO, who confirmed the arrest but could not categorically say if the police would charge the suspects. She noted that, contrary to the information contained in the circulated video, no one kidnapped the children. Indeed, the person who made the video did not say so; he only suspected. The police officer further stated that the parents of the children had admitted that they took their children to the church for deliverance. In a video report by Channels Television, some of the church members could be seen at the police station, clapping and singing. The pastor, Mr Ifediora Joseph, of Our Lord Victory Covenant Mission, stated that the deliverance was not carried out carnally or by anybody’s inspiration but by spiritual inspiration. Ifediora admitted that using pigeons’ blood to bathe children was a ‘directive from the Holy Spirit’. He claimed that the ritual was a ‘religious purification exercise’.
The parents of the children were at the police station pressuring the police to drop the charge, claiming that no one abused their children; that they willingly sent their children to the pastor to ‘purify’ and spiritually fortify them against death, sickness, and other vices, as instructed by the Holy Spirit. The Channels TV reporter claimed that the matter had become complicated because the police and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) said it was a case of child abuse, but the parents said it was not.
The Advocacy for Alleged Witches declares that there is no complication in this case, as the reporter stated. What transpired at Our Lord Victory Covenant Mission, in Eneka in Port Harcourt, was a clear case of child abuse and a violation of the law of Nigeria, and the humanity of the children. The perpetrators are liable and must face the wrath of the law. That parents sent their children to this pastor does not justify the abuse. The fact that the process was a religious exercise should not excuse this violation. Flogging infants with sticks or palm leaves is a form of child abuse. Forcing children to kneel naked or half-naked in public is a violation. Bathing children with pigeon’s blood is unhealthy and a form of child abuse. That the Holy Spirit directed the pastor to perpetrate this abuse is not a justification. The Holy Spirit’s claim is all the more reason why the police should prosecute him. The Holy Spirit may appear during the trial to indict or help exonerate the suspects.
So this case presents an opportunity to test this facility, that pastors often used to justify and legitimize their excesses and recklessness. The police should go ahead and press charges and ensure that this pastor is tried and punished. Many pastors, and other so-called men and women of God, marabouts, mallams, sheikhs, and traditional priests, prophets, and prophetesses are into the business of exorcism. As in this case, innocent children are victims, and religion is invoked to justify and sanctify infractions. Infants are subjected to abusive and violent treatment in the name of deliverance or purification. And the perpetrators go unpunished. This abusive trend is pervasive in religious circles and must stop. The public must be vigilant and report such cases to the police. The police should use the case of pastor Ifediorah to show an example and make a strong statement. They should use this incident to deter other pastors and ensure that abuses in the name of god, the holy spirit, or exorcism do not go unpunished.
Leo Igwe directs the Advocacy for Alleged Witches.
