Alleged Penis Theft and Forced Confession in Rivers State

By Leo Igwe

People accused of magically stealing people’s genitals have often been beaten and made to admit to the offence. The case of Daso, from Ogan-Ama, Okrika Mainland, Rivers State, amply illustrates an anomaly. An advocate, Westkey Gogo, visited Daso shortly after the police released him on bail. He recounted to Mr Gogo what happened on Monday, 22 June 2026: “I went for football training in Igurita. While returning home, I passed a POS stand where I noticed a man staring at me. I did not know him, and I am not sure he knew me either. We neither greeted nor had any physical contact. As soon as I walked past him, he suddenly shouted, ‘Thief! Thief!’ Within seconds, more than thirty people surrounded me. They began accusing me of making the man’s manhood shrink and then became non-functional”.

He further explained the ensuing mob action: “I was never allowed to explain myself because I was slapped and severely beaten. The assault was so intense that I nearly collapsed”. But officers from the local vigilante group, Official Security Planning and Anti-Crime Control (OSPAC), and the police later arrived. Daso describes what happened: “When OSPAC security personnel arrived, they also joined in beating me. They threatened me repeatedly, leaving me confused and frightened. Because of the pressure and violence, I started agreeing to many of the accusations. Later, the police arrived, led by an officer named Emma. Some members of his team also assaulted me and threatened to hang me upside down if I did not confess. Under such intimidation and duress, I had no choice but to agree to the allegations”. Mr. Daso reported that during the assault, he lost his ATM card and an unspecified amount of cash. The mob also tore his clothes. Mr Gogo also noted that Daso had a cut on his head. An officer of OSPAC cut him with a knife in the course of torturing him. 

Mr. Daso repeatedly expressed his gratitude to AFAW, stating that without the organization’s intervention, he believed that he could have been left in police custody. He thanked AFAW for ensuring that his case received attention and for providing support during a difficult period.

The Advocacy for Alleged Witches declares that those who make accusations of magical stealing of the penis raise false alarms and should be prosecuted and jailed. As the case of Daso has shown, the innocent are accused, abused, and violated; those accused of penis theft admit under duress. The mob beat them to admit guilt, to accept that they did what they did not do. In some cases, security officers, including the police, torture and force them to confess to a crime they never committed. AfAW is consulting its lawyers at the moment and may bring a fundamental rights case against those who accused, tortured, and forced Daso to confess and admit to a crime he never committed.

Leo Igwe directs the Advocacy for Alleged Witches 

Leo Igwe

Leo Igwe (born July 26, 1970) is a Nigerian human rights advocate and humanist. Igwe is a former Western and Southern African representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, and has specialized in campaigning against and documenting the impacts of child witchcraft accusations. He holds a Ph.D from the Bayreuth International School of African Studies at the University of Bayreuth in Germany, having earned a graduate degree in Philosophy from the University of Calabar in Nigeria. Igwe’s human rights advocacy has brought him into conflict with high-profile witchcraft believers, such as Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries, because of his criticism of what he describes as their role in the violence and child abandonment that sometimes result from accusations of witchcraft. His human rights fieldwork has led to his arrest on several occasions in Nigeria. Igwe has held leadership roles in the Nigerian Humanist Movement, Atheist Alliance International, and the Center For Inquiry—Nigeria. In 2012, Igwe was appointed as a Research Fellow of the James Randi Educational Foundation, where he continues working toward the goal of responding to what he sees as the deleterious effects of superstition, advancing skepticism throughout Africa and around the world. In 2014, Igwe was chosen as a laureate of the International Academy of Humanism and in 2017 received the Distinguished Services to Humanism Award from the International Humanist and Ethical Union. Igwe was raised in southeastern Nigeria, and describes his household as being strictly Catholic in the midst of a “highly superstitious community,” according to an interview in the Gold Coast Bulletin.[1] At age twelve, Igwe entered the seminary, beginning to study for the Catholic priesthood, but later was confused by conflicting beliefs between Christian theology and the beliefs in witches and wizards that are “entrenched in Nigerian society.”[1] After a period of research and internal conflict due to doubts about the “odd blend of tribalism and fundamentalist Christianity he believes is stunting African development,” a 24-year-old Igwe resigned from the seminary and relocated to Ibadan, Nigeria