Boki: Justice For Victims of Witch-hunt

A protest has been staged in Calabar to get authorities to take action against those who attacked and burnt alleged witches in Boki LGA in Cross River State. The protesters carried placards with the inscription: Justice for Oku-Boki Burnt Women. Last month, an aide to the state governor led local thugs to attack and set ablaze suspected witches in Oku Community. The police have yet to arrest Thomas Obi Tawo (aka General Iron) and other alleged perpetrators of this horrific crime. Victims have yet to receive any support or assistance from the state government.

Meanwhile, the Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AfAW) has received a list of victims of the witch-hunt. Here are their names:

1. Benard Kekong(known as papa Odu Ekpang)
2. Rita Abang (known as Dachi Ochang)
3. Margaret Akan (known as Ada Akan)
4. Edward Kekong
5. John Otu
6. Mama Delia Kubua
7. .Rose Obi
8. Patricia Obi
9. Kaka Olum
10. Mary Ada Otu
11. Martina Maurice
12. Serah Kepua Odu
13. Paulina Owan
14. Sussana Bisong
15. yet to be confirmed

There were fifteen victims and the name and identity of the fifteenth person has not been confirmed.

An eyewitness told AFAW that on that fateful Thomas Obi Tawo arrived the community with his boys. First, he attacked his mother, Rose Obi, and then Chief Benard Kekong. General Iron called out names of other suspected witches. His boys dragged them out of their apartments, beat them up, and throw them into the fire. People could not cry out or raise an alarm. Nobody tried to stop or resist them because they feared that they could also be beaten and thrown into the fire.

Three persons who were set ablaze have died as a result of their wounds. They are Benard Kekong, Rita Abang, and Margaret Akan. Other victims are various hospitals battling for their lives. Some of the victims who could not afford the cost of medical treatment are at home.

The buttocks of one of the victims, Serah Kepua Odu was completely burnt. She cannot sit down. Another victim, Sussana Bisong, sustained serious injuries. She was unable to go to the hospital because she could not afford the hospital bills. A local source told AFAW that the wounds started smelling and they had to rush her to a general hospital in Ogoja. AFAW urges the government of Cross River state to support the medical treatment of those affected by this tragic incident and help rehabilitate victims of witch hunts in Boki LGA.

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