The Advocacy for Alleged Witches draws the attention of Malawians to the visit of the Nigerian Pastor, Apostle Johnson Suleman. Suleman, general overseer of Omega Fire Ministries International, is traveling to Malawi in July according to some information on a flyer that is circulating on social media. Suleman is a televangelist and a faith healer. He makes reckless and irresponsible faith claims.
In 2020, during the COVID19 lock down, Suleman claimed to have healed some COVID19 patients. I challenged him to demonstrate that he could heal COVID19 but he did not take up the challenge. He did not produced the COVID19 patients that he claimed to have healed. Suleman did not produce any evidence that he could cure the disease. Suleman also claimed that he made someone to miraculously get into an European country without a visa. Apparently he miraculously enable someone to commit a crime.
In addition, Suleman is a witch and demon hunter and devotes many of his sermons to imputing witchcraft and demonic possession. For instance some of his online videos highlight sessions on witchcraft exorcism, war against witchcraft, confronting the coven: don’t let witches dictate your destiny , every witchcraft operation in your life comes to an end tonight etc At a time that Malawi is witnessing rampant cases of witchcraft accusation and witch hunts, the visit and preaching of Suleman would likely fuel witchcraft suspicions, fears and anxieties. His sermons would endanger the lives and safety of suspected witches in Malawi. Malawians should be vigilant; they should not allow Suleman sway them with his gospel of lies and deceit.
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
