Obasanjo’s Witch Statement, Unfortunate and Misguided

    By Leo Igwe

The Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AfAW) is concerned with the statement by the elder statesman and former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, linking his birth to witchcraft. At a recent event in Abeokuta, Ogun state, Obasanjo noted that witches and wizards were responsible for the mother’s long pregnancy and delay in his birth. In this statement reported in many national dallies, Obasanjo stated that his birth was unusual because the mother carried the pregnancy for 12, not 9 months. The former president said the delay was “the handiwork of witches and wizards”.  Really?

This statement credited to Obasanjo is unfortunate and misleading. It is difficult to comprehend that a former president could make such an absurd and outlandish declaration. Obasanjo’s claim that witches delayed his birth has no basis in reason, science, or reality because witchcraft is a form of superstition. Witchcraft is a belief informed by fear and ignorance. Witches and wizards are imaginary entities, with no causal power or force as popularly believed. The claim by Obasanjo that witches delayed his birth is baseless nonsense.

According to medical sources, a woman cannot carry a pregnancy for up to 12 months. So, his statement is a piece of medical misinformation. At a time when allegations and abuses linked to witchcraft are rampant, it is insensitive for an elder statesman like Obasanjo to make such reckless and irresponsible claims. If the former president wanted to make sense of his life and survival since he was one of the two who survived out of 9 children, he should base the explanation on facts, logic, and science. In a society where witchcraft fears and anxieties are pervasive, and many people attribute their problems and misfortunes, including childbirth difficulties, to occult forces, this declaration does much harm. The statement is likely to reinforce witchcraft beliefs and fears. It will fuel witchcraft accusations and witch-hunting. The Advocacy for Alleged Witches urges Obasanjo to stop spreading this false and mistaken narrative.

Instead, the elder statesman should lend his voice to campaigns to dispel the superstitious beliefs and other misconceptions associated with witches and wizards. Obasanjo should join efforts with the AfAW to enlighten the public and help end witch-hunting in Nigeria.

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