Woman Accused of Witchcraft and Set Ablaze By Son Passes Away in Calabar Cross River State

By Leo Igwe 

The Advocacy for Alleged Witches is outraged over the death of Atim Emmanuel Akposi, also known as Atim Eyo. Her death underscores the vicious impact of witchcraft suspicion and accusation on innocent lives. Akposi’s son, Emmanuel, accused her of witchcraft. He claimed that the mother was responsible for the death of his child. 

Two days ago, August 17, 2026, someone sent AfAW a voice note stating that Emma had set the mum ablaze and that the woman was at the teaching hospital in Calabar fighting for her life. AfAW contacted the woman’s sons John and Eyo who confirmed the story. Family sources said they took her to a community health center and later to Akamkpa hospital then to the teaching hospital in Calabar where she died in the early hours of today

A family member told AfAW that before this incident, Emma had been calling the mother a witch. He claimed that he went to some churches and was told that the mother was a witch. Emma once openly confronted the mother accusing her of witchcraft but the elder brother called him to order. 

On that fateful day, that was Friday August 14 2026, Emma entered the mother’s room and tried strangling the mother but the woman resisted him and tried to escape. But he hit her to the ground, poured fuel on her and set her ablaze. Emma fled the community after the incident and has been at large. The Advocacy for Alleged Witches calls for the arrest and prosecution of Emma. State authorities should ensure that he is apprehended and made to answer for his crimes 

Mrs Akposi’s  death underscores the vicious impact of witchcraft suspicion and accusation on innocent lives and how this ancient superstition motivate people to commit mindless violence in this 21st century. In a month when the international day against witch hunts is observed, the death of Mrs Akposi indicates that witch hunt is being actively prosecuted in families and communities. 

AfAW urges Nigerians against accusations of witchcraft and persecution of people so suspected.

Witchcraft accusation is a crime under the law. Witchcraft claims have no basis in reason, science or reality. As in the case of Mrs Akposi, pastors are enablers and sanctioners of witchcraft accusations, witch persecution and witch hunting. They impute witchcraft to families, and use the scriptural verse, Ex 22:18, that says “Suffer not a witch to live” to justify torture, murder and violations. 

AfAW enjoins churches in Nigeria to emulate their western counterparts and desist from witch hunting and other superstition based abuses.

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