Blessing Sunday, a Junior Secondary School 3 (JSS3) student, recounted the harrowing night she and her father were accused of witchcraft in their Ipinu-Oju central community in Oju Local Government Area of Benue State.

At about 2am, a man came to our house and called my father, saying some elders wanted to see him and that he should bring me along. When we got to the elder?s house, we found out that a man, whose wife had brought a house girl, had accused several people, including my father and I, of witchcraft,? Blessing said.

The accusation took a horrifying turn when she was asked directly if she was a witch. ?I told them I wasn?t, but they didn?t believe me. They made a fire and forced two of us (children) to sit close to it. They said the fire would make us confess if we were witches,? she explained.

According to Blessing, four adults were also accused but were not subjected to the same ordeal. ?Only we, the children, were forced to sit by the fire. The heat was unbearable, and it was burning me. I eventually told them I was a witch just so they would let me go,? she recounted, her voice filled with pain.

The fire inflicted burns on Blessing?s body, particularly around her anus, leaving her traumatised and scarred.

Buttressing the story, her father, Iji Sunday, who said the sad incident occurred in April 2024, also narrated how he and his 13-year-old daughter, Blessing, became victims of witchcraft accusation that spiralled into violence and trauma.

He recounted that a family member, Abene Ogbu, accused him and his daughter of practicing witchcraft.

?Ogbu gathered people from the community around 2am. They accused my daughter of being a witch and subjected her to horrifying abuse,? he revealed.

He said the mob, led by another fellow now at large, set a fire and pushed his daughter dangerously close to the flames which caused burns on her lower body.

?They tormented her from 2am to 7am. It was by God?s intervention that she survived,? he said in a voice heavy with emotion.

Sunday explained that the incident escalated when Blessing?s sister, in a desperate bid to seek help, shared photos of Blessing being tortured online, a development which caught the attention of concerned individuals in Makurdi, who promptly intervened and facilitated her rescue.

He, however, lamented the lack of support from his own community saying, ?The community sided with the mastermind and his group instead of helping us.?

Following the attack, Ogbu was arrested and is currently remanded in a custodial centre, but the other key perpetrator, who actively participated in the abuse, is reportedly on the run.

Sunday has since taken the case to the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), seeking justice for himself and his daughter.

Despite their ordeal, Sunday and his victimised daughter remain in the same community where the attack occurred, a painful reminder of the dangers they face. ?It?s hard to feel safe here,? he admitted, calling for stronger community and legal actions against such acts of violence and stigma.

Blessing?s story remains a chilling reminder of the dangers of baseless accusations and harmful traditional practices that target vulnerable individuals ? the elderly and children ? in Benue State.

Many victims aren?t lucky to be alive to tell their stories. One of the few lucky ones is Omaliye Adah (not real name), a victim of witchcraft allegations was shamefully banished from her village in Ugboju-Icho ward of Otukpo LGA for several years until recently when with the help of her children she returned home.

She recounted that trouble started for her after her brother died of an injury sustained from an auto accident.

?I was accused of masterminding the accident and eventually killing him. They sent me packing from the village. The youths dragged me to the boundary of the village, hurling insults and beating me with canes at the same time.

?I almost died of starvation as I wandered my way outside the village until a church took me in. I lived in that premises for over three years. With the help of my children, I returned recently but still being stigmatised,? Adah explained.

One of her children who declined stating his name on print, narrated that it was a painful and horrific experience for their family.

?When we heard that our mother was chased away from home, we were pained. My siblings (two of them) and I who were not resident in the same village with her at the time of the incident were too afraid to challenge those who accused our mother. We also didn?t know we could report the matter to police.

?We only focused on how to revive her from the ailments she suffered from the maltreatment meted to her. After all these years, we summoned the courage to bring her back home and luckily, we were not chased away on return neither did anyone welcome us back,? the victim?s daughter added.

Also, another victim?s relative who simply gave his name as, Benard, regretted that one of his uncles was unjustly tortured to death in Ushongo LGA in 2021 over alleged involvement in witchcraft activities.

He Identified his deceased uncle as Ordue Akume, noting that his own relatives accused him of using witchcraft to steal a missing goat.

?My late uncle?s siblings reported the matter to the community youths, claiming that a seer had fingered him as the culprit. However, he denied the allegation. Despite pleas from other villagers to stop the inhumane treatment, they continued to torture him, trying to force a confession from him.

?When it became clear that he was dying from the beatings and torture, his accusers moved him from the scene of the torture and abandoned him at a private clinic in Lessel, Ushongo. That was where he eventually passed away,? Benard recalled.

Many families have been broken with many victims and relatives living with post traumatic depression (PTSD) as a result of allegations of witchcraft leaving many with low self-esteem and causing some to taking their own lives as a way of avoiding being ridiculed in the community.

No doubt, the echoes of witchcraft accusations in parts of Benue State are currently raising human rights concerns, as individuals accused of witchcraft are increasingly being brutally killed or maimed.

In extreme cases, the accused are buried alive or burned to death in their homes, while their relatives are powerless to rescue them from the perpetrators, who are often youths within the community.

Most of the time, victims do not survive the torture unless there is timely intervention by security operatives, as seen in the case of Pa Justin Kyadoo, who narrowly escaped death after being accused of witchcraft by irate individuals in Gwer East, Benue State, on January 13, 2023.

He was rescued by his daughter, Ann Kyadoo, in a desperate and timely intervention.

Speaking to our correspondent on telephone, Kyadoo described her father as a victim of witchcraft persecution, who would have met a cruel and untimely death had she not acted swiftly to involve law enforcement officers.

?He was already set on fire,? Kyadoo recounted.

She added, ?I brought the police just in time. By the time they arrived at the scene, he was being burnt alive.?

Our correspondent reports that the ugly trend has persisted in almost all parts of the state despite warnings from police authorities to residents to avoid jungle justice.

The latest killing of an elderly woman on the eve of Christmas over witchcraft allegation in rural Agatu axis of the state indicates the troubling dimensions of the situation.

Police spokesperson, CSP Catherine Anene, in a statement, confirmed the arrest of one Bako, 50, and Oyaje Clement, 40, for their alleged roles in the killing, which occurred on December 24, 2024 in Egba village of Agatu Local Government Area of the state.

Anene described the incident as a troubling trend of mob justice in the state, particularly targeting elderly individuals accused of witchcraft.

?Another worrisome situation in the state is the case of people taking laws into their hands, particularly young people killing the elderly for alleged cases of witchcraft.?

Anene however reiterated the police?s commitment to bringing the perpetrators to justice and urged the public to refrain from taking the law into their hands.

Sadly, the killing of the aged woman is just one among many of such tragic cases as several communities in Benue are now regarded as hotspots for witchcraft-related violence, where accused individuals continue to suffer terrifying abuses fuelled by fear and suspicion.

Unfortunately, the people attribute personal misfortunes such as illness, poverty, infertility, and sudden deaths to witchcraft, resulting in the torture and killings of alleged perpetrators.

Victims like Elder Ihwakaa, who was reportedly buried alive in April 2023 by some youths in Diiv-Ikyurave community of Konshisha LGA of the state following allegations of witchcraft didn?t survive their ordeals to tell the story.

It was gathered that the incident occurred after lightening struck and killed his son, Henry, alongside Henry?s wife and their infant, leading to suspicions against the elderly man.

Witnesses recounted that some youths accused Ihwakaa of using the water element to invoke witchcraft on the community, blaming him for the deaths caused by the lightening and in retaliation, the mob buried him alive in a shallow grave.

Engr. Baba Agan, a community elder, disclosed that lightening strikes are a common occurrence in the area, often affecting economic trees. He expressed regret over the mob?s actions, stating that the situation escalated before law enforcement agents could intervene, stressing that by the time police arrived, Ihwakaa had already died, and his body was exhumed from the grave.

Agan criticised the mob action and warned that it could lead to further crises within the community just as he pledged to work with other community leaders to ensure peaceful resolution of the matter and prevent similar incidents in the future. He called for calm and adherence to legal procedures in addressing disputes.

Police spokesperson, CSP Anene, had confirmed the incident while disclosing the arrest of two suspects connected with the crime.

Earlier in 2022, a village mob tortured two elderly men to death over witchcraft allegation levelled against them in Gwer East LGA of Benue State

Witnesses said the deceased victims, Kwaghange Ugbu and Atuur Shaaja, were beaten by the mob and dragged with a rope on the ground around their vicinity in Gwer East until they died.

A witness who declined his name on print, told our correspondent that the incident happened precisely on September 28, 2022 after one David Terseer Nongobo, a native of Mbaaku Mbasombo in same Gwer East slumped while working on the farm.

Nongobo who had then just completed his secondary school education, according to the witness, was reportedly rushed to the village hospital where the medics confirmed him dead.

The witness narrated further that when the news of the young school leaver broke in his community, some youths allegedly mobilised themselves to the homes of the two elderly men ? Ugbu and Shaaja ? who were relatives of the dead boy and accused them of killing him through witchcraft.

?That was how they started beating and cutting the two elderly men with cutlasses and axes. They tied a rope around their necks and dragged them on the ground until they died, even when the accused kept screaming in their Tiv dialect that they don?t have a hand in the young man?s death.

?When some members of the tortured victims? family, including their children, tried to rescue them while they were being unjustly treated to various dehumanisations, their attempts were resisted. The men eventually died and the mob ensured that no one went close to their corpses which were left unattended to until the next day when they were taken to the morgue,? the witness added.

The cases involving the killings of some people over witchcraft allegations are rampant in the state as a similar incident happened only few weeks in Shangev Tiev community of Konshisha LGA of the state before the killing of the two elders.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the state?s Police command, CSP. Catherine Anene, who had confirmed the incident and said the suspects are currently on the run, told our correspondent that, ?In fact, I?m trying to do a programme on both radio and television so that people will get to know that there is room for investigating such cases and establishing the cause of death instead of just assuming or alleging that it?s witchcraft.?

Moreover, the educated people are also not spared as in February 2021, a retired professor in Benue State, Prof. Simmons Benki Womboh, refuted allegations of witchcraft levelled against him by his younger brother, Fidelis Benki Womboh.

The professor expressed concerns that these accusations, linked to a wound on Fidelis? head, could put his life in danger, suggesting his brother might seek to harm him through hired attackers.

Prof. Womboh, in messages written to relevant authorities, urged Fidelis to seek medical treatment and spiritual guidance instead of blaming witchcraft even as he emphasised his innocence and offered to assist Fidelis in obtaining proper medical care.

Consequent upon the disturbing developments, the Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AFAW), a human rights organisation, recently enjoined the people of Benue State to desist from witchcraft accusations and persecutions.

Director of AFAW, Dr Leo Igwe, who made the disclosure during an advocacy lecture and exhibition held at the Benue State University (BSU) Makurdi, posited that, ?They should realise that witchcraft is superstition. Witchcraft accusation is a crime under the law. The people of Benue should abandon superstitions and embrace science and critical thinking.?

Igwe also said that his organisation had documented at least 150 cases of inhuman treatment against individuals accused of witchcraft in Nigeria.

He said the event, organised by Human Rights Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in conjunction with the Benue State University Makurdi, aimed to sensitise students on the need to stop inhuman treatment of people perceived to possess witchcraft powers.

Igwe said they staged the event in Benue because the state has been a hotspot for attacks, killings, and other horrific abuses linked to witchcraft, and that they want to end the abuses.

He noted that the exhibition and roundtable discussion was organised by the AFAW, International Network Against Accusations of Witchcraft and Associated Harmful Practices (INAAWAHP) and the Department of Political Science BSU, with the theme ?Witch Hunts in the 21st Century: A Human Rights Catastrophe? to seek for the elimination of harmful practices against persons accused of witchcraft.

He expressed worries over high cases of jungle justice against persons perceived to possess witchcraft powers, saying AFAW has recorded over 150 cases across the country with seven cases in Benue State.

The AFAW director noted that it is unfortunate that many people in the state still attribute the cause of their problems to witchcraft or witches, including diseases like breast cancer, diabetic sore, psychiatric issues, infertility, poverty, inability to find a husband or wife, accidents, sudden deaths, business and academic failures etc.

?Many people believe that some, mainly elderly persons, have occultic powers and use these powers to fly out at night to suck blood, or go for meetings in neighbouring cities and communities.

?Many people believe that they or their children could be initiated into the occult world after taking biscuits or other snacks from fellow students or neighbours. Many people in Benue State still believe that people?s body parts can magically disappear after touching or shaking hands with people perceived to possess occultic powers.

?And as a result of their superstitious and irrational beliefs, people commit atrocities. People attack and kill suspected witches with impunity. People abduct them and torture them; they force plantain stems into their anus, they bury them alive, strip them naked, banish or most often lynch them.

?Witchcraft belief has caused a human rights catastrophe in Benue. We want to end this catastrophic situation,? he said, adding that the event was an attempt to highlight the violations and injustices that alleged witches face and suffer.

Earlier, the Dean of Political Science, BSU, Professor Benjamin Ahule, and the Head of Department, Dr Attah Pine, had urged the students to pay attention and be advocates against violation of rights of people alleged to be witches.

A resource person, Terver Akase, and a neurosurgeon with the Federal University of Health Science Otukpo (FUHSO), Dr Amina Onyewuchi, said they always have cases of advanced cancer at the hospital because people blame witches when they should seek medical help for their ailments at the early stages.

The neurosurgeon, who is the Chairperson of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Benue State branch, further advised the public to visit the hospitals when they are sick, stressing that, ?Some of the issues traced to witchcraft are ignorance. Most illnesses you glorify witchcraft with are not true. Go to the hospital anytime you have ill health,? Onyewuchi posited. (Weekend Trust)

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