IGBOZURUOKE FORUM

Grandmother, Christiana James has been arrested by the Cross River State police command for brutalizing her three orphaned grandchildren over witchcraft accusation.

According to CrossRiverWatch, the Program Manager of Basic Rights Counsel Initiative, a Calabar-based NGO that rescued the children, Kebe Ikpi, said the children aged 2, 5 and 13 years old stay with their grandmother Christiana who brutalized them with the assistance of a man identified as Nsikak,currently on the run

Further revealing details of the story, Ikpi said that the children were forced to hawk sachet water to feed, and that the grandmother on that particular day, invited Nsikak to help torture the children to confess to the witchcraft accusation.

When asked about their ordeal, the children said they had to agree that they were witches because they could no longer bear the torture by Nsikak.

This happening after, three children accused of killing their parents through witchcraft in Akwa Ibom state where rescued by Danish aid worker and founder of the Children’s Aid Education and Development Foundation (ACAEDF), Anja Ringgren Loven’s team last week.

The three children, who were initially four in number, were about to be killed after being blamed for the death of their parents in Akwa Ibom State. Three were rescued while one child was killed before rescue came.
In a statement posted on her Facebook page, Anja Ringgren Loven, said one of the three children, 7 year old Idara was accused of killing her father.6-year-old boy, Nsidibe and brother, Ezekiel, 5, were accused of killing their mother.
Read Anja’s post below:

“Today, ACAEDF Director and Leader, David together with our Education Officer Bassey and Child Development Officer Orok saved the lives of these 3 beautiful children.It’s been a very emotional day. We wanted to bring 4 children to safety at “Land of Hope” but one child was killed even before the team left our center.But now I’m just so happy that David and our team were able to save: Idara, a 7-year-old girl accused of killing her father.Nsidibe, 6 year old boy and his brother, Ezekiel, 5 years old. Accused of killing their mother.

Superstition is NOT an African thing. From the late 15th century to the late 18th century a wave of persecution washed across parts of Europe. Tens of thousands of people were executed for witchcraft.Belief in magic was almost universal in the past. Almost all cultures believed that you could use supernatural means to help hunting or to make your crops grow better or to make humans or animals more fertile. Magic could also be used to heal the sick. For the great majority of people who lived before the 18th century magic was an ordinary part of everyday life. To them the world was a mysterious and frightening place. They did not know what caused disease and other natural phenomena and so they sometimes assumed there was a supernatural explanation.

So instead of pointing fingers we need to ask ourself: Why are we not still practicing the belief in witchcraft in Europe as we did in the 1500-1600 ? And why are this very old belief still being carried out in Africa and some other parts of the world ? The answer is easy!In all the western parts of the world we have been giving the chance to go to school. When you get the chance to go to school a society will develop in rapid speed and develop into an enlightened society. No country can develop unless it´s citizens are educated !

This is why ACAEDF carry out a lot of advocacy work in the local communites. The belief in witchcraft is purely the result of lack of education that leads to ignorance. And the lack of education is because of the expreme poverty we see out in the local communities.So we need to help the villagers and change their mindset. We need to enlighten the villagers through advocacy programs so the killing of innocent children can stop. We need to hold the villagers accountable to train and develop themselves and to make the community a safe environment for the children.Education provides the children with knowledge about the world. It paves the way for a good career. It helps build character. It leads to enlightenment. It lays the foundation of a stronger nation. And next week Idara, Nsidibe and Ezekiel will start school.

Kemifilani