I tell them, “Don’t wait till your daughter is murdered by people with this misguided notion before you can act. Immediately it’s happening to another person’s daughter, act as if it’s happening to your daughter. Act as if it’s happening to your mother.”
These were the words of humanist Dr. Leo Igwe, the CEO of Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AFAW), when I asked him in an interview why everyone should be concerned about victims accused of witchcraft.
What misguided notion is Dr. Leo Igwe referring to?
The same notion that resulted in the heartless pummeling to death of 90-year-old Akua Denteh in Kafaba in the East Gonja Municipality of Ghana on July 23, 2020. She was accused of being a witch.
No doubt if Dr. Leo were present in Kafaba that fateful day, he would have rescued her.
It wouldn’t have been Leo’s first rescue attempt of a victim accused of witchcraft. Neither the last. After leaving the University of Calabar in Nigeria with a graduate degree in Philosophy and completing his doctorate degree at Bayreuth International School of African Studies in Germany, he founded the Advocacy for Alleged Witches, consolidating his individual and community humanistic efforts over his lifetime defending vulnerable women and children accused of witchcraft from the barbarian grip of backward cultural and religious beliefs.
Leo Igwe the Hunter of Witch Hunters
Leo, though domiciled in Nigeria, is a habitué of vulnerable communities across Africa. This was evident in his doctoral thesis on witchcraft accusation in Northern Ghana, which he titled The Witch is not a Witch: The Dynamics and Contestations of Witchcraft Accusations in Northern Ghana.
The battle Leo wages against belief in witchcraft and its concomitant barbarism meted out to its victims is only the tip of the cold iceberg of superstitions that seem to have not thawed over the centuries. Rather more ridiculous superstitions surface in Africa.
Witch gun and disappearing penises
Heard of the witch gun phenomenon in Guinea and Sierra Leone? Or the disappearing penises in Ghana, Nigeria and other African countries?
Certain individuals believe in a spiritual arsenal known as a “witch gun” that can be used to hurt others through supernatural means. Oftentimes, these are ascribed to envy or malice. In an article on Sahara Reporters, Dr. Leo Igwe says allegations of witch-gun killings are taken seriously in many parts of Sierra Leone and Guinea. Accused persons are attacked, beaten up, banished, and sometimes may be lynched by a mob. Suspects are tried and convicted by state courts, though witchcraft is not recognized under the law in these countries.
The Advocacy for Alleged Witches recently pleaded with authorities in Delta State in Nigeria to prosecute perpetrators involved in raising false alarms and mob violence over penis disappearance. This is a serious issue because people continue to lose their lives over this ridiculousness.
Leo Igwe is ambushed by a witch-hunting church
As a humanist, Leo advocates exercising critical thinking, freethought, and above all empathy in society. Unfortunately for Leo, he receives no gobbet of empathy from the superstitious.
Leo, in our interview, disclosed he once experienced an uncanny ambush at a human rights conference he was scheduled to speak at in Nigeria. In attendance were a representative from commissioner of police, UNICEF officials, human rights organisations and invited guests.
As he was in high spirits about to take the stage to deliver his presentation, over 150 sympathisers of Pastor Helen Akpabio, the notorious witch exorcist of the Liberty Gospel Church, stormed into the meeting hall. In the recorded video that surfaced online you could see them clamouring straight to the stage and shoving him and his team about. The scene started to devolve into some kind of prayer meeting against Leo, whose advocacy, according to them, has given their church a bad name.
Leo shared his dilemma with me. They said that I was the one giving their church a bad name. I mean a witch-hunting church. It has a bad name already. I don’t need to give it a bad name.
The church mob snatched his camera, money and mobile phone. They gave him a good beating until the representative of the commissioner of police called for reinforcement. Had the superstitious fanatics succeeded, Leo would have ended up like any of the unfortunate victims of witchcraft accusations – lynched.
From faith to humanism
Years on, Leo and the Advocacy for Alleged Witches have been a bastion for the voiceless, fragile and hopeless.
Be like Leo, who despite being an unbeliever, has empathy for all and discrimination against none. His humanistic behaviour is not only to be admired but also emulated. He and many other humanists have made the following statement incontrovertible.
“You don’t need religion to have morals. If you can’t determine right from wrong then you lack empathy, not religion.”
Why?
Because religious fundamentalists seem to exonerate Steven Weinberg when he said, ‘Good people do good, bad people do bad; but for a good person to do bad, it takes religion.’
Leo was once religious. At age twelve, Leo entered the seminary and began to study for the Catholic priesthood in Nigeria. Twelve after, he resigned from the seminary.
If you are curious as to why Leo, an ex-ordinand of the Catholic Church, is now a humanist defending the defenceless, watch his TED Talk, Why I choose humanism over faith.
What’s next in Peter’s Box? ¡Hasta luego amigos!
