The Unconventional Child: Re-visiting the Akwa Ibom State ‘Child Witches’ Killings

In 2002, an Asian American boy by the name Sho Timothy Yono, with an estimated IQ of 200, graduated from Loyola University, Chicago, at the age of twelve. Six years later he received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, successfully becoming history’s youngest MD. In 2006, six years old Ainan Celeste Cawley, a Singaporean boy who spoke his first words at less than a month old, stunned the world when he delivered a remarkable lecture about acids and alkaloids to the utter amazement of the adults who were in attendance at this lecture. In June 2013, a boy named Adam Kirby became the youngest member of the British Mensa at age two years after scoring 141 in an IQ test, conveniently meaning that at that age, he was smarter than Barack Obama and David Cameron put together. Prior to this time, Adam had astonished the world when he began to read his first book at the age of 10 months. Sho, Ainan and Adam are like countless other kids like them around the world who possess abilities that can best be described as out of this world. Yet, they are very lucky because, even though they possessed traits that many would describe as strange, even though they started out as being very eccentric and bizarre kids because they knew more than their age and acted differently from what may have been the norm with kids of their times, they were cared for by their societies and today they are the better for it because they have become very successful and useful to our world.

Throughout history, in every continents of the world, there have been stories about children who are so advanced, so different from their peers that some people have even claimed that they may been gods who have practically come down to live among men. These sort of kids exist in all the regions of the earth and in every generation known to man. For example, the story is well documented of the case in the 6^th Century BC, of Mnesarchus, the father of Mathematician and Philosopher Pythagoras, who while travelling home from work one day, came upon an abandoned child. The bizarre child it was said, had survived for as long as he had been there where he was found, solely on the dew from a nearby tree. Taking this chid in, Pythagoras’ father named this child Astraios, which is Greek for ‘Star Child’. It is said that this child was raised with Pythagoras and his siblings. This child was later given to Pythagoras as his servant. It is believed today by many that, this strange child who is believed to have come down from the stars because of some of his traits, may have been responsible for most of Pythagoras’ works in the field of Mathematics and Philosophy. Whether or not this is just another good fable, I cannot tell. But the point is, this story and many like it, serves to buttress two things; that there are children among us who display behaviours that is different from how we expect children to behave, and that such children deserve our care rather than cruelty.

Eccentric children, like I have already established are everywhere. In fact, to many, Jesus Christ of the Christian faith himself was an eccentric (remember the story of the temple discussion at age 12?). Even I myself at some point, I was an eccentric too. While some people like Pastor Hellen Ukpabio of the Liberty Ministries in Port Harcourt south/south Nigeria will be quick to denounce eccentric children as witches and wizards, others like Gorgio, a Greek American Ancient Alien Hunter would define such children as ‘Star Kids’. Now, let me make it clear here that I am not denying that there are some really weird kids who may act in ways that may even be harmful to adults around them, No. However, the question is, should every child who is different from his peers be denounced as evil? Should they be maimed, abandoned or killed by society, our society, the very same that should ordinarily protect and help them develop their gift? Shouldn’t we be making efforts to understanding and seeing how we can annex their potentials for the good of all? I believe there are myriad kids scattered across Nigeria today, especially those in the Child Right and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) home in Eket, who possess potentials far ahead of our times, who can best be described as Star Kids? Aren’t this kids unnecessarily being wasted by ignorant parents at the prompting of greedy charlatans who go by the titles pastors, prophets and apostles? If these children like elsewhere in the world, abound in Nigeria, shouldn’t we be asking ourselves how we can identify them? Identify their potentials and harness such for the good of the country?  To start with, who are Star Kids? Isn’t this term already been mistaken for witchcraft in this part of the world?

Star Kids. There are many experts today who define the term Star Kids or believe very strongly that Star Kids are children sent here to earth from all areas in the universe. They believe these kids are sent to earth to help the people of earth. That these children will bring peace, topple corrupt systems around the world, and shift dimensional consciousness from negative to positive in the years to come. Now, the point according to proponents of this school of thought is, Star Kids display certain traits that sets them apart from other kids. Some of such traits is that, they are reserved, eccentric, and vastly intelligent and seem to know more than their age. Over the years, in all the four corners of earth, kids like this have appeared. However, in Africa, and recently in Nigeria and especially in the south/south state of Akwa Ibom, kids with traits like some of the above mentioned have been associated with something else. As a matter of fact, the scope have even been broadened to include sickly, stubborn, orphaned etc. kids. So, a phenomenon that enlightened people around the world have referred to as ‘Star Kids’ and are trying hard to understand, is what we have successfully associated with a more negative term. Witchcraft.

He was a nine-year-old boy. He was lying on a bloodstained hospital sheet crawling with ants and was staring blindly at the wall. In his soulful eyes lingered questions. Questions that neither he nor society could answer. Only days before, his family pastor had accused him of being a witch. On the basis of this denunciation, his father had tried to force acid down his throat as an exorcism. The acid had spilled as he struggled, burning away his face and eyes. Days later, having gone through untold horror at the hands of his parent and the pastor, this one time well fed little boy who was bubbling with life had been reduced into a thoroughly emaciated boy due to his ordeal at the hands of his family; a shadow of himself.  With barely any strength left in him, all he could do was to manage a whisper. With great difficulty he was able to belch the name of the church that had condemned him as a witch; ‘Mount Zion Lighthouse’. Exactly one month after his denunciation, this nine-year old who once had a life, died.

“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.”

The lines above, since Christianity became a major world religion, has represented many things to many people throughout the history of our planet. For those who grossly misunderstand and misinterpreted these words, starting from the Roman Catholic Inquisitions of the past and the many Evangelical charlatans in Akwa Ibom State today, these words, taken from the Christian Holy Book,  for them represented a licence and a divine order to go on a killing spree.  For the countless ‘witches’ (it used to be more of cragy old ladies but now the attention is on children) who have been burned at the stakes in Medieval Europe throughout history, and for the many children in Africa and especially Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria today, these words represents horror and a death sentence. Kids who are a bit different from their peers. Kids who in saner climes would be considered an asset because of their eccentricity and gift. As a matter of fact, in 1982, the Chinese government launched a nationwide search for kids with extra ordinary abilities. Kids who are different from their peers. The purpose was to develop and harness their gifts. Today in Nigeria, some of the traits the Chinese government looked for in those kids then are the same traits that Hellen Ukpabio and her co-travellers are denouncing kids for. Now, if the lives of these kids are so easily disregarded, this begs the questions, what is witchcraft? Who is really a witch? What is wrong with us as a society that we have turned on our kids, the most vulnerable in society?

The idea of witchcraft is hardly new. It is defined as the practice of magic. Especially black magic; the use of spells and the invocation of spirits to cause harm and misfortune. The concept and definition is as broad as it is largely and grossly misunderstood by many. As a matter of fact, the concept has taken on a new life recently, partly because of a rapid growth in evangelical Christianity. Now, I do not pretend to have a definition for the concept, neither am I one who is so buried in his dogmas as to deny that there are people who cause other people harm in a way that can best be described as ‘witchcraft’.  My quarrel is with the killings of little children. Especially highly gifted children. My dispute is with the fact that con men in the guise of men and women of God charge huge fees for exorcism from gullible parents, on kids who they have condemned in the first place. I would not have been this bothered if this accusations of witchcraft against these kids, as far as I can tell is not clearly on the rise. According to Aleksandra Cimpric in his epic work, some of the causes of this growing witchcraft accusation against children includes; ‘the increasing complexities of economic, political and social factors affecting societies. Economic pressure as a factor is evident in the Akwa Ibom town of Eket, where, despite the fact that Nigeria pumps her oil wealth from the region, palpable poverty is still very visible and evident.

Today in Nigeria, we are witnessing the sort of barbarism that was witnessed in Medieval Europe, only this times like I have pointed out, the madness and evil is being visited on kids. Campaigners against this evil say as at the last count, around 15,000 children have been accused in two of Nigeria’s 36 states over the past decade and around 1,000 have been murdered. My friend Sam Itauma of the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) believes it is the most gifted and vulnerable children who are most often denounced. He is not far from the truth. The list of potential victims is now widened to include children with physical disabilities, the orphaned, or the ill. Even children who show unusual behaviour, for example, stubbornness, aggressiveness, thoughtfulness, who are withdrawn or even lazy, make this evil list of the condemned. In the case of the nine-year old boy described above, his eccentricity, the fact that he is exceptionally gifted and his poor father and dead mother made him an easy target for their family pastor. “Even churches who didn’t use to ‘find’ child witches are being forced into it by the competition,” said Itauma. “These pastors and prophets are seen as spiritually powerful because they can detect witchcraft and the parents are even required to pay them huge sums of money for an exorcism.”  He added. If so many children have been and continue to be denounced as witches and wizards, what then is the criteria for deciding who is a witch?

Hellen Ukpabio, according to her Wikipedia page,   is the founder and head of the African Evangelical franchise Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries which is based in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. Despite the fact that her church’s headquarters is based in the Calabar, the flames from the inferno she has helped to ignite are being felt across the south/south region and beyond.  Born in the village of Mbente, Imo State, Hellen is married to Dr. Elijah Ukpabio. Ironically she has three children who are kept safe within the confines of her comfortable home while she superintends over the ‘exorcism’ and abuse of the vulnerable children of gullible seekers of truth. Ukpabio and her organisation believe that Satan has the ability to manifest himself in the bodies of children by demonic possession and make them become his servants in the form of ‘witches’ or ‘wizards’. Exploiting superstitious beliefs which is still very prevalent in the country, particularly those related to spiritual or demonic possession or witchcraft, Hellen Ukpabio’s organisation has grown exponentially throughout Nigeria and West Africa since its foundation. There are now major Liberty Gospel Churches according to her page on the internet, in Cameroon, Ghana and South Africa as well as Nigeria. Ukpabio has published her religious views in several books. An example is the one she called ‘Unveiling the Mysteries of Witchcraft’, in which she stated that:

‘Under the age of two, if a child screams at night, cries, is always feverish suddenly deteriorates in health, puts up an attitude of fear, and may not feed very well’, then the child is a witch.  She also produces, through her film production company, Liberty Films, part of the Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries franchise, a number of films which are all aimed at spreading the view that children can become possessed by evil spirits. The most famous of her movies yet is End of The Wicked, in which child actors are shown to eat human flesh and murder their parents. As aptly noted by an Observer newspaper article in 2007, these sort of claims by Ukpabio and other evangelical pastors have caused a great upsurge in the numbers of children being accused of witchcraft and being abused and stigmatised by parents and communities as a result. This number have not abated ever since this whole issue of ‘Child Witches’ killing was first exposed about eight years or so ago. Despite the fact that Ukpabio have brought libel suit against a number of NGOs working in that area, to a large extent, the assertion that she is one of the major architects of this evil currently plaguing the state is very true. Countless experiences of the suffering of kids in that region, especially in Akwa Ibom State have been recorded by a number of groups, countless articles and petitions have been written, yet the inferno keep spreading.

At a time, Gary Foxcroft of an NGO wailed “It is an outrage what they are allowing to take place in the name of Christianity,”  Ironically, some of  the families of these condemned kids are often extremely poor, and may sometimes even feel relieved and happy to have one less mouth to feed at the death of their kids! There has been a case of an 8-year-old girl accused by a “prophet” from the Apostolic Church, because the girl liked to sleep outside on hot nights which was interpreted as meaning she might be flying off to join a coven. A series of exorcisms cost the mother eight months’ wages. It was reported that the payments bankrupted her. And this did not stop neighbours who kept attacking her daughter. The list of suffering of these kids, whose only offence is that they are different, unusual and gifted, Star Kids maybe, is inexhaustible.

In a disturbing case of a young boy who died that was reported some time ago, the pastor had told the mother it was because the elder sibling, herself a child, was a witch. Three unknown men thereafter came to their house. By this time, the mother had left the house. She had left her daughter with the men. They beat her, pushed her fists under her chin to show how her father lay, stretched out on his stomach on the floor of their hut, watching. After the beating, they set out for a trip to the church for ‘a deliverance’. A day later there was a walk in the bush with her mother. They picked poisonous ‘asiri’ berries that were made into a draught and forced them down the little girl’s throat. If that didn’t kill her, her mother warned her, then it would be a barbed-wire hanging. Finally her mother threw boiling water and caustic soda over her head and body, and her father dumped his screaming daughter in a field. Drifting in and out of consciousness, she stayed near the house for a long time before finally slinking off into the bush. She was only seven. In the most pathetic case ever, I watched the video of a young girl who had a nail driven into her head. She was left mentally deranged afterwards. Countless horrible stories like these, ever since this madness started, have never seized to emanate from Akwa Ibom State.  If all these stories as were reported in the past made any impact, it’s not visible, as nothing has changed ever since. Question is, what society that claims to worship God through his son Jesus condones of such evil against her kids? What people allow such evil to be visited against the future of our species? What is the government doing to stem this tide? What can be done? If Jesus, who these conmen claim to follow were to be here today, how would he have reacted to this evil being committed in his name?

If the timing of Jesus Christ’s ministry were to be in our day, if the likes of Hellen Ukpabio were to be his disciples, what message would he have had for them?  There exist today a familiar New Testament picture, an artistic impression of Jesus taking a child in his arms and receiving him with love. This is a very popular picture that I first saw as a child myself. They were the first vivid impression of Jesus that I have in my mind. Apparently, this picture is intended to portray Jesus’ message and the attitude of care and concern for children that is expected from every adult. Jesus Christ, himself an eccentric, was able to show by example to people of his day that children, along with women, old men, and slave, were to be viewed as physically weak and the vulnerable in the society, burdens that society must look after, even though the reality was that there was little value for such in the wider life of the community in his day. In Greece and Rome for example, it was an accepted practice to abandon unwanted children along the roadsides to die.

Apart from preaching against these evil practices of cruelty to children, Jesus always found time for youngster. He is even quoted as telling his disciples that unless they became like little children they would not enter the kingdom of heaven. He warned his followers not to despise children or to cause them to stumble. Children were valuable and were to be treated with love and care. His teachings concerning children were faithfully adhered to by the early church, which believed that to receive a child in the name of Christ was to receive Christ Himself. The Epistle of Barnabas for example commanded ‘Thou shalt not slay the child by procuring abortion; nor again, shalt thou destroy it after it is born’. Imagine such advocacy for the care of unborn children, how much more children who are old enough to talk and communicate, eccentric and gifted children.  ‘Thou shalt not withdraw thy hand from thy son, or from thy daughter, but from their infancy thou shalt teach them the fear of the Lord’, not to kill, torture and maim the under the pretext of exorcism.

Ever wondered why the early Christian attitude toward children was so unusual? I believe it is simply because it recognized the child as a person. For the first century Christians, both children and adults were equal in the kingdom of God. The Christians taught that God cared for children, as well as slaves, women and barbarians, just as much as He did for men. There are overflowing examples in the Bible of how children were looked after. This is the same Bible that the likes of Hellen carry, preach from and site as giving directives to their shameful crimes against children. If the Bible speaks to the heart in matters like this, it would leave the reader the choice of either accepting or rejecting its admonitions. Yet there is an organ in the society that can see to it that this evil is stamped out once and for all. That organ is the government. What has it done? What should be done?

Since when in 2008, about six international film newspapers journalists came to Akwa Ibom State and found children in seclusion, camped in many areas accused of being into witchcrafts, and exposed this issue to the world, countless articles, petitions, stories have been written about this ‘Child Witches’ killings. As a matter of fact, I was invited to the 8th Edition of the Sangam House International Writers’ Residency in India to complete my Work-in-Progress which is a book about this madness. Though I did started this work in India, I am still working on it in light of new information and hope to publish it later this year. Yet, despite all this efforts well-meaning people (Journalists and NGOs alike), it appears much is not been done both by the government as well as citizen because, clearly the evil is on the rise. In pictures that have been brought to light, we see piteous sight of children being burnt alive and many hounded away from their families by family members in connivance with ‘pastors’, ‘apostles’ and ‘prophets’, in the name of exorcising them of the ‘evil spirit’ and collecting huge amount of money from the unsuspecting and gullible families for the exorcism. Following what was reported, the then Governor of the State, Godswill Akpabio had signed a bill into law making it a criminal offence, punishable by up to 15 years in prison to label a child a witch. Well, I for one, I think this is not punishment enough for a religious man that charges up to 400,000 naira to help kill another man’s child in the name of witchcraft.

This law, known as the Child Rights Act 2008 was defined as a comprehensive protection for the rights of children, especially against being labelled as witches and wizards. Many local and international organizations lauded this initiative. I was optimistic too and happy only under the condition that the law will see to a rapid decline in this evil. At that time, Nigeria as a whole was advised to enact many Child Rights Act in order to guarantee the future of children in the country. While signing this law, Akpabio had told the world that Children are very important in the society (I had hoped he had told this to Hellen and her co-travellers in the most forceful of manner): ‘that is where the hope of the country rests’. Following The Child Rights Act which was signed on 5th Dec 2008 in Akwa Ibom State and ‘domesticated comprehensively’, family courts were set-up to try suspects. All this seem laudable initiatives at first but now, the story is still the same.

Events have proved that, though good, this law is not enough. More needs to be done. As a matter of fact, this evil has spread to neighbouring states, such as Cross River state where cases of abuse, torture and death is on the rise as I type these words. Just last year 2015, one charlatan, who looks no more than a thug, who goes by the name ‘Bishop’ Sunday Williams, in one sordid scene of the torturing of of a young boy of about 8 years, declared that there were some 2.3 million witches and wizards in Akwa Ibom state. It is a worthy point to note that Akwa Ibom state is around 4 million people in population. If this ‘bishop’ is correct in his baseless declaration, it means only 1.7 million people are witchcraft free in the state. In a brazen and shameless manner, on that same day, in which he had made the young boy drink from a concoction, a mixture of his own blood and strong drink, this same ‘bishop’ had declared that he had helped parents killed over 110 children at 400,000 naira per child! Can you imagine that? I find it hard for my mind to process this sort of information. It is said that the bishop was arrested, and that the then governor of the state had dismissed his 2.3 million witches claim as hallucination. But what has changed?

The torture, hunting, maiming, and so on that have been going on in this region have not stopped. As a matter of fact, it is on the increase. In still the same last years, Mkpat, a community in Akwa Ibom was besieged by thousands of people who throng to witness the torture and humiliation of alleged witches and wizards. More than 40 members of the community were dragged to a kangaroo panel headed by the community head of Ikot Abia, Chief Okon Udoaka. They were accused of witchcraft. They were the victim of a witch hunt that had lasted both day and night for 5 days. Though the police was called in to stop the madness after the suffering of the victims, though the chief was arrested, he was later released. It is reported that the community had prevailed on the police that it is a local community matter that did not deserve the attention of the authorities. This, to me, mirrors the thinking and the mentality of most people in the State and a very strong testament to the fact that something urgently needed to be done.

As always, there seem to be some light at the end of the tunnel with the work that is being done by well-meaning Nigerians under the auspices of various NGOs there. Despite this, I believe there is still much more that needs to be done. I find it welcoming however what the likes of the Child’s Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN), Paulash Community Development Initiative (PCDI) and a number of other NGOs, journalists, writers (like myself) and well-meaning Nigerians are taking the initiative is trying to help shelter, save and give hope to and write about the plight of these children. The onus is now on the government as the most powerful organ in society and the communities affected to do more. We need an urgent response to this issue of child killing.

I believe an adequate response should be the one that addresses the attitude towards and the accusations against children, and it should be the sort that strengthens the existing national child protection laws, give forte to the agencies and institutions, if any, that have been created to look into the issue of child abuse. The government should seek to make and enact more laws alongside the few existing ones,  and this laws and agencies should exist solely with the mandate to  prevent  and  respond  to  cases of abuse,  exploitation  and  violence against children.  Among their mandate, any agency that will be created should include providing and improving service provision for stigmatised kids, providing legal frameworks and access to justice for children in affected areas.

Advocacy  and interventions groups like CRARN  should   be assisted and encouraged not only to cater ore for these kids, but also reinvigorated to promote  social  change  by  raising  awareness  among  families  and community  leaders. I believe it is high time the government came down heavy on these religious charlatans, and as a matter of fact, there should be a very serious regulating of church activities and registration and the activities of the so called exorcist and deliverance healers in the south/south. It is not everyone that claims himself a founder that applies to the CAC that should be give the licence to operate a church as many of the church founder as mental and moral dwarfs who are intellectually bankrupt.

The government can also ensure an in‐depth knowledge of the various beliefs and practices of the people of the communities in affected areas with a view to discouraging the bad ones. Efforts should also be made to understand this unusual kids like the Chinese government did in 1982, and provide for them. Some of them are genius that need the conducive environment to thrive.

There should be constant dialogue between the government, community leaders and NGOS who are working in these area. The negotiations and mediation  should be between  NGOs like CRARN, reasonable pastors,  prophets and apostles and families  and even the representative of  children  accused  of  witchcraft (if not the children themselves because sometimes ago, the children had to go on the streets to protest being label witches and wizards). This is necessary given the fact that ours is a very religious society where pastors are important opinion leaders and have considerable influence over parents and these ‘child witchcraft’ accusations. This will help well-meaning individuals to better defend the children, enlighten parents and uphold human rights in this areas. The list of what the government can do is in exhaustive. By the time we start doing this, we will have begun the process of saving our kids.

Beliefs in witchcraft among our people cannot go away easily. However, our attitude can begin the process of healing our kids. When I think of the souls that have been wasted throughout the history of the world on the accusation of witchcraft? Those kids who have been killed because of their abnormal births, or because they were born twins or albinos, from Uganda to Mali, from South Africa to Nigeria, killed by the church in Europe and faith healers and exorcists elsewhere, I ask myself the questions? Is it worth? Did all these unfortunate kids ask to be born? Isn’t this killings enough? Must we go on soaking our hands in blood by eating up our own very future, maybe the finest of our kids? Our own ‘Star Kids’ may be. Should we? I believe answers to these questions can jointly be provided by all of us.