Why are people in Nigeria being accused of witchcraft?
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Believing in witchcraft causes a lot of discussion, controversy and sometimes puts lives in danger across Africa. Last week, five men in northern Nigeria were sentenced to death for murdering a woman they accused of being a witch.

That kind of punishment is rarely handed out in Nigeria. It was a big case across the country and it got people talking about how those in rural areas are still being killed after being accused of witchcraft. So why is this happening and what's being done to stop it? That's what we're talking about in today's episode. I'm Ikra Farouk. You're listening to What's in the World from the BBC World Service.

So let's get into it. Oloronke Alo is a BBC journalist in Lagos. Hey. Hi. Thank you for coming on today. Let's kind of strip this back a bit and explain what happened here. This has been a huge case across Nigeria, right? Yes. Five men were sentenced to death by hanging in Kano State. That's in northern Nigeria on Monday, February 3rd.

These men were found guilty of killing a 67-year-old woman two years ago in November 2023 after accusing her of witchcraft. Dahari Abubakar was her name. One morning while she was working on a farm, they went there, beat her up and stabbed her to death with a dangerous weapon, according to what the court says.

So one of the men who were involved in her death accused her of witchcraft because his sick wife said he dreamt that Dahari was chasing her in the dream with a knife. So he went to Dahari's farm around 8 a.m. in the morning of November 15, 2023, while she was working there with four other men to confront her. And then they attacked her. How rare is it for the death penalty to be handed out in Nigeria?

I would say it's very rare. Death penalty is rarely carried out in Nigeria. And according to the prosecutor on Daru's case, this is like the first time we're seeing up to five people even being sentenced to death over accusation of witchcraft. Like this is the first time.

Although in Nigeria it's an offense to accuse or even threaten anyone of being a witch, it would usually carry a maximum of two year prison sentence. But even at that, prosecutions and convictions like this are kind of very rare, very rare. But this time the judge who passed down the death sentence for this man, you know, he found them guilty of culpable homicide.

And this is an offense that carries death penalty in Nigeria. Most times, cases of witchcraft are not even being prosecuted. You know, people just go to the police, they settle out of court and all of that. So this is a very rare case to find some people being sentenced to death over a wrongful accusation of witchcraft.

And you work as part of the misinformation unit in Lagos in Nigeria. So what sort of reaction have you heard online while you've been reporting? Last year, I did a research into this witch hunting in Nigeria.

And I've met with some advocacy groups who have actually also been, you know, speaking about this. They've shared this report on social media, on WhatsApp groups, because they've held this judgment. For them, it feels like a win. This is...

going to serve as a deterrent. So most of these advocacy groups feel that this is a win for witch hunting in Nigeria and even in some parts of Africa. And I wanted to talk a bit about the people who are accused of witchcraft. Who are they? Are they mostly women? Yes, they're mostly women. So culturally in this part of the world, we believe that women carry the power of the witches.

And while I was speaking with a professor, a senior lecturer in a Nigerian university last year, October thereabouts, in 2024, I mean, he says that culturally it is believed that, you know, witches, they are women that, you know, the God that's the creator of the earth in Africa gave the power of witchcraft to a woman.

So when culturally, historically, they talk about witchcraft, they mention, you know, women being the conveyor of death.

When in churches, I mean in religious organizations, people that also talk about witchcraft and wanting to, you know, cast out demons and all of that, they point at women being, you know, witches. They are mostly women who are sometimes not mentally stable, women, aged women who are lonely, whose children are not possibly with them, women who live in rural community who are

you know, live in poverty, so to say. So people like this are targeted as witchcraft because they feel like they do not have the power. So mostly women are being tagged as witches in this part of the world. I wanted to talk a little bit about the idea of

a witch or a wizard. What sort of beliefs tie into that in Nigeria? Do you think it's different from other parts of the world? For us here, it's a combination of factors. The belief in witchcraft is deeply rooted in indigenous religious practices because we believe in supernatural forces as part of our everyday lives.

Many African cultures also, you know, they all believe in ancestral spirits, they believe in magic, you know, they believe that some individuals kind of wield supernatural powers, whether both positive or negative. And that is what they call, you know, this witchcraft, you know, if there are events or circumstances that cannot be explained, they say, oh, this is witch, this is magic, and all that. So, you know, speaking to people who lecture as an expert, you know,

in this line. They say it's cultural for Africans to believe that witchcraft do exist. And then for people to explain factors that happen to them that they do not have understanding of, you know, they kind of tie it to, oh, there must be a witch somewhere. And they also believe that there are bad witches, you know, there are good witches, there are bad witches as well. So, but then most of the time people tie whatever misfortune that happens to them to someone else.

There are people who accuse their parents. There are people who also accuse their children. Children are also being targeted in some of these cases. There are people who accuse, you know, elderly men as well. You know, I did speak that men are also being attacked. What's being done to stop these attacks? I wouldn't say much has been done by the authority, except for this kind of judgment that we're getting, which is very rare.

But there are a lot of advocacies on ground. There are a lot of organizations that have come up to, you know, speak about witch hunting, as they would call it.

And there are a lot of people who have gone to rescue people that have been attacked, reporting them to the police, getting them financial aid, even settling them up. For a country like Ghana, there are camps that have been set up for people that have been persecuted, have been witch-hunted. They have about six camps in Ghana for mostly women. And sometimes, you know, men also live there, but mostly for women. They call it witch camps in Ghana.

mostly there's no how would i put it now there's no form of legal restrictions especially judgments like this that would you know usually deter people from witch hunting you know some experts have also said that this doesn't help in any way so it's like bringing uh a mother or a father a grandfather out of their community out of the away from the family they have always lived with and then you set them you separate them from their family because they have been targeted

What about the generations that believe in witchcraft? Is it across all generations? Is it mostly the older generation to tie into the history behind this? In Africa, in Nigeria as well, it is across generations, right? It's been passed on. And the reason why this is, is mostly because the religious bodies have a role to play in it. So when you go to churches, when you go to mosques,

These days, you'll find people, you know, speaking against some sort of witches. You know, they hold programs specifically targeting witches. You know, they have billboards. There was this billboard that was being put up last year. It's targeting witches and the billboards. The theme of the program is witches must die.

So there is, over time, talks about witches passed on from generation to generation. Everybody's aware.

Even though the awareness might not be that, you know, we get to attack everybody you see, but people are being suspicious of another person being a witch. But mostly in rural communities, these attacks are, they're common. It is across generations that people believe that witches exist. Oloronke, thank you so much for coming on and chatting from Lagos. Really, really appreciate it. It's been so interesting to hear. All right. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you.

Someone who is taking a stand against witch hunting is Dr. Leo Igwe. Based in Nigeria, he works to protect those who are accused of being witches. He says Christians in Nigeria should be following the lead from other churches around the world. The Scottish Church has made it clear that witch hunting is incompatible with Christianity. Why did I say so?

they apologized. So in other words, it was a mistake. So what we tell them today is that, "Why can't you emulate the Scottish church?"

Why can't you model your Christianity after that? And we should not romanticise it in any way. And it's not just the churches who need convincing. So I try to work with international organisations. But of course, they will now be dictating for me, oh, don't describe this as barbaric. We don't want them to think that we are being racist.

you need to respect African culture and all that. I'm like, this is not what I want. And that's it for today. Thank you for listening to this episode of What's in the World from the BBC World Service. We'll see you next time. Bye.

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