Witch Persecution and Penis Disappearance

 I attended an exhibition in Calabar at the state museum. A Nigerian artist, Etinosa Yvonne, staged the event in partnership with the National Geographic Society and the Basic Counsel Rights Initiative. The exhibition titled, It’s All in the Head, is an educative and enlightening program. The exhibition uses photos, images, and illustrations to show the devastating impact of witchcraft accusations and witch persecutions. We had a case in Ebonyi State where an accused person was tortured and then thrown into a river. Nobody has seen the corpse to date. Efforts to bring the suspects to justice have been unsuccessful. Many people have died or disappeared that way without a trace. Peddlers and entertainers of witchcraft imaginaries silently eliminate many persons, parents, children and other family and community members. Superstitions have made us lose our humanity and sense of compassion for one another. At the Critical Thinking Corner we should say it loud and clear: Enough is enough. Based on what transpires in one’s head, people are brutally attacked, tortured, and murdered with impunity. People are living with traumas for the rest of their lives. As the exhibition rightly said, it is all in the head. It is all in our heads. Yes. witchcraft is all in the heads of the believers, the heads of accusers, hunters, and persecutors. And the time has come to begin the surgical process to expel and disable this social, cultural and mental virus.

As you may have heard, another superstitious ill wind is blowing across the country.  Another imaginary bug is eating up the heads, minds, and conscience of Nigerians with devastating impact on the suspects. That is the so called magical disappearance or thieving of penises. Do penises magically disappear? The answer is No. There is no evidence that people’s private disappear following a touch or a handshake. But to many Nigerians the answer is: Yes. Like all magical or superstitious beliefs, the idea of the magical disappearance of the penis is absurd. The notion of the magical theft of private part is a figment of the mind, a mind petrified by fear, and anxiety, ignorance and superstition. It is a supposition in the ‘head’ with an external impact that is brutal.  Recently, a lecturer was accused and mobbed in Makurdi, Benue State. He sustained serious injuries. But you know what? He was lucky. He survived. The police intervened and rescued him. Many people accused of this imaginary offense have been beaten to death in some parts of the country. In Adamawa, the police stopped students from lynching some suspects. So our educators and educational institutions are not spared. Even in schools, colleges, and universities, people can be accused, attacked, and lynched for the magical disappearance of the penis in 21st-century Nigeria. What a shame!

So, we need to take what goes on in our ‘heads’ seriously. We need to critically examine what goes on in the minds of people around us. We need to interrogate narratives that are used to sanction and sanctify cruelty and savage acts in the communities. That is why, from time to time, we need to break, hang out, pause, reflect, and congregate at critical thinking corners. We need to create forums where we examine, ponder, and interrogate ideas, claims, and beliefs that often inform our actions and behaviors. Humanity cannot progress without a vibrant culture of skeptical rationality. Skepticism unlocks human possibilities, and guarantees hope for the future. Humanity’s best and brightest cannot manifest if we cannot interrogate ideas and beliefs.

So, skepticism is the handmaid of humanism. The skeptical outlook provides a springboard for the flourishing of the humanist cosmology. Skepticism is the driver and propeller of humanist values, and undergirds a progressive ethical living. As humanists, we need to work and campaign for a more critical thinking society. We need to invest in the promotion and application of critical thinking skills in all areas of human endeavor. At the Humanist Association, we encourage the creation of critical thinking spaces to help beat back the tide of dogma, blind faith, and superstition-based abuses. In the months ahead, the Humanist Association of Nigeria will follow, with keen interest, the activities of the Critical Thinkers Corner in Ebonyi State. The association will endeavor to provide you with all that you need to grow and develop this resource. Be assured of my personal support and that of other humanists and critical thinkers in Nigeria and beyond.

Leo Igwe is a board member of the Humanist Association of Nigeria