Date Published: 11/23/09

Sir,

The Prophecy of Witches and Wizards

Reading The Nation newspaper of Friday November 20, 2009 and the page 3, I was confronted with the gory story of one Mr. John Effiong who together with his wife was alleged to have poisoned their two-year-old son over a prophecy that the baby was a wizard. The prophecy was given by one Pastor Ini Monday of one church located at Upper Sakponba Road, Benin; he is still at large. A co-pastor in the church, Aniekan Archibong who was caught along with the accused Effiong, nevertheless, claimed that he was at the church of the prophecy and did not hear Pastor Monday give such prophecy.

According to the news item, the Police in Benin had arrested Effiong and two others (John Okoh and Pastor Aniekan Archibong) on their way along Benin-Abraka road with the child in a “Ghana-must-go” bag. Effiong was quoted to have said so many nonsensical and unreasonable things thus: “How would I poison my son? When I was caught by the Police, I told them that it was my baby I was carrying in the bag. When they brought it out, the baby was shaking his leg.  I told them that my son was dead and I was going to bury him”. “They told me in a church in my village (in Akwa Ibom) that if I was not careful the baby would kill me and he would still die. The pastor told me that the baby would not last with me.”

In recent past, Akwa Ibom government claimed that there were no witches in Akwa Ibom and had in the process fought some prophets and churches that claimed otherwise and were alleged to have caused deaths of some kids. Nevertheless, no one has heard anything again about those pastors detained by the law enforcement agencies in Akwa Ibom. It is important that the public is informed adequately on the cases.

Chief Pius Umukoro, Effurm Road, Warri, Delta State