The attention of the Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AfAW) has been drawn to an incident of murder linked to Okeite beliefs in Nsukka in Enugu state.
Okeite is a money ritual scam that some self-styled native doctors and diviners carry out. The belief is that people could become rich through magical means after performing certain rituals using Ite (pots).
These so-called diviners instruct seekers of ritual money to pay huge sums of money according to the size of the pot. They ask them to indulge in certain acts including murder or having sex with mentally challenged persons. Prospective ritualists are told to murder their relatives including their parents or siblings, or to bring human body parts.
According to a post that one Sen Chijinkem Ugwuanyi made on Facebook, a young man from Amaeze in Nsukka in Enugu killed four people including his Mom, grandmother, sister, and sister’s child through food poìsoning in his quest to make easy money called Okeite.
According to the post, this guy committed this crime after a friend lured him to indulge in Okeite. The friend took him to a native doctor in the Agbani area in Nsukka. The so-called native doctor instructed him to poison and kill his mother.
On the day he was told to carry out this dastardly act, the grandmother and other relatives including a child visited. He poisoned their food and they all ate the food and died. According to the Facebook post, one of the people who ate the food, a 9-year-old, survived.
The young man who poisoned family members confessed to the crime and asked for forgiveness. In a video that was posted on Facebook, a local mob paraded and forced him to go to the grave of the mother and asked for forgiveness.
AfAW contacted Mr Ugwuanyi for more information but was directed to a contact in Nsukka. The local contact confirmed the incident. He stated that the Okeite ritualist was in police custody, at the state CID in Enugu.
AfAW will pressure the police to carry out a thorough investigation. It will work with local contacts to support the child who survived this vicious act.
The Advocacy for Alleged Witches condemns this horrific incident and urges the police to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice. This young man did not act alone. Some people lured him into committing this atrocity. The police should arrest and investigate the so-called native doctor and all who were implicated in this crime.
AfAW declares that the Okeite money ritual is a scam. Mischievous individuals use this scheme to extort money from gullible youths and others who want to get rich or succeed in business.
he Okeite money belief has no basis in reason or reality. Human or ritual sacrifice cannot make anybody rich or successful as popularly believed. As this case shows, the belief predisposes ritual money seekers to exploitation. The belief motivates them to commit atrocities.
The Advocacy for Alleged Witches enjoins the public to abandon belief in Okeite or money ritual and embrace evidence-based means of earning money or achieving success.
Leo Igwe is a human rights activist and the founder of the Nigerian Humanist Movement. He directs the Advocacy for Alleged Witches, the Critical Thinking Social Empowerment Foundation and was the Western and Southern African representative to IHEU, the International Humanist and Ethical Union. He can be reached by email HERE.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
