Men of the Nigerian Police force this morning stormed Greenbelt Hotel, in Makurdi, Benue State to stop a planned seminar designed to sensitize Nigerians against the persecution of alleged witches. The seminar titled “Superstition and Witch Persecution in Benue State” was organized by an NGO, Advocacy For Alleged Witches (AFAW). Many participants and speakers including personnel from the National Human rights Commission(NHRC) and The Federation Of Women Lawyers(FIDA) among others were dispersed from the hotel venue
According to the organizers at least, fifteen police officers led by DPO of the area Daniel Ezeala arrived at about 8 am this morning in five vehicles at the Green Belt Hotel venue of the event and instructed them to stop the meeting and every attendee to vacate the venue. “ The police said they got intelligence that witches were meeting at the venue. Attendees including delegates from the NHRC and FIDA have been told to leave the premises of the event.”
The National Coordinator of AFAW, Leo Igwe told NOHR on the phone that his organization is embarrassed by this development, describing the development as fortunately.
“ The Advocacy for Alleged Witches is utterly disappointed by the decision of the police to stop its seminar on witches’ persecution in Benue. A program to understand and address human rights abuses linked to witchcraft beliefs is an event that the police should support and facilitate, not disrupt. The Nigeria police need a lot of education and enlightenment on the issue of witchcraft accusations and law enforcement in Nigeria” he told NOHR.
NOHR learned that when the organizers went to meet the Deputy commissioner of police to explain the theme of the seminar, the officers blamed it on misinformation caused by the organizers but still insisted that the seminar will not hold as they were under instruction from a higher authority. They instructed them to write another letter to explain that they are not witches but a human rights group merely advocating for the rights of people accused of witchcraft.
In November 2019, a similar seminar by AFAW organized in partnership with the B.I.C Ijomah Centre for Policy and Research was nearly disrupted after the University of Nigeria Nsukka authorities came under sustained pressure from the Christian Association of Nigeria(CAN) and other Christian groups who accused the organizers of conveying a meeting of witches.
