WITCHRAFT AND RELIGION AS A SORT OF ESCAPISM; THE NIGERIAN SITUATION

Igali Tukokumo Conquer:  Is thinking of the practice of witchcraft in Nigeria and is wandering if it is a sort of escapism for an economically oppressed lot. Facebook: 11/6/2012

I woke up today with an unusual topic on my mind. I woke up thinking about the traditional practice of witchcraft, especially in rural Nigeria and how this practice could somehow be related to escapism for a people exploited and struggling to muddle through the day to day misfortune that befall them.

Although witchcraft is a practice that cannot be proved if called upon to do so, it dates back to the root of our descent. Before Christianity and Islamic practices, people have long practiced a dark form of deity worship characterized by sacrifices, oath taking, incantations, divinations, astral travel and juju worship as a means of connecting with a superior being than them, most of which, if done in present day Nigeria, would be considered witchcraft.

Chatting with a group of writers during an Abuja Literary Society’s Friday meeting at Silverbird  Nigeria, about how most Nigerians have devised escapist methodologies to combat the daily throes of woes they face, how some people don’t listen to news anymore, read newspapers or surround themselves with reminders of their situation, it hit me. Nigerians could do anything; believe anything that promises a better state of living, even in a life after death. Little wonder churches and mosques are most popular in Nigeria.

Factually, Witchcraft practices and related stories are mostly heard of from our rural areas and extremely neglected settlements. When an extremely poor man that only sees airplanes flying overhead, that lives in mud huts, eats from hand to mouth, is told or imagines that he can fly on shells, own cars, houses in unknown worlds, torment and punish people he feels has hurt him(and he must have been angered a lot from the rich man living in his neighborhood that he feels is enjoying his riches alone, to the other woman that refused to marry him because she sensed he wouldn’t afford to pay her bride prize or feed her), protect himself and his offspring’s (he will need it, the police hurts more than protect lives and property)etc, such idea or practice would appeal to him, evidently, so these men/women participate in these acts, hoping for a better state of being in their worlds, their realms.

The need to escape has escalated to its extremities for some people. Reportedly, some suicide bombers believe killing Christians and law enforcement Agents will get them to heaven and eternity. Earlier this year, a young man from Delta State, Nigeria, hung himself in his room, with a suicide status on Facebook about how he was going to kill himself to escape the harsh realities of Nigeria’s dwindling economy.

Chatting with my friends on facebook about my speculation of this practice existing only in rural areas, a friend, Nathan, wrote;

‘’Witchcraft is said to exist even in America and Europe. It is often practiced even by very rich aristocratic families and is said to be a manipulation of events or people from the astral realm through black magic/ occultism. Sociologists believe that reports of witchcraft might be as a result of mass hypothesis or a misfiring of some cells in our brains since their activities transcends the realm of realities’…

Granted, the social ills of Nigeria affect both the rich and the poor. Take the structural breakdown of the aviation industry, the recent bomb blasts and mass killing of citizens for example. When our planes crashes and the bombs explode, everybody in them, around them, dies alike. A detonating bomb asks for no rich man to be exempted as does, a crashing plane.

But again, the need to escape is only felt more by the man who suffers the overall ills of the society. True or false?

©Tukokumo Conquer Igali

June 2012