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
