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Nigeria: The Pervasiveness Of Witchcraft and Ritualism in Nigeria

Here is the main question: why is the belief in witchcraft and its allied activities so general in Nigeria to the extent that it affects the reaction of Nigerians in our approach to problems?

It is a truism that we have become so familiar with panorama experiences to the extent that ninety percent of Nigerians explain natural experiences, social problems et al with the witchcraft theory. This is seen in mob reactions and activities all around Nigeria. Once a complex and strange activity manifests itself, many Nigerians immediately take shelter under the witchcraft explanatory model.

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UK: Child sex trafficker Osezua Osolase pocketed £80,000 using juju magic to trick girls into slavery but must pay just £8

A Northfleet  security guard – who pocketed £80,000 by trading in child sex slaves – will have to repay… just £8.38!

And Osezua Osolase, 43, who is serving a 20-year jail sentence has also been given eight weeks to arrange for the bank transfer.

He had been convicted at Canterbury Crown Court last year on five counts of trafficking young girls, rape and sexual activity with a child using juju magic.

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Tanzania: Uchawi Upo: Embodied Experience and Anti-Witchcraft Practice in Mwanza, Tanzania

In Mwanza, Tanzania’s second largest city, it is commonly said that witchcraft exists (uchawi upo). However, witchcraft in Mwanza is more than just a discourse, but is an embodied everyday reality for Mwanzans regardless of ethnicity or socioeconomic background.

People afflicted by witchcraft describe diverse experiences including physical and mental symptoms, involuntary spirit possession, relationship problems, economic issues, and fantastic encounters with otherworldly entities. As they seek restoration of wellness, afflicted individuals employ treatments located in seemingly oppositional “disciplines” such as traditional healing and revivalist Christianity. 

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UAE: ‘Sorceress’ extorts Dh4m from Emirati mom over ‘jinn’ claim

A woman claiming to be an exorcist embezzled more than Dh4 million from an Emirati woman telling her that her daughter would not be able to marry because she was gripped by jinn (spirits), a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Worried for her daughter for not getting married despite her growing age, the Emirati woman was told by one of her daughter’s acquaintances that she could take the girl to a friend who can identify her problem and solve it.

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India: High Court confirms life for two in human sacrifice case

The Madras High Court Bench here has confirmed the life sentence imposed by a lower court on a couple for having abducted a 15-month-old boy from Goripalayam Dargah here on July 2, 2010, and beheading him at Eral in Tuticorin district due to their superstitious belief in conducting human sacrifice to get rich.

Dismissing individual criminal appeals filed by the couple through a common judgment, a Division Bench of Justice A. Selvam and Justice V.S. Ravi held that it did not find any reason to interfere with the conviction and punishment imposed by the trial court in the gruesome murder of an innocent child as the prosecution had proved it beyond reasonable doubts.

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Gambia: Man allegedly kills 101-yr-old grandma over “witchcraft” claim

Tragic, but it was a drama when a 20-year-old young man allegedly stabbed his 101-year-old grandmother to death in the Upper River Region (URR) village of Misera-Ba after he was reported to have accused her of being a “witch”, the Daily Observer has gathered.

Police and other sources informed the Daily Observer earlier on Wednesday that the suspect, one Abdoulie Bahoum, who has been apprehended, murdered the old woman, Aji Mariama Nyang on Tuesday. Sources added that the accused person was quoted as saying that he saw his grandma in his dreams as a witch, hence warranting him to terminate her life.

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Africa: The veil of superstition – Africa’s Burden of Darkness

Africa continent has remained one place of shadow shredded in the mystery of progressive setbacks… What has been the burden of darkness of the continent? A veil of superstition still covers the face of the continent allowing for constant darkness, mystery and illusion which nurture her dissipation. 

Africa has long standing history of deep superstition composed in the beliefs of many uncertainties. Strong beliefs in witchcraft, juju, gods, ancestors, black magic, sorcery, necromancy, ghost etc. have converged as thick cloud over the minds of her citizens. Many Africans live in constant fear of these beliefs and strongly embrace them as a way of life.

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India: Police rescues one from being lynched on witchcraft suspicion

Police Monday rescued a person  before he could be lynched by villagers suspecting him of practicing witchcraft from Mawliehpoh village, near Tyrsat in East Khasi Hills District, about 35 kilometers from Shillong City.

Bakhraw Kharyngi (56) was rescued by a team of police who immediately swung into action after getting a tip-off on the incident before villagers who were armed with lethal weapons could harm him.

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South Africa: Man in court for granny’s witchcraft-related killing

A 29-year-old man who allegedly hacked his grandmother to death in an apparent witchcraft-related attack appeared in the Giyani magistrate’s court last Wednesday.

Bongani Chauke from Mshiyani village is accused of killing his grandmother, Miluva Chauke (83), whom he reportedly blamed for his mother, Anna Chauke’s (52) death a week ago.

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South Africa: Elderly fear witchcraft accusations

Michael Mzolo, 73, said more needed to be done to protect the rights of the elderly. He said old people were commonly accused of witchcraft and were attacked or even killed. “If you don’t look good in your face, people think you are a witch,” he said.

Mzolo said many people were ignorant about dementia and, rather than associating it with memory loss in old age, mistook it for witchcraft. “If they (grannies) have lost their memories, they would walk outdoors naked and people, especially young people, attack them because they think they are witches,” said Mzolo.

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