More than 15,000 children in Nigeria have been branded as witches, with many abandoned, abused, and left homeless on the streets, particularly in Akwa Ibom and Cross River States. A source told SafeAfrica that these accusations stem from deep-rooted beliefs linking witchcraft to misfortune, illness, and poverty. Children accused of witchcraft are often subjected to violent exorcism rituals by pastors and Alfas, including starvation, forced ingestion of harmful substances, and even being set on fire. These practices blend religious doctrine with traditional African beliefs, portraying witchcraft as an evil force behind societal ills. Accused individuals, especially children, are treated as inherently dangerous despite no evidence of supernatural activity. The concept of child witchcraft is widely regarded as a myth, invented to justify religious deliverance narratives or to marginalize the vulnerable. In one recent case, a man in his seventies in Benue was beaten and set on fire over witchcraft allegations, despite no proof of wrongdoing. Accusers cited fictional portrayals of witches as the basis for their actions. Across Sub-Saharan Africa, including in Angola, Gambia, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Congo, and Ethiopia, thousands of children face similar fates due to superstition and manipulation.
The most disturbing figure in this crisis is not the 15,000 children branded as witches, but the pastors and Alfas who profit from their suffering. These religious figures exploit fear and ignorance, turning vulnerable children into commodities in a grotesque performance of spiritual warfare. By framing poverty, illness, and misfortune as demonic, they position themselves as the only solution—offering exorcism as a service while deepening societal delusions.
This is not merely a religious issue but a symptom of systemic collapse. Where education is weak, poverty is rampant, and healthcare inaccessible, superstition thrives. The fact that children in Akwa Ibom and Cross River are primary targets reflects not just regional belief patterns but the failure of state institutions to protect the most defenceless. When a 70-year-old man in Benue is burned alive on the basis of fictional tropes, it reveals a society where truth has been outsourced to preachers and filmmakers.
Ordinary Nigerians, especially poor families in rural communities, bear the brunt. Parents, desperate and uninformed, hand over their children to pastors who promise deliverance but deliver only trauma. The cost is measured in broken families, stunted development, and lives lost to mob violence fueled by spiritual entrepreneurship.
This pattern is not new—it mirrors the rise of prosperity gospel and faith-based exploitation that has swept across Nigeria for decades. Religion, stripped of ethics and repackaged as spectacle, becomes a tool not for healing, but for control.
