3 reasons many Nigerians believe children are possessed by evil spirits

In 2016, Anja Lovén a humanitarian worker beat the Dalai Lama, the pope and Barack Obama to win the most inspiring person of 2016 in a German magazine Ooom.

Anja hit the news when she saved a two-year-old Nigerian boy, after he was accused of witchcraft and abandoned by his own family.

The malnourished toddler had serious health problems, he was extremely weak and infested with worms. The Danish care worker saved the boy from certain death in January 2016.

Soon after the boy was taken to her *African Children's Aid Education and Development Foundation care center Anja asked the world for help.

And thousands of kind-hearted people around the globe managed to raise $1 million in donations to pay for Hope's costly medical bills.

The above story brought into sharp focus the many cases of Nigerians labeling children as witches or wizards and meting out unspeakable abuse on them. Why does this happen?

The question was posed on Quora and many had several reasons to give. NAIJ.com collated some of the reasons below:

1. Religion

One problem many people mentioned was religion. Many are of the opinion that some Nigerians use religion as a backing for their belief that witches and wizards use children to carry out nefarious acts.

In July 2016, a malnourished 9-year-old boy was rescued at Celestial Church of Christ Key of Joy Parish, Ajiwo.

The boy had been chained for weeks in the premises of the church which is located at Ajibawo in Ado-Odo Ota division 2, Ogun state. He had been chained by his father, a pastor named Francis Taiwo.

2. Ignorance and superstitions

Closely related to each other, many feel that a lack of education and the resulting ignorance, leads to a stubborn belief in superstitions that can induce paranoia.

People affected by this tend to be in constant fear and look for scapegoats in the form of children and young ones who are different in one way or the other.

READ ALSO: Pregnant woman beaten to death for alleged witchcraft

3. Poverty

Some have also linked the problem to poverty, saying that the poor Nigerian is more likely to blame his station in life on imaginary witches and wizards and find way to destroy such.

In December 2016, NAIJ.com reported that three men were arrested on suspicion of confining and torturing two young girls, aged 9 and 13, for two weeks that led to death of one of the girls.

James Awak, Adamu Zakka and Hannatu Awak beat and whipped their victims, rubbed some liquid substances into their skin and used a screwdriver to inflict deep injuries.

Nine year old Abigail Lara died following the torture and was buried in an unmarked grave.

Also, NAIJ.com came across a video of an aged grandmother who somehow managed to get herself stuck on the roof of a building.

The old woman who somehow managed to get herself onto the roof of a building, was eventually made to climb down while people who gathered round called her 'witch'.

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The Facebook user who shared the video even said she had gone for a 'witchcraft meeting' at night but got stuck on the roof because she couldn't fly again due to daylight creeping up on her.

Stories like these are commonplace in Nigeria.

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