Bishop Sunday Ulup-Aya is a Nigerian witch doctor who has recently claimed to have killed over 100 children he believed possessed evil spirits. The confession came during the filming of a television documentary. Ulup-Aya was arrested in Mbo along with six others suspected of murder.NewsAU: I killed 110 children... (December 4, 2008)(http://www.mahalo.com/bishop-sunday-ulup-aya)
In 1992, Helen Ukpabio founded Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries with the aim of spreading her often literal interpretations of the Holy Bible to the people of West Africa. The belief most often associated with Mrs. Ukpabio and her organisation is a claim that Satan has the ability to manifest himself in the bodies of children by demonic possession and make them become his servants in the form of 'witches' or 'wizards'.
Most Africans have a strong tendency to believe in superstition and myth, particularly when related to spiritual or demonic possession or witchcraft. This allowed Helen Ukpabio's organisation to grow exponentionally throughout Nigeria and West Africa since its foundation. There are now major Liberty Gospel Churches in Cameroon, Rome, Ghana and South Africa as well as Nigeria.
Mrs. Ukpabio has published her views in several books, the most notable being 'Unveiling The Mysteries of Witchcraft', in which she states that:
If a child under the age of two screams in the night, cries and is always feverish with deteriorating health he or she is a servant of Satan.
A fact not mentioned in the book is that these symptoms are common in young children, especially in areas like Nigeria with poor health and high levels of malaria.
She also produces a number of films to spread the view that children can become possessed by evil spirits through her film production company, Liberty Films, part of the Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries franchise. The most famous of these is 'End of The Wicked' in which child actors are shown to eat human flesh and kill their parents in horrific ways.
In 2008, it was claimed in a British 'Dispatches' TV documentary by UK broadcaster Channel 4 that the views that she expresses has lead to a massive upsurge in children stigmatised and abandoned by their families in West Africa, particularly in Akwa Ibom State. This programme followed the activities of two charities, CRARN and Stepping Stones Nigeria , which aimed to look after the children who have been rejected by their parents for displaying what they believed to be signs of witchcraft. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Ukpabio)
Nigeria 'child witch killer' held
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7764575.stm
Police in south-east Nigeria have arrested a man who claimed to have killed 110 child "witches".
"Bishop" Sunday Ulup-Aya told a documentary film team he "delivered" children from demonic possession.
But after his arrest, he reportedly told the police he had only killed the "witches" inside, not the children.
Child rights campaigners say children are frequently abandoned, hideously injured and even murdered because their families believe they are witches.
Self-proclaimed "pastors" extort money from families to exorcise the children, but none has been charged until now.
Mr Ulup-Aya was arrested in Akwa Ibom State after a child rights campaigner led police to his church and negotiated a consultation fee for an exorcism.
He has now been charged with murder.
Five others have been arrested since the weekend and the state government says more arrests are planned Embarrassed
"So many people here believe that children can be possessed by demons that there is rarely any action taken against those who claim to deliver the children in violent exorcisms," says Sam Ikpe-Itauma, of the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN).
He concluded the child was a witch and had placed a curse on him, so he took him on his bicycle to the river and threw him in
Sam Ikpe-Itauma
He says he has been working for six years to bring the attention of the state government to the children being abandoned, sold to traffickers, or murdered.
But it was not until a British documentary - Dispatches: Saving Africa's Witch Children - was aired on Channel 4 last month that an arrest was made.
His organisation is looking after 170 children who have been abandoned or abused after being accused of being witches.
Akwa Ibom State spokesman Aniekan Umanah denied they had been embarrassed into acting.
"Nobody knew about him, he lives in a very remote village," he said.
The state has cared for child victims of abuse, but has not been able to track down abusers because of "lack of documentation", he said.
'Misunderstanding'
Mr Ulup-Aya reportedly told police he had not actually killed children.
He said there was a misunderstanding - he meant he had killed the witch inside the child, not the child themselves.
When police raided his house they found two children inside, but no evidence that any others had been murdered there.
"We have him on tape admitting to killing," said Mr Umanah.
"It is now up to him to prove otherwise."
In the past other "pastors" who claim to have the power to deliver children from demonic possession in violent exorcisms have been arrested, but then quietly released by the police, according to Mr Ikpe-Itauma.
"I fear for my life now," he says.
Trafficking
The fear of child witches is a relatively new phenomenon in Nigeria.
Belief in witchcraft is strong across the country but a fear of child witches has become widespread in Akwa Ibom State since 1990s.
Now children are blamed for all kinds of misfortune that befalls their families.
They are abandoned or sold to child traffickers who then indenture them as house-workers in other parts of Nigeria or into prostitution.
Others are violently exorcised to rid the child of the "demons".
Exorcism victims seen by CRARN in the past include a child who had nails driven into her head.
Earlier this week Mr Ikpe-Itauma said a six-year-old child was brought to their rescue centre after clambering out of a fast-flowing river.
"The boy's uncle was experiencing painful swelling in his legs," Mr Ikpe-Itauma told the BBC.
"He concluded the child was a witch and had placed a curse on him, so he took him on his bicycle to the river and threw him in."
Campaign of Terror unleashed on Nigeria’s ‘Witch Children’
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/57588
2009-07-09, Issue 441
A coalition of Nigerian and International civil society organisations and churches have strongly condemned the recent campaign of terror that has been inflicted upon the so-called ‘child witches’ at the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network Centre (CRARN) in Eket, Akwa Ibom State by Lagos-based police officers.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 7th July 2009
Campaign of Terror unleashed on Nigeria’s ‘Witch Children’
Coalition of civil society organisations and churches condemn the recent violence against children and local NGO staff members
A coalition of Nigerian and International civil society organisations and churches have strongly condemned the recent campaign of terror that has been inflicted upon the so-called ‘child witches’ at the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network Centre (CRARN) in Eket, Akwa Ibom State by Lagos-based police officers. The work of CRARN, and the children they care for, was shown on Channel 4’s Dispatches Programme on ‘Saving Africa’s Witch Children’ in November 2008.
On Friday 3rd July 2009, in the afternoon local time, a group of men appeared at the CRARN Centre claiming to be donors who wanted to donate goods and toys to the children. Shortly after, the men identified themselves as police officers, and unlawfully arrested two CRARN staff members and mercilessly beat many of the children whilst searching for CRARN’s Founder and President, Sam Itauma.
Two young girls aged 11 and 12 years old were beaten unconscious and are currently receiving treatment in a local hospital. Five other children suffered injuries at the hands of these men, who thenleft a round of bullets in Sam Itauma’s bedroom, presumably to act as a warning that his life is in danger.
Gary Foxcroft, Programme Director of the UK-based NGO Stepping Stones Nigeria, and partner of CRARN, said: “We condemn the actions of the police in the strongest possible terms and call for the Akwa Ibom State Government to ensure the safety of all CRARN staff and children. The beatings of theseinnocent children further highlight the depravity of these so-called men and women of God who label and abuse children as witches. However, we will not be intimidated in our fight to protect the rights of vulnerable children and ensure that children are no longer labeled as witches. We know that the truth is on our side”.
Stepping Stones Nigeria believe that this campaign of terror is a direct response to Channel 4’s Dispatches Programme, ‘Saving Africa’s Witch Children’, which highlighted the role that Mrs Helen Ukpabio, self-proclaimed pastor, evangelist and founder of the Liberty Gospel Foundation Church in Nigeria, and her film production company, Liberty Films, have played in spreading the myth of child witchcraft.
Helen Ukpabio has recently filed legal complaints against Sam Itauma and CRARN at the Special Fraud Unit at the Ikoyi station in Lagos for “fraudulent activities and threat to life”, charges, which the coalition argues are clearly fabricated in order to threaten and intimidate. The police officers that carried out these brutal attacks were accompanied by Mr Victor Ukott, the Lagos based lawyer who is representing Helen Ukpabio. Staff at CRARN, Stepping Stones Nigeria and Stepping Stones Nigeria Child Empowerment Foundation have also recently received numerous threatening phone calls, which would appear to be linked to this campaign of terror. CRARN staff have also been threatened by persons regarding the upcoming court case of “Bishop” Sunday Ulup-Aya, who was featured on Channel 4’s Dispatches programme bragging that he had killed “up to 110 witches”.
Sam Itauma, Founder and President of CRARN, said: “It is clear that forces of darkness are intent on taking my life and I remain deeply concerned for my safety and, most importantly, that of the children at the CRARN centre. I therefore plead for the Akwa Ibom State Government to offer us its full protection and ensure that its international image is not further damaged by this worrying situation”.
The coalition urgently calls on the Akwa Ibom State Government to:
• Arrest and prosecute the police officers who unlawfully arrested and detained CRARN staff members and beat and injured innocent children;
• Award their full protection to Sam Itauma, other CRARN staff members and the children to ensure their full safety now and in the future;
• Carry out in-depth investigations into the activities of Mrs Helen Ukpabio and the Liberty Gospel Foundation Church, prosecute anyone found to be labelling children as witches and close any church found to be labelling children as ‘witches’ through deliverance or other methods.
• Support the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the false legal charges that are being levelled against Sam Itauma and CRARN staff.
Notes to Editors:
1. Coalition members include: Stepping Stones Nigeria, Stepping Stones Nigeria ChildEmpowerment Foundation, Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network Centre, Consortium for Street Children, Nigerian Humanist Movement, StreetInvest, Mboho Akwa Ibom Association (UK & Ireland), Ibom People’s Forum, Ibibio Nation, Eket Development Congress USA, The Covenant of Grace Ministries, International Christian Ambassadors of God (ICAG) and Grace Chapel, London.
2. Saving Africa’s Witch Children’ Dispatches Programme was aired on Channel 4 in November 2008. The documentary graphically details how the belief in witchcraft leads to the widespread abandonment, torture, trafficking and killing of children in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The documentary has since won a prestigious BAFTA award and Amnesty International’s Media Award in the UK
3. Following the airing of the Dispatched documentary, The Akwa Ibom State enacted the Child Rights Act making it illegal to brand a child a witch. On its website the Akwa Ibom State Government states that it “will not fold its hands and watch evil elements of society dehumanise, demoralise, bastardise, displace, stigmatise, or persecute our children for personal gains.” The Government then states how it will:
• Place full legislative machinery against labelling of children as witches
• Advance high-powered investigation into every element of the issues involved and all allegations against persons involved in stigmatisation of children as witches
• Prosecute all persons found culpable of this crime of child labelling
• Deploy social resources for the support, comfort and enjoyment of all categories of children all over the state
• Possibility of closure of every organisation involved in this evil stigmatisation of children
• Government will not spare any culprit involved.
Abuse of child 'witches' on rise, aid group says
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/05/18/nigeria.child.witchcraft/index.html
(CNN) -- Christian Eshiett was a rambunctious pre-teen who spent a lot of time cavorting with his friends in southern Nigeria. He would skip school and run away from home for days, frustrating his grandfather, who oversaw the boy's care.
Children branded as witches protest on February 26, 2009, in the southern Nigerian city of Eket.
"I beat him severely with canes until they broke, yet he never shed a tear," said Eshiett Nelson Eshiett, 76. "One day, I took a broom to hit him and he started crying. Then I knew he was possessed by demons. ... Nigerian witches are terrified of brooms."
From that day two years ago, Christian, now 14, was branded a witch. The abuse intensified.
"They would take my clothes off, tie me up and beat me," he told CNN in a telephone interview.
The teen is one of the so-called witch children in Eket, a city in oil-rich Akwa Ibom state of Nigeria.
They are blamed for causing illness, death and destruction, prompting some communities to put them through harrowing punishments to "cleanse" them of their supposed magical powers.
"Children accused of witchcraft are often incarcerated in churches for weeks on end and beaten, starved and tortured in order to extract a confession," said Gary Foxcroft, program director of Stepping Stones Nigeria, a nonprofit that helps alleged witch children in the region.
Many of those targeted have traits that make them stand out, including learning disabilities, stubbornness and ailments such as epilepsy, he added.
The issue of "child witches" is soaring in Nigeria and other parts of the world, Foxcroft said.
The states of Akwa Ibom and Cross River have about 15,000 children branded as witches, and most of them end up abandoned and abused on the streets, he said.
Christian ran away from home and wandered around for two years with other children similarly accused. He said they stole, begged for food and performed menial jobs to survive.
The plight of "child witches" is raising concern among aid organizations, including the United Nations.
"It is a growing issue worldwide, among not just African communities, but in countries such as Nepal as well," said Jeff Crisp, head of policy development and evaluation for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. "We are trying to see whether it is a neglected protected issue."
Belief in witchcraft thrives worldwide. About 1,000 people accused of being witches in Gambia were locked in detention centers in March and forced to drink a dangerous hallucinogenic potion, human rights organization Amnesty International said.
In 2005, relatives of an 8-year-old Angolan girl living in England were convicted of torturing her for being a "witch," according to the Times Online.
Pastors have been accused of worsening the problem by claiming to have powers to recognize and exorcise "child witches," sometimes for a fee, aid workers said.
But some are true believers, such as one minister in Lagos, Nigeria. He pinpoints children affected by witchcraft for free, he said.
"Sometimes, we get a dream that shows us a certain person is suffering from witchcraft," said the Rev. Albert Aina, a senior pastor at Four Square Gospel Church. "Sometimes, you have a child who has inexplicable body marks because of struggling in the night. They are easy to identify, but why charge when you have been given a gift by God?" Aina said.
Once a child is branded a witch, the stigma can last forever.
Christian was reunited with his grandfather, a former theater instructor at a university in Nigeria. Eshiett said he let his son's child return home because he loves him and he advocates for youth education.
But, he added, he does not think Christian has been or can be freed from witchcraft.
"When you are possessed, you are possessed; no one can deliver you from Satan," Eshiett said, adding that his grandson is a witch because he still exhibits unruly behavior and does not take education seriously.
Aid organizations acknowledge that the belief is acceptable and popular in some communities.
"It is not the belief in witchcraft that we are concerned about," Foxcroft said. "We acknowledge people's right to hold this belief on the condition that this does not lead to child abuse."
Foxcroft, whose documentary, "Saving Africa's Witch Children," was broadcast last year, spoke to a U.N. panel on the issue in April.
The aid worker said he is planning a global conference in 2010 and public awareness campaigns, including addressing the issue in Nigerian movies. The nation's film industry, dubbed Nollywood, is a popular form of entertainment in African countries.
Government officials also have joined the fight.
Akwa Ibom recently added a clause into the Child Rights Act, saying that anyone found guilty of branding a child a witch would get up to 12 years in prison.
"This is groundbreaking, and Stepping Stones Nigeria applauds the Akwa Ibom state government for this," Foxcroft said.
But, he added, there is more work to be done, and other groups, especially churches, have to team up to resolve the problem.
"The role of the international Christian community in this cannot be underestimated," Foxcroft said. "Unfortunately, the fact remains that this belief system is being spread by so-called Christians."
CNN's attempts to reach Akwa Ibom state officials through phone calls and e-mails were unsuccessful. A Nigerian federal communications official declined to comment.
