The traditional ruler of Umuoguduakpu Ngbo community in Ohaukwu local government area of Ebonyi State, Godwin Ogba, and some victims of torture, intimidation and banishment over alleged witchcraft activities in the state, have solicited for justice for victims of faith based /superstitious abuses and stoppage of same in the state.

The people spoke during a roundtable discussion in Abakaliki, with staff of National Human Rights Commission and an NGO known as Advocacy for Alleged Witches in Abakaliki Ebonyi State Capital, with the theme, “Remembering victims of witch hunts and ritual attacks: past and present, dead and alive”.

The monarch expressed displeasure at how people accuse others of alleged witchcraft activities without evidence and called on governments, NGOs, the Nigerian Bar Association and all people of good will to look into the matter to guarantee public peace and tranquility.

Ogba regretted that in cases of this nature, the youth who are often the executioners, do not listen to instructions of the elders, stakeholders and even traditional rulers.

Narrating her ordeal, a victim Onwe Nwamaka, whose husband was banished over alleged witchcraft activities from Ngbo community, said, “My marriage to my husband Emmanuel Ori is nine years now. Because it is a polygamous family, there have been many issues. It is from one problem to another.

“This year, one of his brothers became sick and died subsequently. My brother in-laws alleged that my husband was the one that killed the man, that he caused his death diabolically. My husband told his brothers that he was innocent, he didn’t kill the man and they insisted that he was responsible for his death.

“They mobilised villagers who beat him to near death and inflicted severe injuries on him. They banished him from the community and also banished me and our children from the community. They demolished my husband houses and destroyed every property he has. I have no father, I have no mother, I don’t have anyone. I took my children to where I was born.

“Few weeks ago, I went to our farm in my husband’s place to harvest crops and the villagers heard of it, they came there and beat me to stupor. They harvested all the crops in our four farms and destroyed the farms. They reported me to our traditional ruler but refused to abide by his directives. They said that they want to go and look for what killed my husband’s brother.

“Since then, my husband disappeared to an unknown destination, abandoning me and the children to our fate. We don’t have what we are eating now, our traditional ruler has been the one feeding us since they harvested all our crops and destroyed our farms. They have destroyed our economic trees, household belongings and every other property.

“I have not seen my husband since they banished him. I have not heard from him since the banishment and he has no phone for contact. My children have dropped out of school since they banished my husband. I want my husband to be taken back to his place. I want his houses to be rebuilt because they have destroyed our houses, we have no house any more.”

Another victim, Mr Thomas Eze from Ebele, Umuoguduakpu community, said, “I was accused of witchcraft by a member of our community. He said that I buried charms in my land and I told him no, I didn’t do such a thing. He insisted that I buried charms in my land. I told him that I have been severally accused of this by the community and I was made to take oath which proved my innocence.

“I told him that I can’t bear this anymore, that I am reporting him to our traditional ruler and I went and reported it to the traditional ruler. The man went and informed our community members. Our community members said I should leave the community . They beat me blue, black more like a thief and banished me.”

Another victim Nnenna Donatus -Chukwu narrating her ordeal, said that, “I was behind my house in the village Mebiokpa Amaeke Okposi community in Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, where I was processing some palm fruits into palm oil on February 21, 2025 when a multitude of youths invaded our compound, chatting war songs and started destroying everything on sight.

“Our houses, windows and doors, household properties, fully stocked yam barn, goats’ pens, stored 50 gallons of palm oil, my box of wrappers, those of my children, our motorcycles, solar panels and inverters, and mattresses were all vandalized.

“On sighting them and the destruction being perpetuated, I hid myself but they later found me and beat me to stupor with accusation of causing the death of Innocent Chukwu in collaboration with two others through witchcraft.

“The protesting youths looted and destroyed everything in both our family compound and that of my first son, stressing that since Innocent will not be alive to live in his house that we will not have a house to live in. I thank God my children were not at home because they would have been killed. Before now, I had no quarrel with Innocent, the mother or anybody. The more I tried to explain that I am innocent of the accusations, the more they beat me.”

She continued, “After some time, I was taken to our traditional ruler who blamed the youths for beating me and destroying my family belongings. He advised them to hand us over to the police at Obiozara for in-depth investigations and prosecution in the court of law but they refused.

“Rather, they took me and the other two persons back to our compound where they washed the dead man’s armpits, reproductive organs, mouth and face; added four kola nuts and forced us to drink the water to prove our innocence. After the oath, they banished us out of the community till after our next new yam festival, if we are still alive.”

“I plead with the state government, wife of Ebonyi State governor, Mrs. Mary Maudlin Nwifuru, NGOs, National Human Rights Commission, Human Rights activists, security agencies, Association of Women Lawyers, Association of Women Journalists and all people of good will to help me get justice. They accused me of killing someone who died in a road accident in the city the same day and time I was preparing palm oil in my rural village. Since then, I have been on admission at the hospital,” the victim narrated.

Mr Kingsley Ibeh from Afikpo local government area of the state said, “I was accused of witchcraft in the month of June 2025. During the execution, my accusers mixed faeces and fermented cassava and rubbed the mixture all over my body. As if that was not enough they striped me half naked, tied rope on my waist and instructed the women to drag me on the rob round our market ,” he lamented.

On his part, the Director of a NGO, Advocacy for Alleged Witches, Dr Leo Igwe stressed that, ” We advocate to protect the rights of those whose rights are abused as a result of allegations of witchcraft. We emphasize on highlighting these allegations that often lead to banishment, torture, intimidation, killing and all sorts of human rights abuses.

“We also highlight abuses related to ritual attacks/ believes . We are in Ebonyi to draw attention to these cases of human rights violations and hoping that we can rally supports of all the necessary institutions in the state to close the gaps . We advocate for stoppage of witch-hunt because witchcraft is superstition.”