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Money rituals, witch doctors and Facebook

By Adetokunbo Abiola

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Funso Olafila faced a hectic period on Facebook. In two days, a thousand friends’ requests bombarded his site, and he wanted to add everybody on it. As he added the names, one came before him, Baba Ogunlade. On checking his profile, Olafila reared backwards in shock. Baba Ogunlade possessed  magnificent solutions to all problems ? Call Baba Ogunlade on a phone number he posted, the message on the website of the witch doctor said.

The next day, friend requests bombarded Olafila once again, all manner of persons wanted to be his friend. Flattered, he added the names, then he reared back in a shock, the second time in two days. One Baba Osuntokun wanted to be his friend. Baba Osuntokun again possessed all manner of solutions to problems, including getting rich without harm, with a huge stack of dollars placed in front of him. Baba Osuntokun gave a number where people could contact him.

On the third day, Olafila felt himself harassed. Lots of witch doctors wanted to be his friend. All of them placed stacks of dollar notes in front of them, promising to make Olafila rich beyond his wildest dreams. According to the witch doctors, Olafila won’t suffer any harm on his road to riches and well-being. Each of them gave phone numbers where Olafila could contact them.

Increasingly,  witch doctors in Nigerians use Facebook to lure the unwary into their networks, going as far as providing phone numbers where they could be contacted. Not only do they provide phone numbers, they promise solutions to all manners of problems, with an emphasis placed on getting rich without harm. All claim to be powerful miracle doctors, clerics and church pastors.

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If there’s one thing witch doctors love, it’s a new way to hawk their tawdry wares. While many don’t consider it as black magic or voodoo or juju, the internet provides a powerful juju. And Facebook provides a  magnificent platform, because witch doctors contact their prospective customers one on one, without having to spend anything on advertisement.

Through websites, Nigerian witch doctors gain information about the poverty travails people face, as personal information  are easy to get. The fastest way to get in contact with such persons is through Facebook, without having to spend any money through transport or other expenses.  In other words, Facebook provides a ready market for witch doctor’s transactions.

In addition, experts say that ­a lot of people turn to the web to find solutions for problems pertaining to poverty, so witch doctors find it easy to research issues related to the challenges of their victims, especially as platforms such as Facebook bring information to the mass market. Witch doctors take advantage of the situation.

“Sometimes a doctor will tell you one thing is causing you a health problem, but when I look I can see it is from something else and then I can help in an African way with medicine and a prayer,” said one witch doctor.

Olafila thanked his stars that he deleted the friend requests of the witch doctors. Months later, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) arrested a fake native doctor, Abayomi Kamaldeen Alaka, aka Awise, leader of a fraud syndicate that operated from a shrine at Ashipa Town, near Abeokuta, Ogun State.

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The EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwijaren, disclosed that the suspect’s arrest followed a petition by a victim, Bright Juliet, who lost N250million.

According to Uwujaren, the syndicate tricked the woman to provide money for sacrifices and invocations to heal her of an ailment.

She was introduced to Alaka by one Akinola Bukola Augustina, aka Iya Osun, whom she met on Facebook while searching for solutions to her health challenge.

The spokesman said: “What drew her to Augustina was the latter’s post under the name, Osunbukola Olamitutu Spritual Healing Centre.”

Olafila also read other stories. Facebook provided the platform for four teenage boys to slaughter Sofiat Kehinde and burn her head for money rituals, after reading its guidelines from the  popular social media platform.

The police at Adatan police station arrested Wariz Oladeinde, Abdulgafar Lukman, Mustakeem Balogun, and Soliu Majekodunmi, the boyfriend of the slain girl.

During their interview, Sofiat’s boyfriend, Soliu, confessed that when the victim visited him, he strangled her and cut off her head immediately with the aid of his accomplices.

Apart from cutting off peoples’ head through advice got from witch doctors who patronize Facebook, various other atrocities take place. Not unlike the case with Bright Juliet, witch doctors posing as Islamic clerics and church pastors dupe victims of millions of naira, and get away with the crime. Unfortunately, ritual killings pervade Nigeria of today, and statistics related to the ritual killings caused by witch doctors on Facebook prove hard to find.

Perhaps, one way to solve the problem involves staying away from witch doctors on Facebook, as Olafila did.

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“I would seriously advise staying away from the witch doctors,” said Stephen Ausherman a Bavarian missionary once told newsmen. “They are dangerous people. A woman was about to deliver. She was only seven months pregnant. She was ordered to the hospital, but the women escorting her decided it would be better to take her to the witch doctor. The next day, there was a funeral.”

Some say an increasing need exists for African countries to develop plans and strategies as well as formulate policies to survive the challenges of the rapidly digitizing world, so witch doctor won’t use platforms like Facebook to cause havoc to the society. For this to happen, experts say African nations could liaise with more digitally matured countries which have standardized cyber laws that protect people from and punish people for cyber- crimes. These laws could be localized to fit the African context, as well as tailored to prosecute minor and adult offenders.

Laudable objectives. But for people like Olafila, staying away from witch doctors just may be the best move to make.

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