On my first trip to Nigeria in 2005, I spent over a month teaching English at a government junior secondary school for girls in Benin City. Every Wednesday someone would come to preach in the name of Christian faith to the children before school. One Wednesday I decided to hear the message presented to the children. The women preaching warned the children that some of their schoolmates could posses “juju” (devilish spiritual powers) or even be witches, and they should be careful because some of their schoolmates could use “juju” to make them or their family members ill or even cause their death. The women offered the girls protection: prayer and faith in the Christian God. Instead of receiving a message based on the Christian principle of “love thy neighbor,” the adolescent girls were told to distrust their neighbors.

During my second trip to Nigeria in 2006, I was told in an interview on the topic of the ritual killing of human beings that “Nigerians… don’t trust each other.” After conducting over thirty interviews on “ritual killing” in Lagos, Ibadan, and Benin City, I realized that Nigeria suffers from a lack of trust among some of her citizens and this distrust influences and is perpetuated by beliefs in the supernatural. This essay explores the gospel of distrust as it plays out in the idiom of the ritual killing of human beings.

Ritual Killing

In Nigeria, it is a common belief that human body parts can be used to appeal to supernatural realms. Patrons of “native doctors” – those who specialize in mediating the human and spiritual realms by using human body parts – seek things such as wealth, power, protection from enemies, cures to illnesses, and longer life. Many do not doubt the efficacy of such native doctors. Therefore, skepticism does not accompany moral reasons for refusing to elicit the work from these native doctors. In other words, Nigerians who refuse to participate in ritual killing do so because they believe it to be wrong, not because they do not believe that it works.

With the decision to acquire human body parts being primarily a moral dilemma, it is no surprise that buyers exist. After all, there will always be people willing to sabotage moral principle for wealth, power, or an improved physical existence. With buyers ready to part with large amounts of naira (Nigerian currency) for anyone that can provide human body parts, it should be
no surprise that suppliers exists. Basic economic theory is satisfied as demand yields supply and a market for human body parts has been established.

The existence of a market where supply is met by kidnapping, killing, and dismembering humans is breeding ground for distrust among the people who
potentially may be the supply. The Okija shrine where headless bodies, skulls and other remains of dead humans were found by police in eastern Nigeria in 2004 indicates that the fear of being a victim of ritual killing is well-founded, however many stories surrounding the ritual killing of human beings may be only rumors. But I found during my interviews that these rumors as well as general discussion about the topic offer insight into the issue of trust in Nigerian society. The idiom of ritual killing as it is infused with references to traditional beliefs in the supernatural, Christianity, politics, and corruption allows us to make this insight.

Ritual Killing and the Supernatural

Christianity as it is preached by certain denominations in Nigeria – particularly Pentecostalism – provides space for traditional beliefs to maintain credibility. Instead of eliminating traditional gods from the pantheon, the Christianization of Nigeria only relegated traditional gods as agents of the devil for many Nigerians. Such agents can be wielded by native doctors to provide for their patrons things such as wealth, power, and protection by offering these gods human body parts.

However, what these devilish gods provide only lasts for a short period and there is always a price to pay for eliciting their power. For example, native doctors can be informed by these gods that the patron must sacrifice the life of a close relative in order for the wealth provided by the devil to be sustained. Apparently, only the Christian god can provide long-lasting prosperity with no price to be paid. But His grace is extended to true worshippers, and patience is often required as He waits to see who will be tempted by the devil. With Pentecostal pastors preaching that the devil provides short-term prosperity while God provides long-lasting prosperity for those who are patient, the harsh reality for many Nigerians struggling with poverty is that God requires people to wait for the afterlife to receive His prosperity. It is no wonder that those who are financially successful during life are often times rumored to have participated in some form of witchcraft (such as ritual killing of human beings) in order to become successful. In fact, it is often assumed that many powerful figures such as politicians and even charismatic preachers acquire and maintain power through ritual killing. For example, a native doctor can prepare a charm that contains human eyes to help powerful figures identify their enemies as a means of protection.

We can see that the Pentecostal belief system validates the potency of ritual killing as success can be attributed to the work of the devil. Furthermore, Pentecostalism often attributes any kind of misfortune such as sickness or infertility to the work of the devil as well. In fact, rituals – which may require human body parts – can be used to harm another person. Thus, under Pentecostalism success and misfortune can be attributed to the ritual killing of human beings. What followers of Pentecostalism as well as other Christian denominations learn from their religion is to be suspicious of their neighbors’ success and their own misfortunes as they may be a result of their neighbors’ engagement in the spiritual world. The difficulty, of course, is verifying suspicions as we cannot rely on our “physical eyes” to see what occurs in the “spiritual world.” In such a scenario trust is difficult to achieve.

Ritual Killing and Politics

During the two months I spent interviewing Nigerians on the topic of ritual killing almost every interviewee made connections between this phenomenon and corruption. According to such interviewees many of the Nigerian political and business elites participate in ritual killing as a means to obtain the wealth necessary to actualize political and business ambitions and to protect themselves from and overcome opposition. For the interviewees, using human body parts for ritual is seen as corrupting supernatural forces in order to achieve corrupt ambitions. The association between Nigerian elites and ritual killing demonstrates a collective belief that political and economic power is corrupt and illegitimate.

Such power is easily seen as illegitimate because of the failure of the Nigerian state to provide safe roads, adequate employment opportunities, constant power and other infrastructure and institutions needed to increase the living standard for the Nigerian masses. But the belief that political and economic power is achieved and maintained by corrupting supernatural forces only makes addressing the problem of corruption more difficult. As stated above, relying on our “physical eyes” does not allow us to see what occurs in the “spiritual world.” This line of reasoning was common for my interviewees and only obscures how corruption occurs in the physical world as many politicians rely on stealing oil revenues to finance political campaigns and maintain their hegemony.

With Christian pastors, particularly Pentecostal, preaching that outcomes in the physical world are a result of the spiritual world, religion is implicated in obscuring the root cause of corruption. Instead of religious organizations using their mass support to challenge the corrupt political order harming their congregations, religious leaders encourage Nigerians to pray for better leaders. If prayer were the answer then Nigeria should rank as one of the lowest countries on corruption ratings as it is Africa’s most populated country with more than 130 million people, many of whom pray on a daily basis.

It must be realized that prayer by itself is insufficient in preventing corruption. Religious organizations must make this realization otherwise they are guilty of perpetuating the political status quo. Offering prayer as the only solution is equivalent to supporting the corrupt status quo as addressing the problem of corruption demands us to use our “physical eyes,” not our “spiritual.” Doing so will make it evident that corrupt politicians go unpunished because of factors such as the patrimonial political culture, resource curse, and overly centralized federal government, not ritual killing.

Humanism

The Nigerian Humanist Movement (NHM), with Leo Igwe as its Executive-Secretary, is challenging religious dogmatism and occultism in Africa by promoting the Humanist ideology. The importance of the movement is that it challenges accepted truths about the supernatural – providing the skepticism necessary to temper fanaticism. Any person who kills or purchases human body parts out of the belief that rituals can yield money and power is certainly fanatical. But Humanism does more than just condemn these fanatics, the ideology provides a framework for undermining the belief itself – which is necessary to combat the gospel of distrust.

Humanists understand the world through reason, experience, and shared human values. They challenge the idea that meaning is revealed to humans by the supernatural. Instead, we create meaning for ourselves. According to Humanism, we are better able to find solutions to the world’s problems by promoting individual rights, freedom and responsibility as well as social cooperation and mutual respect. We do not have to live according to the dictates of religious doctrine or superstitions in order to live good lives. After all, we create such belief systems in the first place, so why should they stand unchallenged? For NHM, challenging religious dogmatism in Nigeria is necessary to challenge the beliefs surrounding the ritual killing of human beings.

According to Igwe, the Nigerian Humanist Movement can challenge religious dogmatism and occult beliefs such as ritual killing by making Humanism an “aspect of Nigerian culture.” The movement is doing this by providing a space where atheists, agnostics, and even believers can express their doubts regarding religion and other unchallenged assumptions about the nature of existence. The movement also is asserting the need to change the curriculum for government schools. NHM is attempting to get Humanism included in the curriculum alongside courses on Christianity and Islam. Igwe argues that students are not encouraged to ask questions and that schools train students to defend a religious perspective. In short, the school system is “contaminated by religion.” Furthermore, the movement is set on establishing a national center in Abuja where it can better influence legislation and the general political discourse.

NHM is well aware of the challenges the movement faces as Nigeria is a deeply religious society. With such fervent religiosity among Nigerians, the beliefs surrounding the ritual killing of human beings will persist. But that doesn’t prevent the movement from challenging belief in ritual killing. It is fully aware of Christianity’s role in perpetuating these beliefs. Also, unlike the brands of Christianity in Nigeria, Humanism encourages skepticism towards unchallenged assumptions in Nigerian society. Not only is challenging assumptions about the supernatural necessary in combating the killing of human beings for ritual purposes, it is also necessary in rehabilitating Nigeria from the pervasive distrust plaguing the society. Promoting an ideology such as Humanism is helpful in countering the gospel of distrust because the assumption that personal success and misfortune as well as political corruption are a result of the supernatural will be challenged by a segment of Nigerian society.

Stephen Roblin is an American who worked as a volunteer with NHM last year