By Maggie Hall
In October, Brighton Humanists hosted a much looked-forward-to event featuring Leo Igwe, the stalwart Nigerian humanist campaigner and founder of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, who was on a whistle-stop tour of the UK. His presentation centred on his work with the Advocacy for Alleged Witches and the Critical Thinking Social Empowerment Foundation, Nigeria.
Leo emphasised that Nigeria is a deeply religious country. In the north there is a strict Muslim presence, while the south is dominated by an extremely fundamentalist form of Christianity mixed with older superstitious beliefs about witches, demons and possession.
Leo shared some very disturbing stories, accompanied by some graphic pictures, illustrating some of the horrendous atrocities perpetrated against perfectly innocent people, often children, women and the elderly, who are believed to be witches, including violent beatings and even burning alive. There is also a belief that human body parts have magical powers when used in certain ceremonies, and people, including children, have had limbs hacked off for this purpose.
The Critical Thinking programme aims to introduce critical thinking skills into Nigerian schools with the aim of teaching children to question, challenge and interrogate. Leo described the many difficulties encountered when trying to gain access to schools and establish the programme.
The presentation was followed by a very lively interactive question and answer session.
More information is available on the AFAW website.