Since the past few days when the video of Bishop David Oyedepos alleged slapping a lady in church because she claimed to be a witch for Jesus berthed on the Internet, the amount of outrage it generated on the cyberspace shows that there is hope for Nigeria. We are not inured to everything bad after all. The video shows a flagrant display of hegemony and intimidation, and not spiritual authority. For those who try to wave it off that it happened two years ago, well, the windmill of God grinds slowly but surely.There are many problems with the scene staged in that video. The lady who was slapped claimed, paradoxically, that she was a not witch but her own witchcraft was for Christ! And I thought, So' Some claim to be widows of Jesus; some, Awo Jesu (Jesus occult), so why slap the poor lady' Does anybody have copyright over the Jesus name and can dictate how others should use it' But not only was the lady slapped, she was humiliated and degraded before a large congregation.Precisely, what is wrong with being a witch for Jesus' In fact, what is wrong with being a witch'The concept of witchcraft in traditional societies is more complex than the stereotyped way it is staged in Nollywood where witches are portrayed as women who wear black, paint their faces black (and what is this persistence of using black to represent evil') and cackle like hyenas as they wreak havoc which range from causing cancer to ruining the stock market. Nollywood witches reign unchallenged until a Bible thumping man of God comes to spray Holy water (or a similar fetish stuff) at them; they all fall and change into odd shapes like something out of a cheap sci-fi movie. Or, they become born-again. Sometimes, an old woman starts confessing to being a blood-sucking witch and a crowd of spectators gladly stones her to death without considering that the person might just be schizophrenic. Nollywood gleefully celebrates this sort of barbarism as triumph of good over evil.Witchcraft in traditional societies has roots in power: political, social and chauvinistic. The spiritual aspect is a plus to its power fulcrum. Unfortunately, this is the part that is so mythologised and demonised so much that some people actually believe witches turn into birds and fly!The belief in witches ability to fly is so strong that almost everything that we have not tried to scientifically understand is attributed to them. In a country where medical facilities are poor, witches are held responsible for what doctors have no equipment to diagnose. But do witches really have all those powers' Most likely not in the measure attributed to them. Like our new-age pastors, witches and their fellow travellers live off fear; the merchants of fear concoct bogey man stories and sell them to people who are afraid of the dark. Most of the things we blame on evil spirits can be explained scientifically.The case of Soponna, the god of smallpox, comes to mind. Once upon a time in Yoruba culture, Soponna and its cult were feared for their perceived powers. Today, science has wiped out smallpox. The World Health Organisation declared it eradicated in 1979 and automatically rendered the god redundant! There was a time man worshipped the moon and received answers by praying to it but today, scientists have not only landed on the moon, they are thinking of how to store its reflection! So, why cant our own society progress in spite of witches'Another problem with the video is the witch hunt process. How do you tell who is a witch' Who determines it and is it a foolproof process' Or is there a witch scanning machine' If I put up my hated step-daughter as the witch responsible for everything wrong with my life, is there a verification process' Apart from this lady who claimed she was a witch for Christ, another said she was not a witch too but dreams she attends meeting with them. Teenage boy in the video says he thinks of sexual things. In the name of God, why should these qualify them for exorcism' When I was younger, every graphic novel read or film I saw came back to me in my dreams. And a teenager says he thinks of sexual things' Who at his age escapes such when the hormones are raging' He needs to speak to his school counsellor, if he has one.The videos sequel showed the Bishop boasting that the lady had come to beg him because she went to her witch meeting somewhere and they told her that if the Bishop said she was dead, then it would happen. And this is the sad part of the whole show: if the lady was innocent (and I believe she is), she has been stigmatised for life. When the lady said, I am not a witch but my own witch is for Jesus Christ, what message was she trying to pass across to those who stood ready to lynch her' That what is mistaken for witchcrafther unconventional behaviour, eccentricity and attitudeare her own way of expression of worship' Who knows what that lady went through back home that she had to eventually capitulate to intimidation and apologise to the Bishop (if she truly did)' Before putting up people in public for witchcraft, did anyone think of the stigma they, especially this lady, will go through as the witch that resisted a big man of God' How many parents in the audience who know her will want her near their children anymore even after the exorcism/deliverance prayers'I cant stop wondering, how come it is the children of the poor that are almost always subjected to this kind of abuse in the name of exorcising witchcraft' Why is it that evil-minded politicians and political leaders, who cause problems for the country with their policies, when they manage to attend church services to seek political endorsement, escape the same process' Why is their God so selective' And many of these politicians are fetish judging from the testimonies of their family members and political associates!In 16th and 17th Century Europe, they burnt witches at the stake. Today, their society has moved on and witchcraft has become a marginal culture; scientific enquiries have taken centre-places.In Africa, the fear of witches is palpable and is anyone surprised our continent is synonymous with every kind of human suffering' I believe religious leaders market fear because it works all the time. If witches have powers to do things they accuse them of doing, we should stop going to church and start worshipping them. Its really that simple. Or, we should harness their power for the betterment of our society.Even more complicit in the whole thing is the congregation that applauded the obscene show of power. A man slaps a female, on some obtuse charges, makes a prayer point out of it and the church said amen' No wonder our leaders continue to slap us with all sorts of myopic policies.And this is where the law should come in: rather than lawmakers going around pursuing harmless minorities, there should be legislation to protect people from being made into a spectacle in religious spaces. More than the Bill on child witches which has been politicised, children should be kept from religious charade. I have stated this point before here in respect of another pastor, TB Joshua, who puts up minors for public confession. By putting children under the gaze of thousands of viewers, labelling them witches and exorcising them, you subject them to abuse, invite them to be ostracised, erode their dignity and you could undermine their self-confidence for life. Only God knows how many children, families and lives have been ruined through this witchcraft of a thing.
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