The Hullabaloo about Child Witches

Following reports that children branded witches in Akwa Ibom were being maltreated, a couple of foreign TV stations ran a documentary which was allegedly named, styled and culled from a film made by a local foundation titled “End of the Wicked”. The body claims the documentary has brought woes to the organisation. Mary Ekah writes

She has been under the scrutiny and attacked of the world press lately. By no fault of hers, she has been tagged “Heartless Wicked Woman”, “False Prophetess”, “Extortionist”, the list is endless. It is no other person but the evangelist, filmmaker and president of Liberty Gospel Church based in Calabar, Mrs. Helen Ukpabio.
She claimed to have suffered for the faith which she proclaims as there have been a whole lot of derogatory statements against her pasted on the internet by people all over the world. It does not just end there. Ukpabio claimed she has suffered several physical attacks by people while on her missionary journey abroad all on the allegation that her movies encourage the stigmatisation and maltreatment of children labeled witches in Akwa Ibom State.
The hullabaloo against Liberty Church Gospel Church started late last year, when on November 12, 2008, following the reports that children branded witches by pastors in Akwa Ibom were maltreated, channel 04 of the UK ran a two-hour telecast/documentary on “dispatches” titled, “Saving the African Child Witch”.
The documentary was named, styled and curdled from popularly film made by the Incorporated Trustees of the Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries and titled “End of the Wicked.” Ukpabio is shocked that “End of the Wicked”, which has been out since1999 and has been a source of deliverance to countless families, is posing a problem to some section of people even ten years after it was produced.
The story line of “End of the Wicked”, Ukpabio said, has nothing to do with children labeled witchcraft. The film, she stressed, simply says if a child is a glutton, he or she could be easily be initiated into witchcraft and the only way out for such child is deliverance through the Lord Jesus.
“There was no place in the film where children were branded witches rather, we saw greedy children initiated into witchcraft by other children who were witches in the school,” Ukpabio explained.
It was claimed in the TV documentary by UK broadcaster of Channel 4 that the views that she expresses has lead to a massive upsurge in children stigmatised and abandoned by their families in West Africa, particularly in Akwa Ibom State.
The documentary followed the activities of two charities, Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) and Stepping Stones Nigeria, a UK-based organisation that claim to look after the children who have been rejected by their parents for displaying what they believed to be signs of witchcraft.
“These scammers have so far collected over 200,000 British Pound Sterling from members of the public. The Akwa Ibom state government fell to these scammers by parting with twenty thousand pounds. The truth of the matter is that Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries never produced the pirated film “End of the Wicked” shown on the said documentary.
“The authentic film made by the ministry and approved by the National Board for Video Censorship Board was radically different from the pirated film wherein our ministries was wickedly libeled thereof,” Ukpabio said.
“No where in the film of Helen Ukpabio showed where children were labeled as witches, tortured or where parents of these children were asked to pay some amount of money,” the organisation's lawyer said last week.
Instead, the lawyer said Ukpabio's 'End of the Wicked,' showed how children or adult who has been initiated into witchcraft cult could be delivered through the power of Christ. The message passed by the documentary, he stressed, is completely different from the original message intended by Helen Ukpabio's “End of the Wicked”.
Consequently, the church has complained to the regulatory agency in UK, OFCOM concerning, what the lawyer described as, “the unprofessional telecast,” which he said is against OFCOM broadcast code of UK.
“We have also complained to the Akwa Ibom State Government to close down CRARN for being a conduit for 419 and keeping custody of children contrary to the laws of Akwa Ibom State and the Child Right Act 2007”, he said further.
The lawyer also revealed that the church has also complained to EFCC to arrest and prosecute Gary Fox Croft of Stepping Stones Nigeria and Sam Ikpe-Itauman of CRARN for using CRARN and SSN to perpetuate 419. The organisation is also instituting legal action against channel 04, and the narrator of the documentary, Sophie Okowedo, for libel.
Ukpabio said “If you know what I know and have seen the suffering people go through every day when they come to me for counseling, you would have even done more films on witchcraft with the intent of exposing their activities.
“I believe witch craft is a minor problem which we can handle effectively compared to what happen on the streets of Europe where kids get involved in drugs, murder and all sorts.”
She is also surprised at the way the Akwa Ibom state government has reacted to such trick, and then quickly gave out money to the organisation.
“It is so easy for jobless people who are not renowned people in their countries to come over here and play over the intelligence of the government.
“They are using Nigerians to make money and also capitalise on our ignorance. They feel we are still Nigerians of the 60s and so they can still come in and trample on us,” the evangelist lamented.

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