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05-02-2025
ABUJA: Five men have been sentenced to death by hanging in Nigeria’s Kano state for the 2023 murder of a woman they accused of witchcraft.
The convicted men attacked Dahare Abubakar, 67, as she was working on her farm, beating and stabbing her to death.
Abubakar’s family went to the authorities and the suspects were swiftly arrested in a village 45km (28 miles) from Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria.
The case gained attention across the country and raised discussions over how people in rural areas continue to be murdered following witchcraft accusations.
The ones who make the claims without any proof believe that those they accuse are responsible for either a death of a family member, sickness or misfortune.
Giving his ruling, Judge Usman Na’abba said the prosecution had proven its case against the five men beyond reasonable doubt.
The prosecutor, Abba Sorondiki, said he hoped the judgement would deter others from making wrongful accusations and then taking matters into their own hands.
The court heard that the victim was murdered after the sick wife of one of the accused, Abdulaziz Yahaya, had a dream that she was being pursued by Abubakar, who was holding a knife.
Yahaya then organized a group to confront Abubakar, which resulted in her murder.
“There have been similar cases like this but this is the first time we are seeing up to five people sentenced to death for murder over wrongful witchcraft accusation,” Sorondiki told media.
The victim’s son, Musa Yahaya, said that the day his mother was killed was the worst day of his life and that he was pleased to see justice being served.
“I am happy because they would get the same treatment they meted out to my mother,” he said.
Defence lawyer Ma’aruf Yakasai said his clients plan to appeal against the verdict.
The death penalty is rarely carried out in Nigeria and those convicted often spend the rest of their lives in prison on death row.
In December, in our series of letters from African writers, Nigerian journalist and novelist Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani reports on the emotions that the topic of witchcraft stirs. All hell broke loose when the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, announced last month that it would hold a conference on “witchcraft” at its campus in the south-east.
Some staff and students staged protests calling for the two-day event to be cancelled.
Posters appeared around the university campus and online, with angry messages such as: “Witches and Wizards, No Vacancy” and “Don’t Pollute Our Environment”.
The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), an influential group which represents clergymen, called on Christians to pray against the event.
“We have had enough of ungodly activities in this country,” said Godwin Madu, a PFN official. “We will not hand [the state] over to witches.”
Every ethnic group in Nigeria has a name for females and males who are believed to openly or secretly collaborate with dark forces to invoke harm upon others.
The English words “witch” and “wizard” are insufficient to convey the depths of evil culturally associated with such people their “manipulations” are often blamed for a variety of afflictions, from disease to infertility, poverty and failure.
So entrenched is the belief in, and abhorrence of, witchcraft that a section of the Nigerian criminal code, originally introduced under British colonial rule, still forbids its practice, and it is punishable by a jail term.
While reports of convictions are not common, the media regularly features stories of people being branded witches and being brutalized or lynched. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
