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Despite Protest, Pastors, Choir Attend Conference On Witchcraft
Published
3 years agoon
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Editor
The International Conference on Witchcraft on Tuesday kicked off at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, as scheduled, despite opposition to the conference from the Christian bodies.
It was gathered that the opening prayer for the conference was conducted by a Catholic priest, while the moderator was a cleric.
Music was also provided by the UNN Christ Chapel choir.
The conference, organised by Prof. B.I.C Ijomah Centre for Policy Studies and Research, UNN, met stiff opposition and criticisms, but organisers rebuffed the calls to cancel the conference, and instead changed the initial theme: “Witchcraft, meanings, factors and practices,” to ”Dimensions of human behaviours.”
UNN management had directed the organisers to drop the initial theme of the conference on account of outcries from various christian bodies.
However, speaking at the opening ceremony of the conference holding at Nsukka main campus of UNN, the Director of the centre, Prof. Egodi Uchendu, regretted how ordinary academic conference was twisted to cause confusion by social media and other media platforms.
“The casualty of this confusion went beyond being asked by UNN management to change title but also the withdrawal of our keynote speaker, Prof. David Ker.
“I am delighted that social media hyper on the conference didn’t deter participants and organisers from attending the conference, which is completely academic,” she said.
Prof. Damian Opata, in his paper titled “The wealthy are no witches: Towards an Epistemology and Ideology of Witchcraft among the Igbo of Nigeria,” explained that the way witchcraft was propagated and believed by some Nigerians had continued to kill the development of knowledge on the issue.
“Some people have killed the initiative for creative indigenous thinking because of mere belief in witchcraft.
“Pastors, prophets, seers in the foreign religions and charismatic priests of variegated persuasions very frequently use perceived attacks by witches and wizards to put fear in the minds and hearts of their various congregations.”
Continuing, he said, “The truth is, for those who believe that witches and wizards exist, it exists for them; and those who believe it does not exist, it doesn’t exist.
“What we are doing today is completely an academic conference; it’s unfortunate that some people tried on social media to give it different interpretations.”
Head of Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the UNN, Prof. Peter-Jazzy Eze, who spoke on what he titled, “Which witch? What Anthropology knows of the Adult Bugbear,” explained that witchcraft did not exist but only existed in the mind of the people who believed in it.
“Science and technology have overtaken the superstitious belief of witchcraft, which has no practical proof.”
Eze said it was time Africa dropped the belief in witchcraft and embraced robust knowledge in science and technology, “the application of which is very practical and verifiable.”
“If Africans can fully embrace science and technology, in the next 50 years, there will be nothing like superstitious belief in witchcraft, ” he said.
PUNCH
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The Lagos State Special Offences (Mobile) Court sitting at Bolade, Oshodi on Monday, 27 March, 2023 sentenced a fake Lagos State Traffic Management Authority Officer, Omotutu Bamidele, to a 2- year jail term for impersonating and extorting money from motorists across Lagos.
The convicted fake LASTMA officer was arraigned by LASTMA on a 2-count charge of impersonating as a public officer by claiming to be a staff of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (S.78 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015)” and obtaining money by fraudulent trick (Sec. 323 of the Criminal Law, Lagos State) before the court.
The PUNCH reports that Bamidele was arrested a few days ago on Olu Holloway Road, around the Alfred Rewane area of Ikoyi by a LASTMA Monitoring/Surveillance team led by the Zonal Head, Ashafa Moyosore.
In a press statement released by the Director, Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department of LASTMA, Mr. Adebayo Taofiq said Magistrate Kehinde Ogundare sentenced Omotutu Bamidele to a 2-year jail term without any option of fine after he pleaded guilty to the 2- count charges levelled against him.
Magistrate Ogundare emphasized that the convict should serve the jail term without any option fine due to the gravity of the offences committed.
READ ALSO: We Make N35,000 Daily, Fake LASTMA Officer Confesses
The Court Prosecutor Barr. Olufemi Adekunle stated that both offences levied against the convict contravened Criminal Law of Lagos State (2015).
In his reaction to the judgement, the General Manager of LASTMA Mr Bolaji Oreagba said the judgement was a welcome development as it would serve as a deterrent to others who are still extorting money from innocent members of the public under false pretence.
Oreagba also noted that the “Our (LASTMA) Monitoring and Surveillance Unit which has now been fully restructured would continue to hunt for other bad elements disturbing the peace of the society”
News
Ahmed Musa Equals Zidane’s Record, Surpasses Viera, Lampard
Published
7 hours agoon
March 28, 2023By
Editor
Super Eagles captain, Ahmed Musa, has become the most capped Nigerian player after his appearance in the second leg of Nigeria’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Guinea-Bissau.
The Nigerian national team defeated the Djurtus of Guinea-Bissau 1-0 at the Estadio 24 de Setembro.
However, Musa, who made his Eagles debut in 2010, and was also part of the 2013 Nations Cup-winning side, earned 108 caps – setting a new record for Nigeria.
With his feat, he has equaled France’s midfielder Zinedine Zidane, German’s Jurgen Klinsmann, and England’s Tim Cahill’s 108 national caps.
READ ALSO: Jump King! Osimhen Breaks Ronaldo’s Serie A Record
Also, the 30-year-old Super Eagles captain surpassed Patrick Vieira’s 107 international caps for France, and Frank Lampard’s 106 caps for the Three Lions of England.
Since his debut, the Nigerian forward has scored 16 goals for the national team. He is Nigeria’s highest scorer in the World Cup with four goals.
He also has 92 club goals and 65 assists.
News
NGO Trains Delta Community On Tools For Environmental Justice
Published
8 hours agoon
March 28, 2023By
Editor
The Connected Advocacy, a Benin-based NGO, on Monday trained the residents of Owa/Alidinma community in Agbor, Delta State, on strengthening local movement and demand spaces for environmental justice.
The training featured sessions on environmental monitoring, smart advocacy tools for environmental justice and how to build a non-violent environmental justice movement.
The Director of the NGO, Mr Israel Orekha, said the capacity building was aimed to enable local communities to advocate for and demand freedom from pollution, environmental degradation and exploitation.
Orekha said the training was due to the impact of oil exploration in the community, which include crises, environmental degradation, diversion of monetary benefits, intimidation from the traditional rulers and non-compliance with environmental multilateral agreements, among others.
“The imperative of smart advocacy tools for environmental justice are evidence-based collective efforts or strategies targeting decision-makers and polluters.
“The training focuses on influencing the actions, programmes and policies of the International Oil Companies (IOCs) and governments toward environmentally friendly interventions, fulfilling the agreement for the protection of the earth, people and planets.”
Taking the participants on environmental monitoring tools, Cadmus Atake-Enade, said the devices were effective for mitigating the danger of fossil-fuel extraction in the local communities.
He encouraged participants to monitor their environment through air, water and soil pollution, and biodiversity issues.
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Atake-Enade listed tools for monitoring the physical environment like pens, pencils, cameras and whistles, saying the need to document the findings or monitor the evidence cannot be over-emphasised.
The training concluded with the reconciliation of the Traditional Community Council and Host Community Network operating in the community.

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