Case file · Witch trials
Akwa Ibom's 'child witches'
In 2008 Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria made it a crime to brand a child a witch, after reports that thousands of children had been abandoned, beaten or killed after being named witches, often by preachers.
2008 CE · 4.64, 7.92 · status: official
The account
The documentary Saving Africa's Witch Children (Channel 4, 2008) filmed around Eket. Critics blamed films such as Helen Ukpabio's End of the Wicked and paid 'deliverance' sessions; the charity Stepping Stones Nigeria and local shelters took in children.
The sceptical view
Accusations usually follow poverty, illness or a death in the family; the children are victims, not evidence of witchcraft.