Identity and Dignity Rights
Accused of Witchcraft — Elderly Person Abused and Driven from Home
When a witchcraft accusation is used to justify violence and eviction
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10 minutes
The Situation
What They Said
“This old woman is responsible for the deaths and sicknesses in this compound. She must leave or face the consequences. The pastor has confirmed it.”
An elderly woman is being accused by family members and neighbours of being responsible for misfortunes — illness, death, or financial loss — in the household or community through witchcraft. A pastor or religious figure has endorsed the accusation, lending it authority in the eyes of those present. The woman is being threatened with violence and told she must vacate her home. This scenario is most commonly directed at elderly women, widows, and children across several states including Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Rivers, and parts of northern Nigeria. It combines religious authority, community pressure, and the threat of physical violence to drive a person from their home and deprive them of family support — all on the basis of an accusation with no legal standing whatsoever. The criminal law is explicit: using a witchcraft accusation to harm, threaten, or displace a person is a criminal offence.
The Fallacy
Religious Authority as Legal Jurisdiction
The central claim is that because a pastor has 'confirmed' the accusation, the community's response — threatening violence and eviction — is therefore legitimate. This is a fundamental confusion between spiritual pronouncement and legal authority. A pastor, imam, or any religious figure has no jurisdiction to determine criminal responsibility or to authorise action against a person's property, safety, or home. Nigerian courts do not recognise witchcraft as a cause of harm, and no religious endorsement of an accusation provides a lawful basis for any act of violence, threat, or displacement. The sincerity of the belief is legally irrelevant — it is the conduct that follows that constitutes the crime.
What the Law Says
Your Legal Foundation
Criminal Code Act, Cap C38, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004
Section 210 — Witchcraft Accusations — Criminal Offence
“Any person who by his statements or actions represents himself to be a witch or to have the power of witchcraft, or who accuses or threatens to accuse any person of being a witch, commits a misdemeanour and is liable to imprisonment for two years.”
Section 210 of the Criminal Code makes the act of accusing another person of witchcraft a criminal misdemeanour. This applies to the pastor who made the pronouncement, the family members who endorsed it, and any person who repeats or acts on the accusation to harm the accused. The accusation itself — not only the subsequent violence — is a crime. This provision is applicable in Southern Nigeria; the Penal Code contains comparable provisions for Northern states.
Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015
Section 1 — Physical Violence
“A person who commits physical violence on another, or who aids, incites, counsels or procures another person to commit physical violence commits an offence.”
Any physical harm inflicted on the elderly woman — beating, restraint, or forcible removal from the home — constitutes physical violence under VAPP Section 1. This applies not only to those who directly commit the violence but also to those who incite or direct it, including anyone who organises the group or gives the instruction to remove her. VAPP's broad scope means that coordinated community action against a person can engage multiple individuals in criminal liability simultaneously.
Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015
Section 14 — Emotional and Psychological Abuse
“A person who subjects another to emotional, verbal or psychological abuse commits an offence. This includes behaviour that causes emotional pain, distress or mental suffering.”
Threatening an elderly woman with violence, publicly accusing her of causing deaths, and forcing her from her home causes documented psychological harm — fear, distress, and loss of family and community — that constitutes emotional and psychological abuse under VAPP Section 14. This provision recognises that abuse does not require physical contact to be actionable; the sustained terror of a witchcraft accusation is itself a crime under Nigerian law.
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended)
Section 34 — Right to Dignity of Human Person
“Every individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person, and accordingly — no person shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment; no person shall be held in slavery or servitude; no person shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour.”
Being publicly accused of witchcraft, threatened with violence, and driven from one's home is a direct and serious violation of the constitutional right to human dignity. The elderly woman's dignity does not diminish because of her age, her circumstances, or the community's beliefs about her. Section 34 applies universally and its protection cannot be suspended by community consensus, religious declaration, or family decision.
What Scripture Says
God's Word on This
Leviticus 19:32 (NIV)
“Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the Lord.”
The command to honour the elderly is given without qualifications or exceptions — it is not suspended by suspicion, accusation, or community distress. Driving an elderly woman from her home on the basis of an unproven accusation is the precise opposite of what this command requires. The standard of treatment this verse establishes for the aged is reverence — a standard that makes witchcraft-driven eviction incompatible with any sincere claim to religious authority or community values.
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What They'll Say Next
Common Counter-Arguments
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They might say: “The pastor has spiritual authority in this matter — he sees what the courts cannot see. The courts have no jurisdiction over spiritual things.”
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They might say: “She has already agreed to leave — no one forced her. She is going voluntarily, so there is no crime here.”
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