The resurgence of olden days witch hunts through the cyber space is especially terrifying in its capacity to bend the minds of the youths. Nigeria has an essentially young population, of which 70% is under the age of 30 years, and 42% is below 15 years. Notably, 73.97%  of Nigeria’s Internet users are aged between 15 and 30 years. This group makes up the bulk of the 90 million Nigerians with access to the Internet.

Young persons are highly impressionable, and it doesn’t take much persuasion to lure them into erroneous thoughts and actions. When they are not strong in critical thinking; as is the case now owing to failing educational systems in Nigeria as well as other parts of the world, it  manifests in credulous and rash reactions to complex situations by the youths who open to lapping up outlandish and weird conspiracy theories.

Nigerians woke up to a disturbing fall out on the Internet following  the death of the Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu on December 28, 2023.

Barely three days after  the Governor passed away, a certain Jimi Adekanle, a self proclaimed friend of the Akeredolu family, gained instant celebrity status with his spurious allegations against the late Governor’s wife, Betty Anyanwụ-Akeredolu.

Adekanle claimed that Betty not only killed her husband through witchcraft, but also stole Ondo State money while the late Governor was undergoing treatment abroad. The spurious nature of the allegations was only half of the problem. The bigger shock lay in the fact that such wild claims resonated with so many Social Media commentators, which reflected a frightening level of naivety among the netizens.

Adekanle’s accusations were so outrageous and so full of tribal prejudices that comments on them soon degenerated into an ethnic war of words. However, it took his fellow Yoruba man to deliver the hardest punch on his pack cards. Writing in an online publication, one   Oluseyi Dasilva gave a scathing rejoinder questioning Adekanle’s motives and describing him as an “identifiable enemy of the late Governor,” disguised as a friend.

Adekanle and his band of witch hunters are indeed the enemies of progress and a security risk to the society. Their harmful beliefs, practices and utterances, which pollute the minds of the gullible, are some of the major reasons for Nigeria’s stunted development. The danger of such negative mindset becoming the norm is ever present, should it continue to be ignored or tolerated.

Already, the Nigerian society risks sliding backwards into to the era when every widow was assumed to have killed her husband until a trial by ordeal proved otherwise. It’s a menace that has been creeping in, but its escalation in the last few months is unsettling.  The list of victims is long, but a few examples will do.

One of the most  bemusing cases is that of Omowunmi, the wife of the budding Afrobeat star, Ireoluwa Aloba also known as Mohbad. The Artiste was having a running battle with some of his mentors in the music industry before he died from reaction to an injection he was given for severe body pains.

Initially, Mohbad’s issues with his mentors were the focus of attention on the Social Media following his death, but suddenly, Omowunmi became the target of a barrage of hate posts precisely when financial gifts and pledges began pouring in for her son. Since then, the mindless mob has not only accused her of having caused her husband’s death, but has also claimed that she wasn’t married to the late musician, and  that Mohbad didn’t father her son. As  events unfolded, how Omowunmi fell from being perceived as a  hapless widow to being denounced as a monster got easier to explain. The musician’s father who has shown excessive interest in Mohbad’s money and property seems to be the lead witch hunter. His actions and responses appear more inspired by greed than any intention to seek justice for his late son.

A deeper look into the latest spate of widows being witch hunted seems primarily aimed at ensuring that they live the rest of their lives in penury and also die in misery. How else does one explain the atrocious public censure of the widows of Nollywood actors, John Okafor (Mr. Ibu), and John Paul Odonwodo (Junior Pope)?

The embarrassment of Stella Maris Okafor started when Mr. Ibu himself began to insinuate, while still alive, that his wife was extravagant and uncaring; an obvious act of gaslighting to cover his own indiscretion. Mr. Ibu had brought a young lady into his matrimonial home claiming to have adopted her; an act which the wife regarded as a threat to her marriage. When Ibu was hospitalized, the strange woman saw an opportunity for vengeance. She took over the demonization  of Stella Maris, accusing her of complicity in the man’s illness and also alleged that she was stealing the money donated for Ibu’s treatment. Without any evidence, the strange woman artfully staged her drama on the Social Media, and many people cheered.

However, by far the most humiliating treatment was meted to Jennifer Awele, the widow of John Paul Odonwodo (Junior Pope), another Nollywood actor. Jennifer was isolated and stigmatized by her late husband’s Nollywood colleagues, who ignored her at his funeral, but instead, later organized a puzzling condolence visit to a female actor who had neither blood, nor any acknowledged spousal relationship with Junior Pope. If that wasn’t disrespect and insensitivity taken too far, one wonders what else it could be. One also finds it hard to understand why some actors and a few others who attended Junior Pope’s funeral chose to donate money to the deceased extended family, instead of his widow who would eventually be left with the responsibility of taking care of his  children; but of course, witch hunts don’t always make sense.

All lovers of progress should be alarmed by this 21st century aberration, especially as it is being boosted  on the Social Media where millions of youths spend much of their time. We ought to be be bothered that the Internet which brought so much hope for mass education and enlightenment has become a space for amplifying harmful practices and superstitions.