The Money Pot

We have often laughed at the gullibility of the religious on this blog ....

The Gullibility Spot Has Been Identified

 ..... from Christians who believe that some sexual pervert or paedophile is some sort of a messiah, to South Asians who believe in magic lamps (and all other religions in between).

So its odd to find that despite widespread African beliefs in magic and witchcraft, as well as disappearing penises, I have only once covered the credulous in that continent.

So perhaps its time to redress that omission by talking about the south-western Nigerian city of Ibadan, where in 2022 Mr Gbenga Adewoyin was walking around local markets armed with a sharp knife, a megaphone, and dressed all in black. He used the megaphone to broadcast the message repeatedly in Yoruba and English, "Anyone that can provide any evidence for the existence of the supernatural, be it Juju or Voodoo magic, will be offered 2.5m naira ($6,000, £4,650)."

Now apart from the sharp knife (which would get him into trouble with many police services around the world), he perhaps wouldn't attract to much notice (we often have people with mental problems acting strangely, or predicting the end of the world), no, what attracted attention was that in Nigeria, publicly contesting the powers of the supernatural in the deeply religious country is controversial. He even risked being arrested for blasphemy or lynched by an angry mob (hence the knife?).

Like many other African countries (such as Benin,where Voodoo is an official religion), belief in African traditional religions and its juju components are widespread in Nigeria, with many combining them with either Christianity or Islam, so being an atheist attracts a lot of attention.

So for instance the belief that charms, ointments or potions can protect against bullets or bare skin from knife blades, and that human body parts can make money appear in a clay pot, or that magic charms can allow humans to morph into cats. One of the traders at the market in Ibadan said "Of course Juju works, he doesn't know what he is saying,"  ... he then showed that in his own pocket was a black amulet, a small leather pouch containing supposedly magic charms, that he said was for protection, which he wasn't willing to demonstrate worked, not even for $6,000.

These beliefs are not restricted to the ill educated, but permeate all sectors of society, even at the highest level of Nigeria's academia, where for example Dr Olaleye Kayode, a senior lecturer in African Indigenous Religions at the University of Ibadan, told the BBC that money-making Juju rituals - where human body parts mixed with charms makes money spew out of a pot - really work. The naira notes that supposedly appear "are gotten by spirits from existing banks", he told the BBC. 

Similarly Jude Akanbi, a lecturer at the Crowther Graduate Theological Seminary in Abẹ́òkúta, also believes in Juju. "This ability to be able to transform yourself to [a] cat, to disappear and reappear, these things are possible within the dynamics of traditional African religion. Although [it] sounds illogical, like old wives' tales, however from what we have seen and heard, these things are possible."

Much of this belief is fuelled by 'Nollywood' (Nigeria's vibrant local film making industry), which often depicts scenes of Juju, especially the murder money pot scenes (belief in which, is what drives real murders in Nigeria), as plot devices to show how young men get quick wealth.

So Mr Adewoyin's campaign against this ignorance and superstition, is going against the tide of opinion, and considered a taboo in much of Nigerian society.  But very much needed just the same. In recent years there has been wave of murders for body parts in the country, with single women often the victims. Mr Adewoyin logically pointed out that "If money ritual worked, we would have seen a massive inflation in the economy, for the decades that we have believed in it" .... and an awful lot of murderer millionaires. 

Both the main religions of Islam and Christianity often find it advantageous to state that black magic and aspects of traditional African religions are evil, but something that is real, but which can be defeated by prayer and their own higher powers. Consequently many Christian pastors and Imams have done well, either through increased attendances at their places of worship, or even gained great personal wealth through claims of their having supernatural powers that can overcome Juju and evil curses.

Final words to Mr Adewoyin "For a reasonable human being to believe that a human with all his biological components can turn into a yam or banana is illogical, and worrisome." Oh and "The knife is for anyone that claims their juju makes them blade-proof," he said. So far no one has taken up Mr Adewoyin's challenge.