Chima Agazue - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Chima Agazue
International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, 2023
Academic reports on the "evil women" hypothesis have focused mainly on the actions of criminal ju... more Academic reports on the "evil women" hypothesis have focused mainly on the actions of criminal justice authorities (CJA). However, actions based on this hypothesis equally extend to ordinary members of the public. Vigilante justice on suspected criminals by mobs is a regular occurrence in Nigeria. Thus, the current article drew on vigilante justice on robbers to examine the notion of the evil women hypothesis from the perspective of mobs. Three robbery incidents in three different Nigerian cities involving robbers impersonating taxi operators known as "one-chance" robbers, were analyzed. In all the three incidents, the one-chance robbers comprising both men and women were caught by mobs. In all of them, the mobs stripped the female robbers naked in public whilst their male gang members were allowed to wear their clothes. The actions of the mob conformed to those of CJA with respect to the evil women hypothesis whereby female offenders are punished more severely than their male counterparts due to the idea that the former have crossed the morality boundary to commit a serious offense that goes against the gender-role expectations.
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence , 2023
Ritually motivated pedicide is among contemporary Africa's most severe crimes against children. M... more Ritually motivated pedicide is among contemporary Africa's most severe crimes against children. Most of these crimes involve brutal acts of violence or mutilation of the victim. While men are most often the perpetrators of violent crimes, ritually motivated pedicide and mutilation equally attract women. The role of women in these crimes is not restricted to the less violent aspects of the crimes; instead, they also extend to the most brutal elements, often involving mutilation, decapitation or outright murder of the victim. This article explored the involvement of women in these crimes that target children for mutilation and pedicide. The article draws on case examples of incidents involving brutality and murder of children by women selected from academic reports and reports by media and non-governmental organisations to demonstrate the nature of involvement in these crimes. The article demonstrates that women also engage in the most serious roles with or without the company of men in ritually motivated pedicide and mutilation. These include mutilation and violent murder of children who are used for rituals. The author argues that the high degree of violence in ritually motivated mutilation and pedicide means that these crimes against children deviate from the established female patterns of aggression that are typically less violent.
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence, 2021
Ritually motivated crimes are grave crimes that continue to plague contemporary Africa. Occasiona... more Ritually motivated crimes are grave crimes that continue to plague contemporary Africa. Occasionally, victims abducted for ritual purposes are discovered and set free. Fresh or decomposing bodies are spotted somewhere, often with missing parts taken by the ritual killers who killed the victims. Some missing persons in the continent are presumed to have been abducted or killed by ritually motivated criminals. Although ritually motivated crimes take different forms, most of them involve brutal acts of violence and murder. The barbaric manner in which these criminals attack or slaughter their victims creates fear and panic. Traditionally, men commit serious crimes involving brutal acts of violence and murder. However, this has changed in recent times as many women currently engage in violent crimes and murder. Thus, researchers in criminology and criminal psychology have paid increasing research attention to women’s involvement in serious crimes. The African magic industry attracts both men and women as clients, witchdoctors, and ritualists. Like male witchdoctors, the female witchdoctors equally dispatch human body hunters and kidnappers to find victims. Women patronize witchdoctors with the full awareness that human parts would be used in the preparation of the charms or concoctions they seek. Women work independently or as accomplices to males who abduct, attack, or kill those targeted for ritual purposes. While women’s involvements in different types of violent crimes and murder are well documented, women’s participation in ritually motivated violence and murder has been overly neglected in academic literature. This article aims to bridge this vital gap. It explores how women actively participate in ritually motivated violence and murder in different capacities in contemporary Africa and calls for research to establish motivations and modus operandi specific to women in these serious crimes.
Dignity: A Journal on the Analysis of Exploitation and Violence, 2021
The belief that certain humans are spiritual entities and the belief that some people are spiritu... more The belief that certain humans are spiritual entities and the belief that some people are spiritually possessed can be found across histories and cultures. While these individuals are not always viewed in the negative or treated inhumanely, cases abound whereby degrading and inhumane treatments are meted out to some of them. In the African continent, certain groups of people, particularly children are linked to certain mischievous spirits due to their unusual appearance, aberrant behavior, disability, chronic illness, psychopathology or exceptional ability. Some are also suspected and consequently mistreated due to events surrounding their birth. Such children are known by different names in different parts of Africa. In this article, three groups of children (ogbanje, abiku and spirit children) considered as partly spirits and one group (child witch) considered as spiritually possessed, were explored. Each of these groups was described based on the traditional lore of the particular society where they are so labeled. The abuses, neglect and in some cases homicide against the children connected to the belief, were critically discussed. The article explored how the children are abused, neglected or killed due to the genuine belief that they pose a spiritual threat to their parents or carers and in some cases, the entire community. However, the article also provided insights into how such belief also serves as justification for parents with children present with any of the aforementioned characteristics to eliminate such a child through filicide for altruistic purposes. The article also explored how some parents and guardians exploit the belief to eliminate children seen as a burden. The cases of adult relatives who exploit the belief to eliminate orphans in their care for the purposes of inheriting properties belonging to the orphans' parents were also explored. Recommendations were made on how to address these social problems.
Journal of Aggression and Violent Behaviour, 2021
The murder of Catherine (Kitty) Genovese in New York in 1964 by Winston Moseley has generated num... more The murder of Catherine (Kitty) Genovese in New York in 1964 by Winston Moseley has generated numerous academic publications. One of the major focal points in the debates is the role of gender in bystanders' reactions to violent incidents. Some analysts drew on experiments that found that men did not intervene in incidents involving a man as a perpetrator and a woman as a victim to explain the lack of intervention in the incident by the so-called 38 bystanders falsely reported by The New York Times in 1964. This current article analyzed three videos containing four different assaults that occurred on the busy streets of Argentina, the United States and the United Kingdom to assess whether the gender of the perpetrators and victims affected bystanders' reactions or not. In Incident 1 and Incident 2 involving men as perpetrators with female victims, none of the male and female bystanders physically intervened. In Incident 3 involving a man as a perpetrator and a woman as his victim, both male and female bystanders intervened to save the victim. However, in Incident 4 involving a woman as a perpetrator with a male victim, nobody intervened instead, some of the bystanders laughed at the male victim. The article concludes that whilst gender seemed to have determined intervention in Incident 3 (saving a female victim from a violent man) and its lack in Incident 4 (leaving a male victim to save himself from a violent woman), other factors could be responsible for lack of intervention in Incident 1 and Incident 2 and these include the duration of the assault, the level of violence applied by the perpetrator and bystanders' perception of their own safety. The implications of the bystanders' reactions were highlighted.
The focus of this book is the many ways in which a deeply-embedded culture of superstition is ena... more The focus of this book is the many ways in which a deeply-embedded culture of superstition is enabling the misrepresentation of Christianity for financial gain. For example, the extant belief in witchcraft and evil spirits is deliberately perpetuated by the pastors and supported by biblical passages in order to generate the need for exorcisms and an array of other religio-commercial services. These indigenous beliefs are also combined with biblical justification to create an emphasis on miracles as the only solution to the manifold problems facing the people of Nigeria; an emphasis which, first, costs the believers dearly in many ways, second, creates learned helplessness, disputes, altercations, ostracisms and murders resulting from witchcraft allegations and third, is a gross misrepresentation of Christian doctrine. This new gospel also taps into materialism. Ultimately, this gospel of mistrust and materialism is causing a multitude of problems in an already weakened society; a de...
Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence, 2021
Sexual exploitation and abuse of girls is one of the endemic social problems in Nigeria. Although... more Sexual exploitation and abuse of girls is one of the endemic social problems in Nigeria. Although this problem has attracted much research attention in recent times, some newly emerged factors contributing to the problem have been mostly ignored. This study explored how the abandonment of children following their stigmatization as witches contributes to sexual exploitation and abuse of the girls in the Akwa Ibom and Cross River states of Nigeria. The study was based on the qualitative research paradigm. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews of three senior staff members of the Child’s Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN)—a children’s charity that manages a shelter for children abandoned as witches. Thematic analysis was conducted and five principal themes were developed from the data, which are (1) vulnerable to statutory rape; (2) living with sexual addiction; (3) targeted for human trafficking; (4) vulnerable to infections and pregnancy; and (5) exposed to intergenerational abuse. Theme (1) is concerned with how the girls are frequently raped by different groups of men due to the girls’ presence on the street. Theme (2) shows how the girls struggle with sexual addiction following frequent exposure to sexual activities since the early years of their lives. Theme (3) details how human traffickers target the girls for the sex trade, labor and other purposes. Theme (4) shows how the girls struggle with sexually transmitted infections and sometimes, pregnancy. Theme (5) details how the stigmatization and the consequent abuse of the stigmatized girls on the street also extend to their children, who are automatically regarded as the children of witches. Recommendations were made on how to address this social problem.
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence, 2016
In urban southern Nigeria there is a widespread spiritual revival pioneered by Pentecostal pastor... more In urban southern Nigeria there is a widespread spiritual revival pioneered by Pentecostal pastors who claim to deliver prophecies, miracles, and healings. In many places, multiple churches can be seen within a few hundred yards of each other, while in other places, different floors of multistory buildings are occupied by different church denominations. There is competition among the pastors to present themselves as spiritually powerful and financially favored by God. Some of the pastors, calling themselves “prophets,” engage in immoral and fraudulent activities. Women are the predominant followers of these male religious leaders, and sexual exploitation of vulnerable women by these religious leaders is common. The prophets sexually exploit vulnerable women with the promise of “spiritual cleansing.” Based on news reports, this article discusses cases of sexual abuse and exploitation of women and girls by their pastors in Nigeria. These cases show how prophets promise that the sexual interactions will enable the women to escape demonic possession or to fulfill the “will of God.”
A distinct category of women has been identified in parts of sub-Saharan Africa: those who commit... more A distinct category of women has been identified in parts of sub-Saharan Africa: those who commit acts of extreme violence and even murder against their own children in order to fulfil religious obligations or to protect themselves from perceived magico-spiritual attacks by their children. The whole of Africa is currently witnessing a heightened level of witch-hunting. Historically, many African witch-hunting incidents have been triggered by witch-doctors keen to protect their clients from the diabolical effects of witches; while others have been triggered by mere gossip or rumour among neighbours. However, in recent years, dramatized preaching on the subject of witchcraft by revivalist Christian prophets, whose major occupations are the sale of exorcisms to the 'bewitched', has become the latest trend in the region. These prophets and prophetesses deliver sermons and prophecies, purportedly from God, in which they identify particular children in the community as witches and prescribe the measures or punishment necessary for protection. By means of case study analysis, this paper presents the new pattern of evil that is being perpetrated in the form of the abandonment, torture, mutilation and murder of these children by their own mothers. Further, this paper presents the cases of the prophetesses whose sermons and prophecies, purportedly from God, emphasise biblical passages such as, 'thou shalt not suffer a witch to live' (Exodus 22:18) to encourage violence against children in the name of religious obligation. Female Patterns of Aggression and Homicide across Cultures Issues surrounding female aggression and homicide have generated heated debate. While some scholars report that females are less violent than males, 1 others report that females are slightly more physically aggressive than males. 2 Harned found that 'rates of physical violence were similar across genders' among the 874 graduate and undergraduate students studied. 3 However, Archer has suggested that the conflicting results obtained by different researchers may be due to differing methodologies used to study the phenomenon. 4 The female serial killer has largely been disputed as a phenomenon but evidence now abounds to suggest its existence. 5 Aileen Wuornos, the first female serial killer identified by the FBI, was convicted of killing seven men. 6 Myra Hindley accompanied her partner Ian Brady in the murders of five children in Saddleworth Moor, England. 7 Rosemary West, another female serial killer, became infamous as an accomplice to her husband, Fred West in the rapes and murders of ten females in Gloucester, England. 8 Black widow serial killers also abound. Female nurses who are multiple murderers can also be found. Beverly Allitt, an enrolled nurse, was convicted of murdering four children and also suspected of nine others in Grantham and Kesteven District General Hospital, England. 9 Repper reports the case of a nurse, simply identified as Nurse '7' who was convicted of second-degree murder and attempted murder following the deaths of 12 patients in a nursing home in Florida, USA. 10 In Texas, Nurse '32' was convicted of murdering six babies in a private clinic and was also investigated in connection with ten other murders. 11 Suicide bombing has continued to attract women, both adults and teenagers. Females engage in armed robbery, kidnapping, hostage taking and assassination. There are also women who engage in what can be termed 'legitimate violence' due to their status as law enforcement officials. The torture and other inhumane treatment of criminal suspects and detainees carried out by such women closely resemble those of their male counterparts. One case study on this is provided by Mersh 12 regarding the activities of female American soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Females have also been linked to mass murder on a genocidal scale. Pauline Nyiramasuhuko of Rwanda and Irith Leng of Cambodia are two women who are known to have engaged in such acts. 13 The linking of women to such mass murders seems to support Steans' argument that, given the opportunity, women are just as capable of committing serious crimes as men. 14
Conference Presentations by Chima Agazue
With Pentecostal churches being situated within a few hundred yards of most busy streets of south... more With Pentecostal churches being situated within a few hundred yards of most busy streets of southern Nigeria, millions of Nigerians disappointed by their government desperately run to these churches in search of solutions to their various problems. As entrepreneurial pastors establish new churches almost every day and those identifying themselves as prophets and prophetesses geometrically increasing, the citizens are increasingly experiencing difficulties in identifying who is supposed 'true man or woman of God'. As a result, one of the yardsticks to determining who is truly called by God is to identify one who can authoritatively demonstrate that he or she hears directly from God. As those who allegedly hear from God, that is, 'prophets' and 'prophetesses' become highly romanticised by millions of desperate prophecy and miracle seekers, and their churches attracting a huge crowd and generating millions of Naira (the Nigerian currency), anyone who meets the aforementioned criteria is automatically respected as a true prophet or prophetess. Scores of supposedly mad people who have found religion as a comfortable arena to disguise their hallucinatory symptoms in a deeply religious country, have become highly respected as prophets and prophetesses. In this paper, the author explores cases of supposed mad religious persons whose symptoms of auditory hallucinations were for so long taken seriously as evidence of hearing from God until they attempted homicide by following alleged instructions from the 'Holy Spirit'. These cases demonstrate how madness can be easily misinterpreted as evidence of holiness by deeply religious people due to the biblical teachings on how God uses humans as his messengers.
International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, 2023
Academic reports on the "evil women" hypothesis have focused mainly on the actions of criminal ju... more Academic reports on the "evil women" hypothesis have focused mainly on the actions of criminal justice authorities (CJA). However, actions based on this hypothesis equally extend to ordinary members of the public. Vigilante justice on suspected criminals by mobs is a regular occurrence in Nigeria. Thus, the current article drew on vigilante justice on robbers to examine the notion of the evil women hypothesis from the perspective of mobs. Three robbery incidents in three different Nigerian cities involving robbers impersonating taxi operators known as "one-chance" robbers, were analyzed. In all the three incidents, the one-chance robbers comprising both men and women were caught by mobs. In all of them, the mobs stripped the female robbers naked in public whilst their male gang members were allowed to wear their clothes. The actions of the mob conformed to those of CJA with respect to the evil women hypothesis whereby female offenders are punished more severely than their male counterparts due to the idea that the former have crossed the morality boundary to commit a serious offense that goes against the gender-role expectations.
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence , 2023
Ritually motivated pedicide is among contemporary Africa's most severe crimes against children. M... more Ritually motivated pedicide is among contemporary Africa's most severe crimes against children. Most of these crimes involve brutal acts of violence or mutilation of the victim. While men are most often the perpetrators of violent crimes, ritually motivated pedicide and mutilation equally attract women. The role of women in these crimes is not restricted to the less violent aspects of the crimes; instead, they also extend to the most brutal elements, often involving mutilation, decapitation or outright murder of the victim. This article explored the involvement of women in these crimes that target children for mutilation and pedicide. The article draws on case examples of incidents involving brutality and murder of children by women selected from academic reports and reports by media and non-governmental organisations to demonstrate the nature of involvement in these crimes. The article demonstrates that women also engage in the most serious roles with or without the company of men in ritually motivated pedicide and mutilation. These include mutilation and violent murder of children who are used for rituals. The author argues that the high degree of violence in ritually motivated mutilation and pedicide means that these crimes against children deviate from the established female patterns of aggression that are typically less violent.
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence, 2021
Ritually motivated crimes are grave crimes that continue to plague contemporary Africa. Occasiona... more Ritually motivated crimes are grave crimes that continue to plague contemporary Africa. Occasionally, victims abducted for ritual purposes are discovered and set free. Fresh or decomposing bodies are spotted somewhere, often with missing parts taken by the ritual killers who killed the victims. Some missing persons in the continent are presumed to have been abducted or killed by ritually motivated criminals. Although ritually motivated crimes take different forms, most of them involve brutal acts of violence and murder. The barbaric manner in which these criminals attack or slaughter their victims creates fear and panic. Traditionally, men commit serious crimes involving brutal acts of violence and murder. However, this has changed in recent times as many women currently engage in violent crimes and murder. Thus, researchers in criminology and criminal psychology have paid increasing research attention to women’s involvement in serious crimes. The African magic industry attracts both men and women as clients, witchdoctors, and ritualists. Like male witchdoctors, the female witchdoctors equally dispatch human body hunters and kidnappers to find victims. Women patronize witchdoctors with the full awareness that human parts would be used in the preparation of the charms or concoctions they seek. Women work independently or as accomplices to males who abduct, attack, or kill those targeted for ritual purposes. While women’s involvements in different types of violent crimes and murder are well documented, women’s participation in ritually motivated violence and murder has been overly neglected in academic literature. This article aims to bridge this vital gap. It explores how women actively participate in ritually motivated violence and murder in different capacities in contemporary Africa and calls for research to establish motivations and modus operandi specific to women in these serious crimes.
Dignity: A Journal on the Analysis of Exploitation and Violence, 2021
The belief that certain humans are spiritual entities and the belief that some people are spiritu... more The belief that certain humans are spiritual entities and the belief that some people are spiritually possessed can be found across histories and cultures. While these individuals are not always viewed in the negative or treated inhumanely, cases abound whereby degrading and inhumane treatments are meted out to some of them. In the African continent, certain groups of people, particularly children are linked to certain mischievous spirits due to their unusual appearance, aberrant behavior, disability, chronic illness, psychopathology or exceptional ability. Some are also suspected and consequently mistreated due to events surrounding their birth. Such children are known by different names in different parts of Africa. In this article, three groups of children (ogbanje, abiku and spirit children) considered as partly spirits and one group (child witch) considered as spiritually possessed, were explored. Each of these groups was described based on the traditional lore of the particular society where they are so labeled. The abuses, neglect and in some cases homicide against the children connected to the belief, were critically discussed. The article explored how the children are abused, neglected or killed due to the genuine belief that they pose a spiritual threat to their parents or carers and in some cases, the entire community. However, the article also provided insights into how such belief also serves as justification for parents with children present with any of the aforementioned characteristics to eliminate such a child through filicide for altruistic purposes. The article also explored how some parents and guardians exploit the belief to eliminate children seen as a burden. The cases of adult relatives who exploit the belief to eliminate orphans in their care for the purposes of inheriting properties belonging to the orphans' parents were also explored. Recommendations were made on how to address these social problems.
Journal of Aggression and Violent Behaviour, 2021
The murder of Catherine (Kitty) Genovese in New York in 1964 by Winston Moseley has generated num... more The murder of Catherine (Kitty) Genovese in New York in 1964 by Winston Moseley has generated numerous academic publications. One of the major focal points in the debates is the role of gender in bystanders' reactions to violent incidents. Some analysts drew on experiments that found that men did not intervene in incidents involving a man as a perpetrator and a woman as a victim to explain the lack of intervention in the incident by the so-called 38 bystanders falsely reported by The New York Times in 1964. This current article analyzed three videos containing four different assaults that occurred on the busy streets of Argentina, the United States and the United Kingdom to assess whether the gender of the perpetrators and victims affected bystanders' reactions or not. In Incident 1 and Incident 2 involving men as perpetrators with female victims, none of the male and female bystanders physically intervened. In Incident 3 involving a man as a perpetrator and a woman as his victim, both male and female bystanders intervened to save the victim. However, in Incident 4 involving a woman as a perpetrator with a male victim, nobody intervened instead, some of the bystanders laughed at the male victim. The article concludes that whilst gender seemed to have determined intervention in Incident 3 (saving a female victim from a violent man) and its lack in Incident 4 (leaving a male victim to save himself from a violent woman), other factors could be responsible for lack of intervention in Incident 1 and Incident 2 and these include the duration of the assault, the level of violence applied by the perpetrator and bystanders' perception of their own safety. The implications of the bystanders' reactions were highlighted.
The focus of this book is the many ways in which a deeply-embedded culture of superstition is ena... more The focus of this book is the many ways in which a deeply-embedded culture of superstition is enabling the misrepresentation of Christianity for financial gain. For example, the extant belief in witchcraft and evil spirits is deliberately perpetuated by the pastors and supported by biblical passages in order to generate the need for exorcisms and an array of other religio-commercial services. These indigenous beliefs are also combined with biblical justification to create an emphasis on miracles as the only solution to the manifold problems facing the people of Nigeria; an emphasis which, first, costs the believers dearly in many ways, second, creates learned helplessness, disputes, altercations, ostracisms and murders resulting from witchcraft allegations and third, is a gross misrepresentation of Christian doctrine. This new gospel also taps into materialism. Ultimately, this gospel of mistrust and materialism is causing a multitude of problems in an already weakened society; a de...
Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence, 2021
Sexual exploitation and abuse of girls is one of the endemic social problems in Nigeria. Although... more Sexual exploitation and abuse of girls is one of the endemic social problems in Nigeria. Although this problem has attracted much research attention in recent times, some newly emerged factors contributing to the problem have been mostly ignored. This study explored how the abandonment of children following their stigmatization as witches contributes to sexual exploitation and abuse of the girls in the Akwa Ibom and Cross River states of Nigeria. The study was based on the qualitative research paradigm. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews of three senior staff members of the Child’s Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN)—a children’s charity that manages a shelter for children abandoned as witches. Thematic analysis was conducted and five principal themes were developed from the data, which are (1) vulnerable to statutory rape; (2) living with sexual addiction; (3) targeted for human trafficking; (4) vulnerable to infections and pregnancy; and (5) exposed to intergenerational abuse. Theme (1) is concerned with how the girls are frequently raped by different groups of men due to the girls’ presence on the street. Theme (2) shows how the girls struggle with sexual addiction following frequent exposure to sexual activities since the early years of their lives. Theme (3) details how human traffickers target the girls for the sex trade, labor and other purposes. Theme (4) shows how the girls struggle with sexually transmitted infections and sometimes, pregnancy. Theme (5) details how the stigmatization and the consequent abuse of the stigmatized girls on the street also extend to their children, who are automatically regarded as the children of witches. Recommendations were made on how to address this social problem.
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence, 2016
In urban southern Nigeria there is a widespread spiritual revival pioneered by Pentecostal pastor... more In urban southern Nigeria there is a widespread spiritual revival pioneered by Pentecostal pastors who claim to deliver prophecies, miracles, and healings. In many places, multiple churches can be seen within a few hundred yards of each other, while in other places, different floors of multistory buildings are occupied by different church denominations. There is competition among the pastors to present themselves as spiritually powerful and financially favored by God. Some of the pastors, calling themselves “prophets,” engage in immoral and fraudulent activities. Women are the predominant followers of these male religious leaders, and sexual exploitation of vulnerable women by these religious leaders is common. The prophets sexually exploit vulnerable women with the promise of “spiritual cleansing.” Based on news reports, this article discusses cases of sexual abuse and exploitation of women and girls by their pastors in Nigeria. These cases show how prophets promise that the sexual interactions will enable the women to escape demonic possession or to fulfill the “will of God.”
A distinct category of women has been identified in parts of sub-Saharan Africa: those who commit... more A distinct category of women has been identified in parts of sub-Saharan Africa: those who commit acts of extreme violence and even murder against their own children in order to fulfil religious obligations or to protect themselves from perceived magico-spiritual attacks by their children. The whole of Africa is currently witnessing a heightened level of witch-hunting. Historically, many African witch-hunting incidents have been triggered by witch-doctors keen to protect their clients from the diabolical effects of witches; while others have been triggered by mere gossip or rumour among neighbours. However, in recent years, dramatized preaching on the subject of witchcraft by revivalist Christian prophets, whose major occupations are the sale of exorcisms to the 'bewitched', has become the latest trend in the region. These prophets and prophetesses deliver sermons and prophecies, purportedly from God, in which they identify particular children in the community as witches and prescribe the measures or punishment necessary for protection. By means of case study analysis, this paper presents the new pattern of evil that is being perpetrated in the form of the abandonment, torture, mutilation and murder of these children by their own mothers. Further, this paper presents the cases of the prophetesses whose sermons and prophecies, purportedly from God, emphasise biblical passages such as, 'thou shalt not suffer a witch to live' (Exodus 22:18) to encourage violence against children in the name of religious obligation. Female Patterns of Aggression and Homicide across Cultures Issues surrounding female aggression and homicide have generated heated debate. While some scholars report that females are less violent than males, 1 others report that females are slightly more physically aggressive than males. 2 Harned found that 'rates of physical violence were similar across genders' among the 874 graduate and undergraduate students studied. 3 However, Archer has suggested that the conflicting results obtained by different researchers may be due to differing methodologies used to study the phenomenon. 4 The female serial killer has largely been disputed as a phenomenon but evidence now abounds to suggest its existence. 5 Aileen Wuornos, the first female serial killer identified by the FBI, was convicted of killing seven men. 6 Myra Hindley accompanied her partner Ian Brady in the murders of five children in Saddleworth Moor, England. 7 Rosemary West, another female serial killer, became infamous as an accomplice to her husband, Fred West in the rapes and murders of ten females in Gloucester, England. 8 Black widow serial killers also abound. Female nurses who are multiple murderers can also be found. Beverly Allitt, an enrolled nurse, was convicted of murdering four children and also suspected of nine others in Grantham and Kesteven District General Hospital, England. 9 Repper reports the case of a nurse, simply identified as Nurse '7' who was convicted of second-degree murder and attempted murder following the deaths of 12 patients in a nursing home in Florida, USA. 10 In Texas, Nurse '32' was convicted of murdering six babies in a private clinic and was also investigated in connection with ten other murders. 11 Suicide bombing has continued to attract women, both adults and teenagers. Females engage in armed robbery, kidnapping, hostage taking and assassination. There are also women who engage in what can be termed 'legitimate violence' due to their status as law enforcement officials. The torture and other inhumane treatment of criminal suspects and detainees carried out by such women closely resemble those of their male counterparts. One case study on this is provided by Mersh 12 regarding the activities of female American soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Females have also been linked to mass murder on a genocidal scale. Pauline Nyiramasuhuko of Rwanda and Irith Leng of Cambodia are two women who are known to have engaged in such acts. 13 The linking of women to such mass murders seems to support Steans' argument that, given the opportunity, women are just as capable of committing serious crimes as men. 14
With Pentecostal churches being situated within a few hundred yards of most busy streets of south... more With Pentecostal churches being situated within a few hundred yards of most busy streets of southern Nigeria, millions of Nigerians disappointed by their government desperately run to these churches in search of solutions to their various problems. As entrepreneurial pastors establish new churches almost every day and those identifying themselves as prophets and prophetesses geometrically increasing, the citizens are increasingly experiencing difficulties in identifying who is supposed 'true man or woman of God'. As a result, one of the yardsticks to determining who is truly called by God is to identify one who can authoritatively demonstrate that he or she hears directly from God. As those who allegedly hear from God, that is, 'prophets' and 'prophetesses' become highly romanticised by millions of desperate prophecy and miracle seekers, and their churches attracting a huge crowd and generating millions of Naira (the Nigerian currency), anyone who meets the aforementioned criteria is automatically respected as a true prophet or prophetess. Scores of supposedly mad people who have found religion as a comfortable arena to disguise their hallucinatory symptoms in a deeply religious country, have become highly respected as prophets and prophetesses. In this paper, the author explores cases of supposed mad religious persons whose symptoms of auditory hallucinations were for so long taken seriously as evidence of hearing from God until they attempted homicide by following alleged instructions from the 'Holy Spirit'. These cases demonstrate how madness can be easily misinterpreted as evidence of holiness by deeply religious people due to the biblical teachings on how God uses humans as his messengers.