Leo Igwe

Leo Igwe (born 26 July 1970) is a Nigerian human rights advocate and humanist.

Igwe is a former Western and Southern African representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, and has specialized in campaigning against and documenting the impacts of child witchcraft accusations.

He holds a Ph.D. from the Bayreuth International School of African Studies at the University of Bayreuth in Germany, having earned a graduate degree in philosophy from the University of Calabar, in Nigeria.

Igwe's human rights advocacy has brought him into conflict with high-profile witchcraft believers, such as Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries, because of his criticism of what he describes as their role in the violence and child abandonment that sometimes result from accusations of witchcraft.

Igwe was appointed as a research fellow of the James Randi Educational Foundation, where he continues working toward the goal of responding to what he sees as the deleterious effects of superstition, advancing skepticism throughout Africa and around the world.

In a fall 2000 article in the quarterly journal Free Inquiry, Igwe enumerated different ways in which religious extremists in Nigeria have co-opted the local government and used it to enforce religious codes of law, hindering the upholding of human rights in those areas.

Igwe wrote in 2004 that in his own country of Nigeria, contemporary belief in witchcraft leads to ritual killing and human sacrifice, noting that women and children are more likely to be said to possess or practice "negative" witchcraft abilities, while men are more often depicted as possessing benign witchcraft abilities.

In 2008, a BBC documentary, Saving Africa's Witch Children, featured an appearance by Igwe, as one of the primary subjects was "witch hunter Helen Ukpabio."

In 2009, Igwe represented the International Humanist and Ethical Union at the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights in Banjul, Gambia, where he spoke out on the IHEU's behalf against caste-based discrimination in Africa.

In his talk, Igwe brought attention to discrimination against the Osu, a group of people perceived by some to be of lower class, who Igwe says "continue to suffer discrimination and indignity, particularly in the areas of marriage and family, right to own property and inheritance, access to land, political rights and representation, education, development, infrastructure, and distribution of basic amenities."

On 29 July 2009, Igwe was scheduled to speak at a meeting in Calabar, Nigeria, "condemning the abandonment, torture and killing of children alleged to be witches."

As he was about to deliver his talk, members of the Liberty Gospel Church, more than 150 people, invaded the meeting and attacked Igwe, who was "beaten and robbed, relieved of his camera, money and mobile phone before managing to escape to a nearby police station to seek help."

The documentary detailed reported "terrible crimes committed against children accused of witchcraft," and premiered as an HBO feature in 2010.

The film also follows the efforts of Sam Itauma, a human rights activist and founder of the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN), who offers shelter and protection to children who have been abused or abandoned, and Gary Foxcroft, who founded Stepping Stones Nigeria, a UK-registered charity.

In 2010, according to a release by the European Humanist Federation (EHF), Igwe's home was invaded by soldiers and police officers "following a fictitious murder charge," which was allegedly brought on by a man that Igwe had attempted to have prosecuted for allegedly committing sexual crimes against a 10-year-old girl in 2006.

According to the report, Igwe had been arrested three times since beginning work on the rape case, as a result of allegedly malicious petitions, prompting David Pollock of the EHF to write to then vice-president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, on Igwe's behalf.

According to the EHF, later in August 2010, Igwe's home and family were attacked when two unidentified men assaulted and blindfolded Igwe's father, causing "extensive injuries to his face and head", and resulting in the elder Igwe having to have his eye surgically removed.

The case has been taken up by Amnesty International after police reportedly refused to open an investigation.

On 11 January 2011, while attempting to rescue two children who were victims of witchcraft accusation in Uyo Akwa State in southern Nigeria, Igwe was "imprisoned and beaten by police," in an effort, according to Sahara Reporters, by the state governor Godswill Akpabio, to begin "clamping down on activists involved in the rescue of children accused of witchcraft."

Igwe was later released without charge, according to Gary Foxcroft of Stepping Stones Nigeria, and "in good spirits".

In 2014, Igwe was chosen as a laureate of the International Academy of Humanism and in 2017 received the Distinguished Services to Humanism Award from the International Humanist and Ethical Union.

Igwe's human rights fieldwork has led to his arrest on several occasions in Nigeria.

He has held leadership roles in the Nigerian Humanist Movement, Atheist Alliance International, and the Center For Inquiry–Nigeria.

Igwe was raised in southeastern Nigeria, and describes his household as being strictly Catholic in the midst of a "highly superstitious community," according to an interview in the Gold Coast Bulletin.

At age twelve, Igwe entered the seminary and began to study for the Catholic priesthood.

"In the seminary," he said in a subsequent interview with the European Skeptics Podcast, "they promote their Christian Catholic beliefs and these beliefs question the traditional beliefs."

This "odd blend of tribalism and fundamentalist Christianity" led to a period of research and internal conflict.

"[W]hen I started questioning, I found out that whether it's Christianity or traditional magic, it's all about superstition, it's all about hearsay, it's all about people making things up. It's all about people peddling beliefs without evidence."

At the age of 24, Igwe resigned from the seminary and relocated to Ibadan.

Igwe was influenced to become a humanist activist through the writings of Paul Kurtz, which he read in magazines published by the Center for Inquiry.

Igwe is listed as a Junior Fellow for the Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies, where his project is a case study of witchcraft accusation in northern Ghana.

On 11 February 2014, Igwe was chosen as a laureate of the International Academy of Humanism.

In 2017, he was given the Distinguished Services to Humanism Award from the International Humanist and Ethical Union General Assembly.

Upon receiving the award, Igwe dedicated it "to all humanists at risk around the globe".

Igwe is an outspoken supporter of the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation which campaigns for democratic reformation of the United Nations.

When discussing the matter, Igwe has argued that "the United Nations needs to be handed back to those to whom it actually belongs - the people of the world."

Igwe continues to speak out against attacks on alleged witches in Malawi.

According to him, recent cases of such attacks in December 2019 and January 2020 "...contained seeds of an effective advocacy against witch persecution in Malawi. First of all there is an urgent need for advocates for alleged witches throughout the country to become more visible and proactive."

He proposes that, in addition to widespread education about the real causes of misfortune, "There should be heavy penalties including suspension and summary dismissal for the head of any village, or district where an alleged witch is attacked or killed."

Igwe's activism against witchcraft accusations has included lobbying for the enforcement of a law in Nigeria that prohibits accusing children of witchcraft, which has led to conflict with Pentecostal group Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries and in particular Pastor Helen Ukpabio, who has been criticized by Igwe and others, according to a New York Times article, for her teachings "having contributed to the torture or abandonment of thousands of Nigerian children—including infants and toddlers—suspected of being witches and warlocks."