Nigerian Juju Hinders Our Work, Say British Police

The Scotland Yard Police in the UK has attributed the low conviction of criminals, especially those engaged in human trafficking, to the use of juju and witchcraft by criminal networks in Nigeria.
Detective Andy Desmond of the Scotland Yard Human Trafficking Team disclosed this at a community meeting against child trafficking in London, organized by Africans Unite Against Child Abuse (AFRUCA).

Speaking on ‘Witchcraft and juju as Barriers to Effective Prosecution of Traffickers’, Desmond said traffickers use juju priests to cast spell and fear on their victims to stop them from speaking out about their ordeals even when they are rescued.

“The victims are too scared to speak against the perpetrators of the crime even to their parents”, he said, adding that the rituals usually performed to bind the victims to secrecy is akin to a contract that the victims must not breach under any circumstances.

“It is a well-set up organization and very complicated”, he added, stressing that it was very difficult for an outsider to understand its intricacies and find a way to hold its evil beneficiaries to account.

Desmond, who kept the audience spell-bound with heart-touching accounts of some of the victims of human trafficking brought to the UK from Africa, said it was extremely difficult to get a conviction because the victims believe they could come to harm if they breached their secrecy contract.

He said some crimes are family- or community-based, with victims’ sufferings seen as a necessity for the over-all good of the family or the community.

He therefore stressed the need to educate the juju priests, families and communities to recognize the evils in human trafficking and domestic servitude.

He noted that as an ancestral practice, juju was used for the well-being of the community, but lamented that criminal networks were now exploiting it to perpetrate their nefarious acts of human tracking, child abuse and exploitation of domestic servants.

In her remarks, the Executive Director of AFRUCA, Debbi Ariyo said the organization aims to raise public awareness on the evils and effects of human trafficking in Europe and Africa.

Describing human trafficking as the “fastest growing industry in the world”, Ariyo listed its main causes as poverty, conflicts and wars, as well as cultural practices.

Its victims are subjected to exploitation such as sexual slavery, domestic servitude, begging, forced labour, drug trafficking, forced or under-age marriage, focal place mutilation and removal of body organs and even death, she said.

Daily Trust reports that Ariyo launched AFRUCA’s face-book at the meeting with a plea to the public to sign unto it to enable the organization achieve its set target of one million members