Money Ritual: Rights Activist Chides Governor Soludo for Demanding Proof From Native Doctors in Anambra

By Praise Chinecherem

A human rights activist, Mr Martins Nwabueze has called on Governor Chukwuma Soludo not to make Native Doctors “Dibia” operating in Anambra state scapegoats in fight against criminality and money rituals.

Nwabueze argued that it was wrong for Anambra State government to challenge native doctors to show the ailments they cured as a means of separating genuine ones from the fake.

Speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Nwabueze, founder and CEO of Tilova For Africa, a Charity and Equal Rights Group in America maintained that not all native doctors were traditional medicine practitioners better known as herbalists.

He said Native Doctors like orthodox medicine was an umbrella profession with different variants of areas of specialties adding that the government should profile them and judge them according to the specific job they claim to do.

“Herbalists are practitioners of traditional medicine known as “ndi nkpa-akwukwo na ngbologu” while other dibia are into divination, (Igba Afa) (Ilu Agwụ) (Ima Ita) and others which do not involve medicine but utilization of supernatural powers.

“In traditional Igbo society, dibia involves divination, Igba afa and dibia or native doctor may necessarily not be a herbalist or traditional medicine practitioner.

“It is this confusion in understanding the differences between the duties of a dibia and a traditional medicine practitioner that always makes Soludo to demand that a dibia must say what disease he cures or treats to be considered genuine.

“Not all dibia cure ailments, not all dibia are herbalist, some are strictly into divination and others that do not involve medicine.”

While wondering whether any criteria was put in place to determine who genuine or fake native doctors were, Nwabueze insisted that anybody linked to crimes should be arrested and prosecuted regardless of their status on the weight of evidence against them and not on account of his religion or social inclination.

“What made them suspects, is it because Soludo believes they are? I am worried that native doctors are being targeted by the Soludp administration unjustly.

“Who are the judges that will separate quacks from experts, what qualifications make one dibia quack and another expert?

“Is Soludo going to gather his own dibia so that their snakes and Akwa okuku’s snakes will fight each other to know which has more powers like the biblical Pharaoh and Moses incident?

“And why are some pastors not in custody pending the outcome of investigations to determine which are quacks?,” he asked.

Nwabueze advocated a better and more practical way to positively influence and reorientate youths through leadership by example, education, job creation, public enlightenment campaigns and fight against corruption, illicit drug circulation and abuse to sanitse the state.

He said the drug abuse epidemic which affected thousands of youths in the state should be a priority rather than arrest and detention of few online native doctors creating content.

“We must stop persecuting traditional religion practitioners because they are in the minority, it is unfair and unjust.

“Societies work better when all are treated equally irrespective of their religious beliefs, sex, disease state, color or sexual orientations,” he quipped.

AnambraDaily gathered that traditional medicine practitioners and native doctors are currently being enrolled at the government house, Agu Awka at the cost of N46, 500 per practitioner.

A native doctor who spoke to our reporter off camera shortly after completing his registration, said they were only asked few questions regarding their professional practice before being allowed to pay the fee and issued a receipt.

“We are happy that they have initiated this process of registration of practitioners because it will help to sanitize what we are doing. But the truth remains, those who engage in this money ritual business will still come and get license and go back to continue what they are doing.

The practioner claimed that Soludo government was merely trying to cash-in on the security crisis by getting traditional medicine practioners to register. He wondered why their Christian counterparts were left out.

“The same way we have Dibias performing money rituals, we also have pastors doing the same in the name of signs and wonders and the government did not go after them or subject them to registration as we are being done. I see this as another avenue for Soludo to make money for his Re-election.

On the way out of ending the Oké-Ite practice and other money making rituals, the native doctor suggests: “Soludo and his team really need to come up with a better and smart ways to stop these people because they are actually tarnishing the image of traditional medicine practice and making us even lose business”.