More Ju Ju Evidence

Greetings from The Slave Detective,

Its been a while since I looked at what my colleague and friend Andy Desmond specialises in…. JU JU.

I was prompted by two things.

The first was a heated discussion over dinner recently. The conversation was about how to solve problems in so called ‘Third World Countries’. More on this later!

Then this recent article in The Ugandan Press where the local Police have arrested a man involved in Human Trafficking.

The Headline reads ‘Witchdoctor arrested over human trafficking’

Those that read my ramblings will know that Andy Desmond, whom I call the Ju Ju Master, is an expert in Human Trafficking involving coercion involving witchcraft.

Andy consults under the banner of Anti Trafficking Consultants.

Here he describes Ju Ju ceremonies, beliefs and explains what Ju Ju is.

There are many forms of West African spiritual beliefs or religions. Juju is the term given to the religion of the people of Yoruba.

If you were to look at the makeup of the world’s religions in percentage terms you would see that Christianity makes up the greater number with a total of 33% followed by Islam at 21%.

6% of the world’s population practice or believe in traditional African faiths. This is equal to the numbers who practice Buddhism and Chinese traditional religions.

But where JU JU is considered ‘mumbo jumbo’ and hard to believe the same isn’t considered for these beliefs.

JUJU or Witchcraft is considered evil or black magic but the truth is the human traffickers of Edo and Delta States of Nigeria have hijacked the cultural beliefs in Juju to blackmail their victims.

To satisfy the greed for money for those involved, including traditional priests, paid to carry out the ceremonies.

Tthe strong belief in the spirits that makes this a powerful weapon for modern day slave traders.

Once a potential victim has been put through and sworn an oath of obedience they are captured, snarled in the trap without the need for physical restraints.

The bondage is in the beliefs, there is no requirement to lock up victims and have them watched. You have the spirits to do that for you.

My argument at the dinner table, with the other invited guests, was that these followings are not so different to ours.

We go to the village elders, the learned people, when we are ill or need guidance, our Doctors, physician and theologians. Isn’t this what the witchdoctor is? A highly valued member of the community who people turn to for a blessing or to assist in an problem.

As Mr Desmond states in his blog; and the Witchdoctor who was paraded before the press at Special Investigations Unit (SIU) headquarters in Kireka last week said …….. he was paid to perform the rituals.

“They paid me between sh120,000 and sh250, 000 (£28 – £58…or $45 – $93)  to do the rituals on each girl. I just did my work and I was not aware of what happened,” he said.

The women were taken to Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Oman, China and United Arab Emirates.

This isn’t a surprise looking at The Human Trafficking records of these countries but it wouldn’t be beyond belief that they may have arrived in the UK or USA!

 

Who says dinner with me is dull??