The British Humanist Association announced today that it is being sued by a Nigerian witch hunter, who says that the agency misrepresented her and damaged her reputation. Specifically, Helen Ukpabio, who calls herself the Lady Apostle, says that the BHA falsely accused her of attributing certain symptoms to Satanic possession, when what she actually said was ‘possession by black, red, and vampire witch spirits.’
She’s the head of Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries, said to be Nigeria’s largest Pentecostal church, and she’s part of a growing movement. Since she founded her church in Nigeria in 1992, others have been started in Cameroon, South Africa, and Ghana.
According to the BHA, Ukpabio says her reputation and livelihood have been affected at a cost of half a billion pounds.
The symptoms in question, by the way, are, in a child under two, screaming at night, crying, showing fear, not feeding well, or having fevers and deterioration in health.
In April, the Lady Apostle was turned out of the UK for her witch-hunting activities, according to Nigeria Films.
This is attributed to the actions of human rights groups, specifically, calling out Ukpabio for statements in her book, Unveiling the Mysteries of Witchcraft. This seems to be the source of the discord, as the quoted line from the book is
If a child under the age of two screams in the night, cries and is always feverish with deteriorating health he or she is a servant of Satan.
The fine lines between being a servant of Satan or possessed by Satanic spirits, and between casting out Satan or vampire spirits, may be enough to open an attempt at a lawsuit based on claims of misrepresentation, but it’s doubtful whether the difference is enough to justify claims that the difference would be reputation-damaging.
Still, it will be for a court to decide. In the meantime, Channel Four News reports that, according to her own advertising materials, the Lady Apostle won’t just vanquish vampire spirits and witchcraft attacks, but attacks from ancestral spirits and mermaid spirits as well.
Photo: LDN Black Atheists
Nigerian Witch Hunter Sues Over Misrepresentation: She Exorcises Vampire Spirits, Not Satanic Ones
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire