The International Conference on witchcraft on Tuesday kicked off at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) as scheduled despite opposition to the conference from the Christian bodies.

The conference organised by Prof. B.I.C Ijomah Centre for Policy Studies and Research, UNN, met several opposition and criticisms, but organisers rebuffed the calls to cancel the conference, but instead change the initial theme “witchcraft, meanings, factors and practices” to now ”dimensions of human behaviours.”

UNN management had directed the organisers to drop the initial theme of the conference on account of outcries from various Christian bodies.

However speaking at the opening ceremony of the conference holding at Nsukka main campus of UNN, the Director of the centre, Professor Egodi Uchendu, regretted how ordinary academic conference were twisted to cause confusion by social media and other media platforms.

“The casualty of this confusion went beyond being asked by UNN management to change title but also the withdrawal of our keynote speaker Prof David Ker.

“I am delighted that social media hyper on the conference didn’t deter participants and organisers from attending the conference which is completely academic,” she said.

Prof Damian Opata, in his paper titled “The Wealthy, are no witches: towards an Epistemology and Ideology of Witchcraft among the Igbos of Nigeria”, explained that the way witchcraft was propagated and believed by some Nigerians had continued to kill the development of knowledge on the issue.

“Some people have killed the initiative for creative indigenous thinking because of mere believe in witchcraft.

“Pastors, prophets, seers in the foreign religions, charismatic priests of variegated persuasions very frequently use perceived attacks by witches and wizards to put fear in the minds and hearts of their various congregations.”

He added,

“The truth is that for those who believe that witches and wizards exist it exist for them and those who believe it does not exist it doesn’t exist.

“What we are doing today is completely an academic conference, its unfortunate some people tried in social media to give it different interpretations,” he said.

Opata explained that there was the evil and hidden thing the open prayer of the conference would not have been conducted by a Catholic priest and the moderator of the event a cleric while music was provided by UNN Christ Chapel Church Choir.

The Head of Department Sociology and Anthropology, UNN, Professor Peter-Jazzy Eze, who spoke in what he titled, “Which witch? What Anthropology knows of the Adult Bugbear”, explained that witchcrafts do not exist but only existed in the mind of the people who believed in it.

“Science and technology have overtaken the superstitious belief of witchcraft which has no practical proof.”

Eze said that it high time Africa dropped the belief of witchcraft and embrace robust knowledge in science and technology which he said application “is very practical and verifiable

“If Africans can fully embrace science and technology, in the next 50 years there will be nothing like superstitious believe of witchcraft, ” he said.