One of Culture Kitchen's regular bloggers is Leo Igwe, a Humanist living in Nigeria and fighting against religious extremism. Most recently he has been campaigning against child abuse by an extremist Christian sect in Nigeria and this has gotten him attacked by a mob and harassed by police. The extremist Christian sect sued Leo and several other child rights activists in Nigeria.

Today we hear from Leo that a judge has dropped all of the fictitious charges against him. Here's a press release from Leo:

February 4 2010

Helen Ukpbabio: Court Strikes out Case against Child Rights Campaigners

Today the Federal High Court in Calabar struck out the case brought against me and other child rights campaigners including the government of Akwa Ibom state by Helen Ukpabio and other members of the Liberty Gospel Church. In November Helen and some of her church members went to court seeking to enforce their rights to believe in God, Satan and witchcraft. They claimed that the seminars and conferences organised in Nigeria by the Nigerian Humanist Movement and other child rights groups to tackle witchcraft related abuses infringed on their rights to spread the gospel. They asked the court to order us to pay them two hundred billion naira(I.3 billion dollars) as damages for unlawful and unconstitutional infringement of their rights.

For the second time, Helen and her lawyers were not in court. So the lawyer leading the defence team, Barrister Madaki asked the court to strike out the case due lack of diligent prosecution. And the court granted his request.

The striking out of this case is a welcome development. It is a victory for justice, human rights and the rule of law in Nigeria. This decision by the court is a vindication of the child rights campaigners and the great work they are doing rescuing and saving the lives of children abused and abandoned in the name of witchcraft in Nigeria. It is a clear evidence that Helen Ukpabio and her church members have no case.

They instituted this court action to stop their arrest and prosecution for the attack of July 29 in Calabar.

Nigerian Humanist Movement and its partner groups will continue to work and campaign to eradicate all forms of human rights abuses in the name of witchcraft.

Leo Igwe, Ibadan, Nigeria  read more »

I recently covered the attack on Leo Igwe, the Culture Kitchen blogger who was attacked by a mob of religious fanatics in Nigeria. Leo is still carrying on the fight on behalf of abused children in Nigeria, despite the attacks. He has sent me his most recent post:

The attack in Calabar and the threat of religious extremism in Nigeria

By Leo Igwe

Around 11.30 am on Wednesday July 29 2009, a mob of about 200 persons from the Liberty Gospel Church invaded the Cultural Center in Calabar Cross River State The Cultural Center was the venue of a public symposium on witchcraft and child rights organised by the Nigerian Humanist Movement and Stepping Stones Nigeria.

Most of them arrived the venue in buses wearing orange Tshirt while others donned plain clothes to hide their identity. As we were about to start, some of them stormed the conference hall stamping their feet on the ground and chanting slogans critical of the event and the organisers.  read more »

Yesterday I posted about Leo Igwe, contributor to Culture Kitchen, being attacked and beaten on July 30th because he was standing up to religious fanatics in Nigeria who were abusing children. I will reiterated and expand upon the details below. But first, I have now heard from Leo by email and he seems to be doing fine and still eager to fight the good fight. Here is his message:

Thanks for your message and concern As you may know both islamic and christian fanatics are holding Nigeria hostage You must have heard what is happening in Northern Nigeria where islamists have been battling with the police and the army for control in a region where an islamic dark age is already in place The situation makes me sad and to put it literally it makes me angry And my simple ambition is to create and to keep organizing fora where these dark age ideas and their influence can be challenged, debated, discussed and criticized.

Any help I can get to realize this objective will be greatly appreciated  read more »

I only noticed this through an indirect route. His name came up in a discussion on Kiva I came across for other reasons. But it seems on July 30th, Leo Igwe, who sometimes writes articles for Culture Kitchen, was attacked by a mob in Nigeria. This is from a letter written by the International Humanist and Ethical Union (which Leo works for) the Nigerian High Commission in the UK:

According to an eye-witness account, about two hundred members of Liberty Gospel Church stormed the venue of the symposium on Thursday, 30 July. They attacked Mr Igwe, took his bag, his camera and his mobile phone as well as destroying his spectacles. Liberty Gospel Church, led by Helen Akpabio, has been alleged to have held ‘trials’ of children suspected of being witches and many of these children have been killed after having been found guilty by such ‘trials’.

And from an article on AllAfrica.com:  read more »