The Many Faces of Helen Ukpabio
The faces of Helen Ukpabio are many. She is at once the evangelist and tormentor of children. She is at the same time the astute and cunning business woman who jealously protects her business interest no matter what the cost. Helen is also the formidable woman who brooks no opposition. She is conscienceless and brutal, calmly ordaining the beating of defenceless children to deter her enemies. Helen Ukpabio is an egregious evangelist who readily boasts of her influence in Nigeria and sees any foreign interference as a threat. This is who Nigeria must contend with.
The world-wide reaction and publicity that followed the release of the award-winning documentary, titled Saving Africa’s Child Witches, has been a source of consternation to those whose nefarious activities were exposed by the content of the film. This film served as an eye opener as to the magnitude of the problem caused by the continued labelling of children as witches in South Eastern Nigeria. This practice has brought untoward hardship to thousands in that part of the country. The burgeoning role of some Pentecostal churches was equally exposed, including their collusion and participation in the lies and untruths which lead children to be stigmatised as witches and which generate huge commercial success.
The international outcry generated by the release of the documentary led to the eventual endorsement of the Child Rights Act by the Akwa Ibom State government. It is to be noted that the Child Rights Law was endorsed by the Federal Government of Nigeria as far back as 2003. Thus, subsequent worldwide reaction following the release of the film galvanised the state government into action on a previously festering social sore. There were also spates of arrest following the release of the documentary including “Bishop” Sunday Ulup-Aya who boasted of having killed 110 child witches single-handedly. As with all such scenarios, especially in Nigeria, someone mighty and important escaped the noose. This person is evangelist Helen Ukpabio, the self-described expert witch-hunter within Nigerian Pentecostal Christendom.
Helen Ukpabio is the leader of an evangelical mission in Nigeria whose major focus is that of combating witchcraft. Her church has a widespread base in the South-Eastern part of the country and her influences reach beyond Nigeria. She sees the branding of witches and wizards as a fundamental part of her Christianity and shows no regret in the social turbulence caused by her religion. Extremely fond of her mission, Helen once expressed a grudge with her Pentecostal brethren for their lukewarm attitude to the witchcraft crusade. She was quoted as saying: “many of our preachers are giving the excuse that not much is said about witchcraft in the Bible.” It is perhaps in response to this that both Apostle John Okoriko of Solid Rock Foundation Church in Nigeria and the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos recently denounced pastors who are profiting from the witchcraft industry condemning the falsehood, exploitation and inherent deception in modern-day Nigerian Pentecostalism which sees the gospel used to deceive the gullible. At the centre is Helen Ukpabio, who fashioned her crusade at the expense innocent children. Her story, documented here, reminds one of the strong-willed Cleopatra of history, the legendary Egyptian queen with many faces, with Helen borrowing heavily from the mean and ruthless streak of Cleopatra
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