Benin Tasks Native Doctors to Curse Kidnappers and Criminals

When conventional security measures feel insufficient, some Nigerians are turning to a power that predates the modern state itself.

Oba Ewuare II, the revered Benin monarch, has tasked native doctors and traditional adherents within his domain to invoke curses against kidnappers and criminals operating in Edo State. The directive, confirmed by Punch Newspapers, reflects growing frustration among traditional and community leaders over the persistence of insecurity, even as conventional law enforcement continues its own efforts to combat crime across the state.

A Call to Traditional Spiritual Authority

The Oba’s directive draws on a deeply rooted tradition within Benin culture, where spiritual leaders and traditional practitioners have historically been called upon during periods of crisis to invoke protective or punitive spiritual interventions on behalf of the community. By formally tasking native doctors with this role, the monarch is activating a cultural mechanism that many residents view as a legitimate complement to formal security efforts.

For many in Edo State, this is not symbolic theatre. Traditional belief systems remain deeply influential across much of Nigeria, and the involvement of respected spiritual authorities in addressing insecurity carries genuine social weight, particularly among communities who feel that government security responses have been insufficient.

A Reflection of Broader Frustration

This development arrives amid Governor Monday Okpebholo’s own recent comments highlighting a disturbing new dimension to insecurity in Edo State, including allegations that local actors have facilitated the importation of criminal elements from northern Nigeria into the state. Together, these statements paint a picture of a state government and traditional leadership both searching for additional tools to confront a worsening security challenge.

Furthermore, this is not the first time Nigerian traditional rulers have engaged spiritual authority in response to crime. Various monarchs across the country have previously invoked similar measures during periods of heightened insecurity, reflecting a broader pattern where formal and traditional authority structures work in parallel, sometimes overlapping, response to shared community threats.

The Limits and the Hope

Whether such spiritual interventions produce measurable security outcomes remains, naturally, a matter of belief rather than empirical evidence. However, for the Oba and many residents of Edo State, the directive represents something important regardless of its practical effect: a visible demonstration that traditional leadership takes the community’s safety seriously and is willing to deploy every available form of authority in its defence.

As Nigeria continues grappling with insecurity that spans from organised banditry to opportunistic crime, this moment in Edo State illustrates how communities are drawing on every resource available to them, formal and traditional alike, in their search for safety.