Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel has revealed how some set of witches and wizards took the state government to court for building a church in the state.

The governor disclosed this on Saturday during at a media chat, stating that the witches and wizards claimed to be atheists in court.

He said, “as a state named after God, to build a temple for God.

“All (the) witches and wizards came together and took me to court that we are building a Christian Worship Center.

“They say they are atheists. The case is in the court, we won them but they have appealed.”

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According to one of the governor’s aides, Aniekeme Finbarr, the governor was referring to the Atheist Society of Nigeria as witches and wizards.

Recall that the Atheist Society of Nigeria had filed a lawsuit against the Akwa Ibom State Government in 2019 to stop the government from building the worship centre.

However, the suit was dismissed by the court.

“It sounds extremely funny but it is true. There are actually real legal attempts to stop the building project,” Finbarr said.

According to Nigeria’s criminal law, it is an offence to accuse any person of being a witch.

Akwa Ibom, with about five million population, is predominantly Christian, with many holding superstitious beliefs and attributing almost every occurrence, including ill-health, job loss, and a failed marriage, to some “evil forces”.

Children in the state, mostly from poor families, have been branded witches, kicked out into the street, while some have been tortured and left to die.