On Freethought Naija by Biodun Aiyegboyin:
Any society where people cannot question everything is likely to fall prey to religious exploitation and superstition-based abuses
Leo Igwe is a human rights advocate and a humanist. He has focused on campaigning against maltreatment and stigmatization of alleged child witches.
It was a great privilege interviewing this illustrious Nigerian from Mbaise, Imo State who has helped to further the cause of humanism and rationality in Nigeria and in other parts of the world.
FN: You are an advocate for free thought and secular humanism. How did you arrive at this point of view?.
Leo Igwe: Every thinking being is capable of free thought. Every human being can become a humanist because the impulses of humanism and free thought beat in our hearts and minds. It is just left for us to express these sentiments, to allow them to bubble over, shape and guide our lives. Of course there are constraints and inhibitions from our environment. So how we are brought plays an important role in shaping our views and ideals. But at a point in life one must make a choice – the choice to break away from these constraints that limit our freedom and humanity, free ourselves from the chains of dogma and unquestionable obedience. A time comes when we must make the choice to think for ourselves, the choice to take our destiny in our hands and to be the captains of our life ships.
My upbringing in Mbaise in Imo State marked the beginning of the journey. Living in a community where christian traditional superstitious beliefs were prevalent triggered my sense of curiosity and launched my life on the path of questing and inquiring that eventually brought me to humanism. After twelve years of seminary training I was awakened and deeply persuaded that religion was human made. Yes, human beings created God and not the other way round. Having realized that god (allah), spirits, devil, witches, Mamiwota, name them were human inventions, humanism became the next step, yes the next logical step. So when I left the seminary in the 90s, I said farewell to god and since then I have not looked back...[more]