Traditional medicine and snatching husbands

If cases of traditional medicine being used on husbands are anything to go by, then women have to pray extra hard to save their marriages from husband snatchers. Paida Mpaso explores this disturbing trend.

Traditional medicine, otherwise known as juju in West Africa, is one of the most apparent issues common in Nigerian movies. Through this, most people are able to get a glimpse of what juju can do and how it can destroy people lives.

 Much as movies can be too fictitious at times; one cannot dispute that juju is real and is being used. Whether it works or not is an entirely different issue.

Basically, the use of juju has to do with certain kinds of spirits which men of God will call evil spirits. As the Bible says evil spirits are bad in their nature and their only intention is to steal, kill and destroy.

Bishop Godfrey Matoga of Faith of God Church says though such stories are common, there is no need to play the game likewise. If a wife is suspecting that someone is snatching her husband through the practise, the better and more permanent way of dealing with the situation is to look to God.

“We believe in a higher God who is full of answers and break throughs, as time goes, the situation unfolds itself with the power of God,” he says.

According to Matoga, most men have the tendency of getting into extra marital affairs, a situation which destroys marriages.

“Whether charms work or not but I believe that despite the power that the devil claims to possess, it cannot be compared to that of God and through prayer marriages can be restored,” he adds

Dr Apita pitawa Apitana, a herbalist from Mozambique, claims his business gets lots of offers from both males and females requesting all kinds of  juju. He further alleges that through such services, women have been able to get other people husbands.

“There are different types of medications we use but the most popular is one which helps a woman steal somebody’s husband. She applies oil on her body and when the scent wafts into the husband’s nostrils, the job is done,” he says.

According to him, the real wife can also be protected by getting a dosage which acts as a repellent to the oil applied by the other lady. Though some people claim that medicine from herbalists can be deadly if precaution is not taken, Dr. Apitana says his medication has no side effects and is 100% successful.

Sociologist Pierson Ntata says women are driven into such acts because of the way the society is built up. He says women constitute a higher percentage of the population and the mortality rate is even higher in men than in women.

“Women are, therefore, driven into such acts because, like it or not, some will never get married, some believe that if they snatch other peoples husbands they will in a way be economically at peace,” he says.