“Igba Pin” and Other Medical Superstitions in Nigeria
By Leo Igwe
As we try to contain the ravaging effects of magical manhood or womanhood disappearance, another vicious phenomenon is devastating a section of the country, particularly some parts of southeastern Nigeria, that is, the belief in Igba pin, magically shooting pins into people’s bodies. Many people who take ill claim that someone is responsible, that they are victims of Igba pin. People believe their enemies could magically lodge pins in their bodies, making them ill in ways that defy modern medical practices. And if a ‘healer’ did not remove these pins, they would die. It is not clear when people started entertaining this belief and using it to make sense of their ailments. But Igba pin is a subcategory of medical superstitions pervasive in Igbo land and beyond.
As a young man growing up and schooling in southeastern Nigeria, I heard about this phenomenon. I never took it seriously. Igba pin was never invoked in circles of persons that I considered educated and enlightened. I have some medical doctors as friends and colleagues, and none of them ever told me of any patient diagnosed or treated for Igba pin. Igba pin was a fringe belief, a part of the street jabs, and some village illiterate talk. However, over a year ago, a lady, who is a part of my critical thinking project team, told me that the brother was a victim of Igba pin. I dismissed it with a laugh. But she insisted it was real, that a family member suffered from Igba pin and was taken to a local doctor or healer(I don’t know the best way to describe these charlatans, who claim to `remove pins`). I asked to see the pins, and she messaged home and they sent her the pins. And she delivered them to me.
I took the so-called pins to a carpenter near my apartment and the carpenter said they were not real pins. But what were they? What she gave me looked like some poor metalled bits of iron, cut by a local smith. This colleague said that the `healer` removed these elements from the brother`s head and that the brother later recovered. I never believed this because I did not think it was a true account of what happened. I told her there was no way that object could be in a living body and be removed not through surgery, but via some incantations and local abracadabra. But she never believed me. Many people I tell that Igba pin is medically baseless do not believe either. For her, Igba pin was real and unquestionably a fact. But she was not alone in this belief and misconception. Many people from southeast Nigeria, believe strongly in Igba pin and tackle me if I try to challenge or cast some doubt on this dubious scheme. Recently, the topic came up on my old boys’ WhatsApp group. And some people shared their experiences and thoughts. One person shared a chat with a colleague who claimed to be a victim.
It was shocking to read this hilarious display of scientific illiteracy and ignorance. Parts of the exchange (Posts(P) and Replies(R)) read as follows: “P. I was a victim of this pin stuff after I left the seminary in 1997. It is a mystery beyond comprehension, African wonder with negative implications. R. Please how did it happen? P. I can’t tell you how it happened but the symptoms were real: pains, headaches & fever. If they administered the pins to kids, if it was not noticed on time, it could lead to death. Orthodox medicine does not affect the symptoms”.
What amazes me is that believers in Igba pin and other superstitions speak with so much authority, assurance, and confidence as if they are informed about what they are saying. But they are not. Most of them have little or no medical training or expertise. This guy claims that it was a mystery beyond comprehension and still went ahead to explain it. Explain what he did not comprehend?
The chat continues: “R. How did you get cured? Through surgical operation that got the pins out or through just local medicine without operation? But your community is known to have experts in okiri mgbawa isi (another superstitious health condition) and this is why I don’t attack you so you don’t apply it to me. Some of these African wonders were used against the Nigerian army after the Civil War when they were still occupying the Biafran land when the war had ended. They were forced to leave when my neighboring community applied the missile”. As you can see they waive all sorts of narratives to legitimize their claims, to lure the gullible and ignorant folks. There is no evidence at these so-called African wonders were deployed against the Nigerian soldiers as recounted in the chat. If Igba pin were effective the Biafran side could not have lost the war in the first place.
The chat provides more insight into the Igba pin:
“P. Traditional healers, who are specialists, remove the pins. If the pins remained in one’s body, the person would continue to be sick. And the perpetrator will be busy monitoring his handwork. Anytime he is in contact with his victims, he makes sure, he adds more pins to the existing pins in the person`s body. R. What do they gain from this? When they remove the pins, do they remove the physical pin or just do their work, and the person gets cured? P. The pin looks like some iron or metal hanger that was cut around two inches with a plier. There are two reasons why people engage in Igba pin: 1. To test run their work, maybe they just acquired the craft and want to test whether it’s working or not. And secondly when you are a threat or people envy why should be alive? When I was in the seminary, I did not believe in such. Immediately I left the seminary, it was as if they had been waiting for me. Every physical and spiritual attack came in full force. After removing them, the healer will give you the pins to take home with you. The healers remove the physical pin Koro Koro. Acha ere is another good one but I have seen someone that took perfect care of it through modern or pharmaceutical medicine. Nuclear weapons, are not regarded as good weapons? Why would we not regard our African ones as such? They are as effective as those weapons that nations invest billions to acquire. They are powerful biological weapons”.
As I had noted, the chat reads like a rambling of a charlatan, some pontification on health management. But it articulates a widespread belief, a form of superstition that undergirds medical quackery and exploitation in many parts of the Southeast and beyond. Igba pin is a form of medical superstition. And the removal of pin is a health scam. Health authorities should begin a pushback against the belief and practice of Igba pin. They need to take urgent measures to combat the menace of this practice in Anambra and other parts of Igboland. Ministry of Health officials should educate and sensitize the communities. They should inform the public about health conditions attributed to Igba pin and some evidence-based ways of treating or managing the diseases. More importantly, the so-called local healers who con and exploit people with health challenges, claiming they could remove the pins magically shot into their bodies, should be arrested and prosecuted. The belief in Igba pin would not go away until those who peddle and profit from this medical scam are held to account.
