MYSTICAL POWERS OF WITCHCRAFT AMONG THE GBAGYIS

This essay examines specific elements that persistently under gird the survival of Gbagyi Knunu even after the Gbagyi people in Nigeria have been introduced to monotheistic religions such as Islam and Christianity for over two centuries. It interacts with some select writings of a few European and African ethnographers who have studied primal worldviews, using their insights to better understand Gbagyi Knunu. This essay thus seeks to find out how the Gbagyi people have been responding to Christianity and Islam and why they still resort to the practice of their Knunu, with particular reference to witchcraft.