Legal and medical professionals in Rivers State have debunked the idea that one’s sex organ and other parts of his/her body could be stolen either physically or spiritually.
This refute was said as they called for justice for a football coach who was beaten up for the same allegations in Igwuruta Community, Ikwerre Local Government Area.
The legal and medical professionals made the remarks after a football coach, Daso Ogan, was said to have been subjected to beating, torture, and arrest based on the allegations that he stole another man’s sexual organ through spiritual means.
It was reported by Revelation Agents that the Public Relations Officer of the Rivers State branch of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Siene Orogun, stated that there is no scientific proof for the belief that a handshake or any other form of physical interaction would lead to the disappearance or malfunctioning of one’s sex organ.
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“However, the experience of it feeling real is a recognized medical condition. It is called Koro Syndrome (Genital Retraction Syndrome), a documented psychiatric disorder in which a person genuinely believes that their genitalia are shrinking or disappearing. Clinical examination always reveals no anatomical change,” she said.
Fear and anxiety could elicit physical reactions that cause the individual to think that their internal organs have been affected, he emphasized, stressing that the disorder is curable through clinical assurance, psychotherapy, and a public enlightenment campaign.
Speaking also on the issue, the Executive Director of Lawyers Watch for Justice International Initiative (LWJII), Gbenga Oladapo, stated that claims of magical genital theft are not recognized by the law in Nigeria and should therefore be backed up by scientific and reliable medical evidence.
“Our legal jurisprudence is evidence-based. Such accusations can only be substantiated through credible medical evidence. In the absence of such evidence, the accusation amounts to a false alarm. The person accused is not the criminal; rather, the person making the false allegation may be the one violating the law,” he said.
Oladapo further pointed out that making false claims and publishing false accusations are crimes punishable according to the laws of the Rivers State Criminal Code.
He even spoke out against the alleged assault of Ogan by some members of OSPAC as being an affront to the process of due process, as well as damaging the confidence of the people in community policing.
“There must be a proper balance. Effective community policing requires cooperation, not parallel systems of violence.
“Vigilante groups are at their best when they act as the eyes and ears of the community, identify threats, safely apprehend suspects when necessary, and promptly hand them over to law enforcement agencies for proper investigation and prosecution, rather than taking the law into their own hands,” Oladapo said.
The experts, both the medical practitioners and the lawyers, agreed that all those stories of organ thefts keep coming because of fear, misunderstanding, and misconceptions.
