If govt can’t provide anti-venom, they say it’s a serpentine spirit – Nigerian Catholic priest criticises ingrained tendency to blame misfortunes on spiritual causes

Catholic priest, Fr. Kelvin Ugwu, has criticised the ingrained tendency by Nigerians to attribute every misfortune to spiritual causes.  

Fr. Ugwu stated this in a Facebook post on Monday, February 2,2026 after a lady attributed Ifunanya Nwangene’s d3ath to ‘serpentine spirit’ and snake kingdom.

“If you get drowned, they say it’s a marine spirit. If you d!e in a road accident, they say it’s an occult spirit looking for someone to sacrifice,” he wrote in a Facebook post on Monday.

“If you get bitten by a snake and your government can’t provide basic things such as anti-venom, they say it’s a serpentine spirit.

“But malaria caused by mosquitoes is the number one leading cause of death, with almost a million people dying of Malaria every year. 

“What spirit should we call death by mosquito? If snakes can have a kingdom, then there must be a mosquito kingdom. 

“I sometimes wish Nollywood had invented a mosquito kingdom the way it enthusiastically invented marine kingdoms and snake kingdoms. 

“By now, many people would fear mosquitoes far more, and that fear might have translated into better prevention and fewer deaths from malaria.”