Killing of twins in Nigeria

As a result, the Igbos especially often abandoned the twin babies in the "evil forests"; large uninhabited dense rainforests which were seldomly visited for fear of the unknown more than any other reason and metamorphosed over time to attain spiritual significance, particularly as a source of negative omens.

"Most recent investigators have indicated that the Yoruba-speaking peoples of west Africa welcome twin-births and have a traditional reverence for twins to the extent that a cult is made of them.

It is true that, nowadays, twin-births are generally accepted as a social fact throughout most of Yorubaland and twins treated, to some extent, as super-human beings.

The following references show that twins, and in some cases the mother as well, were destroyed throughout most of Yorubaland in former times and that until quite recently, at least in some parts, twin-births continued to be unwelcome.

[15] She had a genuine interest in the rights and well-being of women and children, and worked towards educating local people about twin births.

[7] Slessor was passionate about reversing the local custom of twin-killing, and dispelling the twin taboo, and began adopting any abandoned baby to care for them at the Mission House.

In 1991, rumors of recent abuse prompted a survey to be carried out from January to June 1991 among the Efik, Ibibio, and Annang peoples to determine their attitude toward twins and their mothers.