• Police, expert warn against danger as scores of youths embrace ill
By Cosmas Omegoh
For a fact, cultism is posing a mountain-size challenge to the Nigerian society, and threatening to rent its very existence without let or hindrance.
For many who know, the cultism menace did not start today.
But over the past decades, cultism appeared to have attained frightening new levels.
Nowadays, for instance, virtually every community in the country has bands of urchins, which the society has now regrettably come to recognise as cultists. They hold sway even when they are felons by every measure anyone might imagine. They hold court as kingmakers, running and reigning with gusto. Oftentimes, they determine the drift of things, and no one dares them. Efforts at challenging them most times end up fatal. Some who did were either maimed or killed. That is as far as it goes.
On the very day rival cult groups choose go head-to-head, things fall apart as residents of the host community run for cover. Everything stops until they are done. You have guessed right what they leave on their trail: pain, anguish, sorrow, blood and death.
Force Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Olumuyiwa Adejobi, admitted in a recent chat that cultism and cultists have become a dominant menace these days.
“They are everywhere right now,” he said, adding that “they are spreading. Initially, cultism and cultists used to be a challenge in most states in the South. But right now, even some states in the North are experiencing cult-related menace.”
Adejobi, however, assured that the police were not unmindful of the situation. He said the police were doing their best to tackle their challenge, while urging the various state governments to rise up to the problem.
At some point, cultism was largely associated with students in the country’s tertiary institutions. On campuses, students who are cult members compete for supremacy. They found cult groups or join existing ones in their bid to compete for women, recognition, rather than for academic honours and laurels. On the day they elect to “sail” or fight, they cause avoidable upheavals on campus – sometimes causing severe injuries and even deaths.
Ask anyone who knows, in various higher institutions, such names as Supreme Vikings, Black Axe, Black Scorpion, Eiye, Aiye confraternities and many more, ring a bell. There are also such groups for the female folk: The Black Beret, Blue Bra, Jezebel, among others. The fear of those names is the beginning of wisdom for everyone, including the academic and non-academic staff.
Overtime, cultism in the larger society was rarely talked about. Members of such groups always kept their membership and activities secret and discreet. People knew very little about them even when they existed.
But nowadays, things have changed; cult groups in the various communities act differently. At every turn, various cult groups are operating – often right in the open, harassing people holding residents by the jugular. They destroy property, kill, maim and remain unfazed about their actions.
It might shock some people to be told that sadly, some secondary schools across the country are now breeding grounds for cultism and cultists. The number of students going to school from their homes, who are now cultists is increasing by the day.
While at school, the students initiate their colleagues and get them to belong to the various cult groups.
It is feared that when the affected students return home, they bolster the membership of figures of the existing adult cult groups in their communities. Any wonder then why cultists are becoming emboldened, audacious, committing heinous crimes at will? Any wonder then why the majority of cultists arrested these days are youths – teenagers and young adults who freely use the guns – youths who kill and destroy without ever counting the consequences of their actions?
Cultist in Nigerian communities
Early this month in Rivers State, gunmen, suspected to be cultists killed six people in two communities located in Ahoada East and West local councils.
Earlier, in the state, suspected cultists, numbering over 100, reportedly attacked officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), in Mile 3 Diobu, Port Harcourt, freeing an arrested drug suspect.
In May, Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Olanrewaju Oladimeji, paraded 40 suspected cultists said to be members of the Eiye and Aiye confraternities for a series of crimes ranging from armed robbery to killings within the state.
In Kwara State last April, cultists in Ilorin killed a 23-year-old commercial tricycle operator identified as Samad on Eid el-Fitr day; they also killed two others on the same day.
Also in April, the police in Enugu State arrested 26 members of different cult groups. They later arraigned them before a magistrate court and remanded them in prison. This came following a sustained rival cult war in the state which claimed about 30 lives in Nsukka, Agbani and Enugu areas.
Last year, cultists reportedly sacked students and business owners in Umuerim, in Nekede community in Imo State. That came on the heels of Plateau State Police Command’s invasion of cultists’ hideout in a bid to rid Jos, the state capital, of cultism and other forms of criminality. The police reportedly killed one of the cultists during the encounter.
Following an upsurge in cultism in Lagos State even before 2020, the state Assembly that year, passed a bill: “Unlawful Societies and Cultism (Prohibition) Bill 2020,” to punish parents of convicted cultists in the state. The idea was to respond to the situation facing the state.
In April, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Idowu Owohunwa, reportedly confirmed the arrest of 42 suspected cultists in connection with a series of crimes in the Ijora, Orile, Ebute Meta, and Ikorodu areas of the state. He went to identify cultism as an evolving crime threatening the internal security of the state.
Lagos police and cultism
During the week, Lagos State Police Command spokesman, Benjamin Hundeyin told Sunday Sun that “we arrested over 70 people – mostly teenagers. We have tangible evidence against them.
“They have maimed; they have killed; they have done all sorts of things.
“Many of them are in court; they have been remanded. So, I will say we are tackling them well, and so far, we are having good results.”
He, however, admitted that “cultism is a source of worry to us; it is a major concern.”
Speaking on the danger the evil poses, Hundeyin, a Superintendent of Police, said: “They are threat to the public space; they are a threat to property; they are threat to themselves and to their immediate families too. They are threat to every segment of the society – they are a threat to business, to social life and every segment of the society.”
Then he added: “That is why we have created tactical teams to tackle them.”
He recalled that the moment the state police helmsman, Owohunwa, assumed office, “he descentralised all the tactical units domiciled at the headquarters. He sent the personnel to various parts of the state where the menace of cultism is major.
“We have one unit each in Agege, Aja, Ikorodu, Surulere, Badagry and at the headquarters. They are scattered all over Lagos.”
Causes and consequences of cultism
Speaking on the import of cultism, a sociologist, Obioma Nwogu, said: “What is going on portends a lot of danger.
“To the teenagers who are involved in that, it is fashion of some sort. They have this hunger to belong to cult groups. They want to identify with a social trend. Then gradually that becomes a norm for them. They later veer into drugs, and many other ills. Now, that portends a lot of danger of the society so to speak.”
Reflecting on how and why the society arrived at the present crossroads, Mr Nwogu emphasised: “We are here because we have lost our social values.”
He upbraided the politicians for leading the society to the brinks.
He said: “Our so-call politicians are the enablers of what is going on. They use the boys during elections, give them money and later false hope. They make them look important.
“During the elections, the politicians use them to harass and intimidate their opponents, and the voters; they snatch ballot boxes for them.
“At the end of the day, when the politicians get into office, they abandon the boys. The boys now fall back to cultism and the society begins to suffer their menace – they get into robbery; they get into touting; they form gangs here and there. Ultimately the society pays for it.”
Police counsel against cultism
While advising every stakeholder on ways to fight the rising challenge, Force spokesman, Adejobi, recalled that there are existing laws against the ill. “All our governors and states need to do something about this.
“For states that do not have such laws, they need to come up with one.
“Cultism varies from state to state. So, each state needs to define what cultism in its domain is, and how to punish an offender,” he said.
Then turning to the society and the youths, he said: “We need the cooperation of everyone in the community – the churches, Islamic groups, concerned citizens to stop this trend.
“As for the youths, they must realise that belonging to cult groups and threatening the society is not beneficial. If they don’t pay dearly for it now, they will do that may be later.”
