WHILE engaging in supremacy battle, cult
groups maim, kill and leave behind of blood,
and the attendant sorrow, grief and
heartache. Records of cult-related killings in
the last three months have shown that no
fewer than 78 people have been killed across
the country.
In the past, cult activities were restricted to
the universities, polytechnics and colleges of
education, but the trend has since changed.
Today, residents of some communities in
Lagos, Rivers, Imo, Edo, Bayelsa, Kogi, Benin,
Delta, Anambra, Enugu, Cross River, Ogun,
Ondo, Kwara and Abia states among others,
where tertiary institutions are located , live in
palpable fear as cultists have taken their
dastard activities from the campuses to the
streets. In broad daytime, the cultists brazenly
wield dangerous weapons without fear of
being apprehended.
Again, with the passage of time, some of the
students who were rusticated by various
institutions of higher learning over alleged
involvement in cultism and other criminal
activities have infested their areas of
habitation / neighbourhood with cult activities.
As a result, many streets and neighbourhoods
as well as villages now have cult groups in the
areas. Worse still, it has now become an all
comers’ affair as secondary school students
including girls are joining cult groups in
droves.
Some of the cultists have taken their game a
notch higher by engaging in armed robbery,
thuggery, kidnapping and becoming hired as
sassins. Some of the notable cult groups
include: Black Axe, Aye or Axe men
Confraternity, Eiye Confraternity, Supreme
Vikings Confraternity (SVC), Daughters of
Jezebel, Black Brazier, White Angels,
Viqueens, Damsels, Elebe Boys, De-Well, De-
Ggbam, Awawa Confraternity, Bourkina Faso,
Mafia, among others.
There have been cases of cult clashes in
different parts of the country. This is aside
reports of the bloody clashes that occur in
the university campuses, which oftentimes,
claim the lives of the innocent students,
hitherto, deceived and coerced to join cult
groups.
Psychologist’s point of view
On why there is upsurge in cultism in the
neighbourhoods, Dr. Kayode Taiwo, an
associate professor and Head of Department
of Psychology, Lagos State University, Ojo,
told Saturday Sun that many people attribute
the upsurge to the rising number of young un
employed graduates of universities,
polytechnics and colleges of education
accross the country.
“ That is the thinking of many, but what they
fail to realise is that if the Nigerian state has
failed in providing jobs for them, likewise
have their parents and guardians failed to give
them values as they were growing up. The
value of a man more or less defines his
expectation.
“For instance, that an individual is educated
up to tertiary institution level but has no job is
not a reason to engage in cultism if that
person has good values. The values of many
of these young adults tare incomparable to
the values of the people of yesteryears.
“While it might take a thousand people long
time to build something that is enduring, it
may take just one or two bad eggs to wreak
havoc within”.
On how secondary students are indoctrinated,
Dr. Taiwo, said, the younger elements are able
to penetrate adolescents, teenagers because
they have a way of relating with them. “When
you talk in terms of those that are cultists, all
you need to ask yourself is, what is the age
range; from 16 to about 30 or 35; majorly
between 18 and 26. So, it is easier for them
to go into the neighbourhoods and
indoctrinate these younger ones that they
relate with.
“For example, from research study and
practical interaction, during interactivity
session, you would discover that those who
were into drugs were indoctrinated earlier by
those who were older. It’s not that they woke
up one day and started smoking weeds, but
they pick the habbits from what they saw on
television, what they read, and from some of
the people they related with.
“Why don’t you ask how these young people
are able to get these drugs
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