By By Osahon Idemudia
WHEN Wole Soyinka and six of his friends formed the National Association of Seadogs popularly called Pyrates Confraternity, their purpose was noble. The seven friends, also known as the ‘magnificent seven’ in Pyrate Confraternity, formed the group when they were students of the University College, Ibadan, now known as the University of Ibadan in 1952. Their objectives of birthing the novel confraternity in Nigeria were to evoke Pan Africanism amongst students and also to fight oppression meted on poor students by their wealthy counterparts.
For 20 years, Pyrate Confraternity held sway in university campuses across the country with members selected among the brightest students who were keen on furthering the objectives of the founding fathers of the cult group.
As years passed by, other cult groups were founded by students who didn’t want to be part of the Pyrates Confraternity, but were interested in pushing their own ideologies. As a result, cult groups such as Black Axe, Eiye, Buccaneers, Black Bra, among others, also emerged. They became radicalized due to the inability of their top executives to monitor their initiation processes.
A few years down the line, members of these cult groups started bearing arms, getting involved in clashes between rival cult groups, perpetrating violent crimes like maiming, kidnapping and killing. Their members also got involved in crimes like intimidation, extortion, and oppression within the campuses and environs in Nigeria.
As the vices perpetrated by members of several cult groups festered, non-students were recruited as members. This aggravated the violence, which used to be within the campuses and environs of higher institutions to the streets. Bus drivers and conductors, street urchins, revenue collectors, artisans, and what have you were targeted for initiations, and the violence that resulted from this anomaly became catastrophic.
The killings and maiming linked to cult activities are not only limited to their members, relatives and other innocent people have been victims of their dastardly attacks. There have been cases where pedestrians have fallen to the bullets of cultists. One Miss Happy Ibrahim, a final year student of Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State, was killed by a stray bullet from cultists who gunned down a rival cult member.
The negative effects of the violence associated with cultism are affecting the socioeconomic life of most states in Nigeria. For example, killings and beheadings are usually carried out by cult groups in Rivers State. As a matter of fact, the erstwhile governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, outlawed 101 cult groups in Rivers last year. Last month, 10 people lost their lives to cult killings in Edo State. These killings are spread across most states of the Federation.
Way forward
As I earlier stated at the beginning of this article, these confraternities were not created to perpetrate evil at the outset The objectives of the founding fathers of cult groups were noble. However, the altruism associated with the conceptualization of cultism in Nigerian campuses has been eroded and replaced with evil agenda by evil-minded people who derive pleasure in killing and maiming people.
Top executives of the confraternities must meet every month to give a debrief of the implementation of the reforms of their respective groups. These monthly meetings must comprise past top executives of the groups, government officials, security agencies, school authorities, and other relevant stakeholders. These stakeholders will brainstorm and state if their implementation exercise is in order or needs to be reviewed.
However, the government needs to bring down the weight of the law on cult members responsible for the violence associated with cultism. The primary responsibilities of a responsible government are the protection of lives and properties. So, the government needs to equip several law enforcement agencies with the wherewithal to fish out the killers in several cult groups and bring them to justice.
Moreover, parents need to sit up and begin to equip their children with the right moral values. Frankly speaking, the violence that has characterized the activities of cult groups in Nigeria has exposed parental failures to their children. I doubt that a child will stray and become a threat to society when he becomes an adult if he is raised with the right values. Parents need to stand up and raise their kids in the fear of God.
Furthermore, religious and traditional institutions have a huge role to play in curbing the menace of cult killings in Nigeria. Religious institutions are like the moral compass of society. They promote religious values that frown at social vices, and violence is one of them. The government should partner with relevant stakeholders in religious institutions to continue to preach against violence to their adherents. This can go a long way in curbing cult-related violence in society.
Traditional institutions are the custodians of our cultural values and traditions. They can play a key role in sensitizing the youth on the dangers of cult-rated violence while promoting African culture and traditions.
Pioneer and older members of all the cult groups should get in touch with the top executives of various cult groups on how to carry out reforms in the various cult groups. It is very imperative that cult groups in Nigeria be reformed because 98 per cent of them have strayed from the ideas of their founding fathers. Cult groups need to go back to the drawing board and purposes for which they were formed. Their initiation processes also need to be reviewed. Non-students should stop being recruited by executives of cult members across the country.
As part of efforts to curb cult-related violence, the government should give amnesty to cultists who have been involved in violence but have renounced or ready to renounce their membership. The government should set up skills acquisition centres where these repentant cultists can learn skills and be paid stipends for their upkeep. This can be another ingenious way of helping to get rid of violent cult related vices.
The government should carry out the sensitisation of our youths on the dangers of cult-related violence through mass media by relevant government agencies, especially National Orientation Agency. The print, the electronic, and the new media are veritable tools for the sensitisation of our youths.
Rallies can also be held to sensitise our youths on the dangers of cult-related violence. Former revenue czar, Comrade Tony Kabaka took to the streets of Benin and environs in company of his ‘men’ to campaign against cult killings.
Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, is mulling the idea of partnering with social media influencers to help raise awareness on the scourge of cult violence in the state.
The most potent ways of fighting against cult violence by the government is through the provision of jobs. As the saying goes, an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. If our youths are gainfully engaged, most of them will stay away from cultism and its attendant violence. The government should create skill acquisition centres that will open up opportunities for youths to learn various skills. The government can also partner with ICT firms that can help to train our youths on tech skills in order to meet up with the information and technological advancements in the world.
Lastly, our security agencies, especially the police, are overstretched, and some of them lack the required manpower to provide security for the citizens. It is important that governors should invest in local vigilantes that can also help to boost security in their respective states. These local vigilante groups can collaborate with the security agencies in order to curb the menace of cult-related killings in their states.
OSAHON IDEMUDIA
(COACH O) is a UK-based Youths Worker with a passion for youth engagement and reaching out to the traumatised
What's your reaction?
