CULTISM
This is perhaps one of the greatest problems confronting our beloved University today. In recent years, this plague has
assumed a frightening and deadly dimension, surprisingly. It spreads to secondary (and even primary schools) schools in
the country. This is bad enough to give every caring parent a cause to lose sleep.
Cult has been defined as “a group of people engaged in a form of ritual usually under oath, binding the members to a
common cause”. Such group of individuals operate covertly in furtherance of their objective which is usually
determined to the interest of others.
Student crises on campus are becoming more ferocious and dangerous than hitherto. The intrusion of secret cults into
student unionism and campus life has brought this change.
remained a most powerful instrument of retrogression. The havoc been caused by these violent cultist activities in our
university and other tertiary institutions has become a source of worry and concern to so many students, lecturers,
parents, guardians and Government at large. There are now cases of blood sucking ceremonies where
innocent boys are being carried forcefully into unknown locations and also forcefully initiated into their cult group
A BRIEF HISTORY OF CULTISM
Cultism first started as a pressure group where students come together to help themselves solicit for textbooks and
other amenities that could be beneficial to them. In 1952, Prof. Wole Soyinka and six other students formed the
Pirates Confraternity at the University of Ibadan to achieve these aims. But today, the vision and mission has changed
to a demonic one.
Between 1952 and 1997, it transmogrified into abnormal genetic mutation, which brought into existence a plethora
of secret organizations, most of them have little or no similarities in ideas with the original concept developed by the
SEVEN in 1952. Egwu, (2004) noted that the very first mutation occurred in the mid-70s when a member of the
pirates, which until then was still the only confraternity in existence was black spotted or expelled from the
organization. One of the aggrieved members, who was later to become a provost on one of the nation’s college of
education, decided in protest to form a parallel fraternity, which he dubbed the “Buccaneers”
The Buccaneers have been close to the pirates in terms of original ideas except that it had to cope with serious
credibility problems that gave rise to complex and a need for constant self-assertion, the Buccaneers were also
known as the National Association of Sea-Lords, which was an answer to pirated National Association of Seadogs
(Igodo, 2003).
Kanter (2004), Observed that after much struggle for power and domination, it now broke into further confraternity
groups which included: Black Axe, Vikings, Red Beret, and Double (i.e. 2, 2) etc. as the groups continue to split, they
lost their vision and their activities degenerated to unnecessary carnage in our higher institution.
Their activities today include carrying the following around
∙ Guns, Indian hemp, machetes, dagger and Other deadly weapons
∙ Killing, avenging each other, intimidation, gangsters, rape, disruption of peace, extortion of money from
innocent persons, robbery on and off campus etc.
RECRUITMENT
Recruitment and initiation processes among cultist groups have specific procedure to be followed. After the brutality,
prominent manifestation is being administered which involves alien material to the initiates. This can be inform of
drinking of concoctions, blood oaths, the marking of tattoo on the body of the initiate by the initiator (i.e. the
person who administers the oath) and the partaking of the initiate in a meditative strange spiritual rite and rituals
which climax in his willful surrender of his ego and total consciousness to the spirit beings that enter and control him.
The spirit new adherent, thereafter, the initiate comes out of initiation in possession of secret signs, symbols and
marks to be preserved and protect. Each cult group have different days of initiation.
REASONS WHY PEOPLE JOIN CULT
There are various reasons why people join cult, I was able to pick the most important of it. They are:
∙ Frustration: this usually occur when people see life as something hopeless and meaningless
∙ Intimidation: this is one of the major reasons why people join cult, when they feel oppressed and/or
intimidated by someone, and they get to know that the person belongs to a cult group or not, (but relatively
stronger than they are) they usually have only four options.
1. They join the same cult group as the person so as to gain immunity.
2. They join an opposition group which is on par or greater than the one the intimidator belongs so as to
get revenge.
3. They report to the school authorities to help them handle such intimidators.
4. Or they just sit still and allow such to continue to happen to them for the fear that if they report,
their lives will be in danger.
It is very unfortunate that people mostly go for option one or two, and then option four, you hardly see them
taking option three
∙ Insecurity: with this, they feel something bad may happen to them, they are always pessimistic about life and
their safety, so they believe they will find solace in the hands of the cult members and they aim to become
untouchable.
∙ Power: they want power, they want to control, they want to oppress, they feel when they belong, they will
have the power to do and undo. They believe with power, the can control lecturers to pass them, seduce the
opposite sex without resistance, obtain esoteric knowledge, secure position of influence in society etc.
∙ Peer Pressure: this is also a frontier in the reasons people engage in cult activities, they get pressurized by
their friends to do it just because they belong and they will give your merry reasons of what awaits your
membership. An ex-cultist made this confession “Cultists are very loving and caring when they want you to
get into the cult. But as soon as they get you in, you are in for a gruesome and bloody life. They fool you,
programme you, take you to solitary confinement, beat you, hurt you, and it becomes very difficult for you to
get out” then you best friend becomes your worst enemy.
∙ Family lineage/Poor parenting: imagine a family where the father and mother are unrepentant cult members,
what become of their children? This is one major problem as most students lack proper moral education up
bring by their parents. This contributes largely to the quality of products turned over to the universities.
Universities are for men and women of quality, it is an institute of learning and character.
∙ Popularity and Wealth: some are found in this category so as to be known, dreaded and wealthy. The cult
members are believed to have rich and influential sponsors and some have close relationship with some
lecturers. So becoming a member serves as a bonus to meet the rich people who sponsor such cult group and
become rich themselves.
EFFECTS OF CULTISM
There are various effects of cultism and all of which are negative that mostly last long, and some are short (death).
They are:
∙ Disruption of Academic Calendar:
An institution with high cult activities may be closed down because of cult clash, frequent fights, unrest and
bloodshed. The school authority may be forced to close down the school and students will have no other
choice but to flee for their lives and safety. Such school can be closed for days, weeks, months and sadly,
years. Students are prone to spend more years in school.
∙ Loss of Lives and Properties:
There is an adage that says “when two elephants fight, it is the grass beneath them that suffer”. When
crises associated with cultism arises, properties, lives of victims and innocent people will be lost. Cultists are
known to be very violent, merciless and mostly drug addicts. When they fight against the school authorities,
buildings, structures, equipment and properties may either be burnt or destroyed.
∙ Retrogression in the Standard of Education:
Frequent closure of the school, damages of properties, loss of lives, bad media reputation and all other
consequences associated with cultism results to the fall in education standard. Parent will find it hard to
send their wards to such schools: good and experience lecturers will begin to leave to other institutions
where their safety is guaranteed.
∙ Fear and Insecurity:
This will cause a general declination of results of the students as they will always be in constant fear.
Because of this menace, they will not focus on their studies as they will not have peace of mind. They will
be cautioned and will restrict their movement so as not to fall victims of assault, rape and death.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
The most acceptable of all facts still remains that when there is a problem, there will always exist some practical
ways of solving it.
Cultism in our institution of learning is not an exception. The only necessary ingredient is determination, political will
and consistency on the part of the authority.
∙ Cultism perpetuates itself in our campus through a consistent policy on initiation of our freshmen (newly
admitted students). This chain must be broken and a consistent orientation programme could do this by the
institution before old students (possible cultist) are called to resume the new session. A situation whereby
the old students are already on campus before the freshmen encourage the perpetrators of cultism on our
campus. Attendance and participation in such orientation programmes should be a sine-qua-non for
examination and if possible, 20 marks should be awarded to the orientation exercise for the freshmen. This
will ensure full participation of students. This should be taken seriously.
∙ Anyone who is involved in cultism should be expelled outright as it is being done in most institutions in
Nigeria. There should be no sacred cow in the system, no mutual back-scratching and no who know who.
Once expelled, affected students should be published in the school journal, and pictures placed in all
entrances of the institution or even published in a national newspaper. We should treat cultists amongst the
students as armed robbers and assassins. The cultists use arms and they cause destruction, so they should be
handled with severe punishment. Anyone who kills should be killed and anyone who maims should be jailed. It
is not sufficient to just rusticate them or expel them from the institutions. They should face the full wrath
of the law.
∙ There should be a meeting between the school authority and parents of the students yearly and there
should also be a bulk message sent to each parents reminding them about talking to their wards, the
impending danger and the penalty for cultism in the institution. This will help greatly as the home is the first
institute of learning, and “charity they say begins at home”.
∙ The authority should be in constant communication with the religious leaders on campus for there to be a
constant reminder to their congregation about how cultism is an evil act and the punishment that awaits
them in the afterlife. This will also help as the places of worship is another institute of learning and
correction.
∙ Guidance and counselling unit in our institution should be strengthened and the students encouraged to
attending counselling sessions. There should be a cordial relationship between this unit and the students.
∙ There should be regular monitoring of all registered clubs and associations. My research has revealed that a
lot of cult groups operate under the guise of registered social clubs on our campus. The parameters of
monitoring should include time of meetings, groups that usually meet later than 7pm should be monitored, as
this could be suspicious in motives. Also, the compositions of membership of these clubs should be observed
and checked. This is because some of these disguised cult groups are unisexual in composition. This is also a
danger signal that must be checked.
∙ Make it a law to be a criminal offence for any lecturer to be a cultist. Any known cultist lecturer should be
sacked and then handed over to the police for further investigation and prosecution.
∙ There should be a serious awareness programme talking about the ills of cultism and the punishment for it.
The way HIV/AIDS campaign has been reinforced is the way we need to tackle cultism. Religious houses,
parents, students, government, non-governmental organization and the society as a whole should wage war
against cultism. There should be seminars, workshops, campaigns and talks.
I am very sure that Prof. Wole Soyinka and the remaining six members of the pirate confraternity will be
regretting the idea because hoodlums have high jacked their intentions.
∙ A high powered espionage should be carried out on the campus to flush out these cultists (both students
and lecturers). They meet on land and not in the air. Some even come to classes and announce meeting
dates and registration. These culprits should all be smoked out and made to face the law.
HOW TO RECOGNIZE A CULT
CULT NAME DRESS CODE
Eiye Sky-blue jeans, white T-shirt, armless jean jacket and
black beret. And on Fridays, they wear black T-shirt.
Pirates Red Dashiki (a Nigerian dress with Hausa origin)
embossed with skull and cross bone.
Vikings Long robes like medieval times.
Buccaneer Grandpa’s shirt
Black Axe Black trouser, black beret, black shoes and stoking, black
wrist band and white shorts.
Black Lord Yellow strand on black beret
Mafia Long black gown with hood
If we can be sincere about these solutions, cultism in the institution will be reduced to the barest minimum if not
totally eradicated. Cultism is currently seen as a status symbol now in the institution where students come out openly
to say “I am a cultist” by the time we make it a plague, that it is, people will flee from it.
Idris Muhammad Awwal
14/05/71/011
Physics Department
Lagos State University
07065964395.
MILITARY AFFILIATE.
2 comments:
thanks you olofofolasu, my military colleagues are enjoying every of my post. they send their regards.
On the dangers of modern cults or groups of sectarian nature, disguised as coaching courses:
https://alexanderstrauffon.blogspot.com/2013/10/las-sectas-o-cultos-en-la-actualidad.html
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