Increasing wave of cult violence in Nigeria has assumed disturbing dimension. Menacing cult activities have become a daily occurrence that should be handled decisively. In recent times, recurrent disturbances attributable to violent clashes between rival cult groups have resulted in horrendous loses in local communities as well as in the urban neighborhoods. Indeed, cultism has become such a pervasive vocation amongst young people, including minors, across the country.
Youth involvement in cult related associations, apart from heightening the scale of social vices unusually categorized as misdemeanor, has festered criminality in the form of wanton killings, maiming, raping and, as well, intensified robbery and kidnapping across the country.
It is, therefore, imperative to unequivocally emphasize that prevailing nefarious activities by cult groups are reprehensible and untenable in a sane society. The situation has become so worrisome and requiring urgent efforts by relevant stakeholders across communities in concert with security agencies, towards stemming the tide of a social affliction already in its giddying stage and gradually making peace elusive in the society.
It is equally a matter of grave concern that, hitherto, peaceful communities have lost their serenity, owing to menace constituted by cult gangs. Cult activities in Nigeria are no longer the familiar social vices that were confined to the four walls of higher institutions of learning.
Youth related cult activities have become a sort of neighborhoods’ evil, threatening communal peace and permeating culture of fears in the society. It is alarming that communities in the metropolis as well as the hinterlands are being subjected to rigorous disturbances with gory tales of bloodletting and devastation.
It is therefore evident that terrifying malaise of cultism comes with high potential of jeopardizing the future of younger generations, who are now forced to live under morbid fear and coercion.

THE DELTA SITUATION:
Delta is the second most populous state in the Niger Delta, with an estimated 4.1 million people. The state produces about 35% of Nigeria’s crude oil and a considerable amount of its natural gas. It is also rich in root and tuber crops, such as potatoes, yams, cassava, and coco yams. Delta has a legacy of ethnic and political tensions which flared in the late 1990’s and again in 2003.
The 2009 Amnesty Program was instrumental in reducing violence and fatalities associate with militancy. In 2010, however, there was a spike in insurgency/counter-insurgency activity with a notable incident that reportedly occurred in the Burutu Local Government Area (LGA) in December.
In 2011, the governor dismissed all elected local government chairmen and replaced them with Caretaker Committee Chairmen. Now, after two years, LGA-level elections are expected to take place on October 25, 2014. During 2012 and 2013, reported incidents included gang violence, criminality, and vigilante/mob justice.
There were a number of abductions, some targeting political figures, their family members, or oil workers. There were several reports of alleged abuses by public security forces, which sometimes provoked mob violence and protest. Conflict risk factors continued into mid-2014 with reports of abductions and communal violence.

VIOLENCE IN OBOMKPA (ANIOCHA NORTH/SOUTH): AN OVERVIEW
As in other parts of Delta State, much of the violence in the reported time period in Aniocha North and South was associated with kidnappings and criminality. In August 2012, nearly 40 lawyers barricaded the magistrates’ courts to protest the abduction of a newly appointed judge. In December 2012, the mother of the Minister of Finance was reportedly kidnapped for ransom in Aniocha South. Violence around kidnappings and robberies increased in 2013, resulting in several reported deaths throughout the year. In 2013, there were two reported incidents of bank robberies leading to the death of several suspected criminals. In the first half of 2014, dozens were reportedly killed in clashes between rival cult groups.
An instance of this is what happened on Monday, October 26, 2015, when a gang of five kidnappers abducted Mrs. Ifeoma Anwuzia, wife of the chairman of Aniocha South Local Government Area. Hon. Isaac Anwuzia and her 3 year-old daughter, Miss Goodness Anwuzia at their family home. It was gathered that the kidnapping of the chairman’s wife and daughter caused apprehension when the news filtered into the community, marking the high point of the tension and fear that had gripped residents of the community over the past two years.
Community sources said the kidnappers stormed the chairman’s home Sunday night, held the guards hostage till Monday morning before they swooped on their target, as she made to drop her daughter in school. The kidnappers reportedly forced the woman and her daughter into the victim’s car, and drove away, before information filtered into the community, prompting a quick intervention from the police and community vigilante group, who gave the hoodlums a hot chase.
A police source in the community, said police patrol teams and local vigilante pursued the kidnappers along the bushy Edo road, forcing the kidnappers to abandon their victims’ mid-way and fled into the forest. “However, the police and vigilante youths mobilized and comb the forest and arrested two suspects, one Pascal Kure and Chinedu Obiazu, while three other suspects managed to escape,” the source said. During interrogation, the suspects told the police that a former driver and aide of the chairman, known as Aniekan, organized the kidnapping in order to obtain a ransom of ten million naira from the chairman.
Also, last August, a 90 year-old grandmother, Madam Helen Ojeogwu was kidnapped in her family home at Azungwu village, by hoodlums and held in captivity for five days, before the family secured the release of the old woman. Just like many other cases of kidnapping, the police said no ransom was paid for the release of the old woman, but many close observers of the happenings in the community, believed many families pay ransoms in millions to secure freedom for their relatives.
As kidnappings boom, so also secret cult killings have continued to intensify in the community, with bloodletting and chaos, amid violent attacks and executions among members of warring cult groups. During the peak of the crises, many youths of the community suspected to be involved in cultism and kidnapping, were killed, some by warring cult groups, and others, by the police and other security agents.
Notable among those killed during the crises, which rocked the community between June and October, 2015, were over seven prominent cultists in the community, many of whom have been on the wanted list of the State Police Command. One of the kingpins, known as Odita, a final year HND student of the Delta State Polytechnic, who many people in the community feared, was executed alongside his close ally, one Chidi by the police in the heat of the unwarranted cult killings. The event that compelled the police to declare Odita wanted and his subsequent capture, followed a deadly shooting at a late night burial wake-keep in Azungwu village, which left three persons seriously injured. Community sources said the target of the shooting was a rival kingpin, popularly known as ‘Atuma’ who was seriously injured in the attack. After the attack, Atuma was reportedly taken to a nearby Ubulu-Uku community for orthodox medical attention, but his assailants traced him there and shot him dead.
Below is a chat that shows the gross insecurity issues in delta state between 2012 and 2015.

CRITICAL EVALUATION:
Cultism is destructive to the very fabric of Nigerian society and poses a drawback to efforts at entrenching sustainable development in the country. Cult groups have become willing tools in the hands of the political elite, who deploy them to settle scores with opponents.
It is therefore important to call on relevant stakeholders in the society to prioritize advocacy towards adequate sensitization of elite; particularly the political class, on the need to shun selfish indulgence through sponsorship and patronage of cult activities that compromise and jeopardize the future of the youth.
The police and other security agencies must be encouraged and supported to provide adequate responses in tackling the menace of cultism in the country. Security agencies must develop the required capacities for investigative and crime preventive intelligence in the bid to provide appropriate response to the challenge pose by cultism and its negative throwbacks on the society.
Government must prioritize social empowerment programme to harness the energies of the youth and refocus their mind for productive engagement.
There is also the need for government to invest in sports development across the nooks and crannies of the country. Provision of adequate modern sports facilities with complementary reward system will get a large population of youth off the streets.
It has also become instructive to depoliticize job creation and social empowerment initiatives in the country, so as to bring youth from across political and sectarian divides on board for inclusive development. Government should also be more decisive in addressing poverty alleviation in the country, as a way of reducing the passion for criminality amongst the youth.
Finally, institutions and agencies saddled with the responsibilities of mass mobilization and orientation must take the issues of cultism and its negative tendencies more seriously. Retooling institutional frameworks as well process-led networking amongst stakeholders within and across communities will be vital in arresting the debilitating vices of cultism.

Please don't use my home town as a case study next time. Thank you.