Cult activities have lingered on for years in the country’s tertiary institutions claiming many lives, with no end yet in sight, MOTUNRYAO JOEL writes

Just last week Saturday, it was reported that a clash between rival cult groups, which left a lecturer and many students injured, took place at the Lagos State University, Agege Campus located at Abule Egba, a suburb of Lagos.

A student was reportedly caught cheating during an examination. In anger he was said to have shot the invigilator twice. In the milieu that ensued, members of other cult groups were said to have responded with gunshots, thereby injuring innocent students who later scampered to safety.

The clash was said to have continued the following day when an artisan was shot in the neck by the students at the gates of the institution.

However, the Vice-Chancellor, LASU, Prof. John Obafunwa, disclaimed the reports. In an interview with SUNDAY PUNCH, he said no such thing happened on the school campus.

“There was no cult clash on the school campus, it happened outside the school premises and the clash was between cult members and area boys. Since the clash happened outside the school premises, there was nothing the school authority could do about it,” he said.

He further said the society was ready to confront cult activities, other efforts to do so would be in vain.

Last year, also in LASU, some suspected cult members allegedly shot and killed Damilola Olaniyan, a budding hip-hop artiste also known as Damoche.

It was learnt that the deceased, a student of Banking and Finance, was killed after writing a test at the Faculty of Management Science at the Ojo Canpus of the institution. A source who witnessed the incident said after Damoche was shot, his assailants also stabbed him repeatedly.

The LASU VC however said, “Cult activities are not limited to LASU or tertiary institutions. They happpen everywhere, in other universities. Until we are ready to confront it, other efforts will be in vain.”

In Ekiti State University, despite the claim by the authorities to have tightened measures against cult activities in the university, a final year student, Mr. Sola Falade, was felled in an inter-cult war at the institution in April 2012.

Some students in the institution claimed that Falade was at home in his off-campus residence when he received a call asking him to come to the school area where a female student’s birthday party was being held. Falade who was said to be a leader of the KK, one of the cult groups operating in the institution, was allegedly stabbed to death by a member of the Buccaneer Confraternity.

In Edo State, on August 8, 2012, two persons were allegedly killed and another critically injured from gunshots in Ambrose Alli Uiversity, Ekpoma, following reported clashes between two campus rival cult groups, and Vikings.

A member of the Ambrose Alli University’s Anti-Cult Campaign Organisation of Nigeria, who had earlier renounced membership of the Vikings, according to unconfirmed reports, shot a member of rival . Despite the school management intervening in the matter, the truce however appeared short-lived, as some members of the , shortly after resumption, were said to have carried out a reprisal, leading to the death of one person, while another was critically injured.

Nefarious activities of members of cults have become a source of worry to the nation’s education sector and the Nigerian society at large. Speaking on the issue, the Vice-Chancellor, Bells University of Technology, Prof. Issac Adeyemi, identified factors that have contributed to the frequent cult activities in the country’s higher institutions of learning.

According to Adeyemi, “The first factor is indiscipline among students. Another factor is the rapid increase in the population of students on our campuses. There is also the issue of off-campus institutions not being able to adequately monitor the activities of their students at their annexes. Peer pressure, lack of self-control, and lack of religious activities are other factors that have contributed to the series of cult activities in our institutions.”

He called on institutions to implement measures to curb the menace.

Adeyemi said, “Institutions should invest in workshops, lectures to educate students on the consequence of cult activities. This would go a long way in stemming the meanace. They should also try as much as possible to manage their student population.”

In February 2011, there was chaos in the University of Lagos when gunmen, suspected to be cult members, killed two students. It was alleged that the clash which was between two rival cult groups, was ignited over a female student.

According to eye witnesses, besides the two cult members who were shot dead, about four others sustained injuries. However, there were claims that the cult members who carried out the attack were not UNILAG students.

Also, no fewer than five people were shot dead following a clash between two rival cult groups, the Eiye Confraternity and the Buccaneers, at the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Ogun State, in February 2012.

It was alleged that the clash followed the shooting of a member of the Buccaneers by the Eiye Confraternity.

At the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, a 200 level student was allegedly shot by members of a rival cult group. Sources claimed that the student, who was a member of Eiye cult group, was studying Economics at the university.

Educationists say campus cult which emanated from the founding of the Pyrates Confraternity at the then University College, Ibadan, has taken a different turn for the worse.

Based on historical reports, in 1952, Wole Soyinka, and a group of six friends formed the Pyrates Confraternity at the elite University College, Ibadan. The ‘Magnificent Seven’, which they called themselves wanted to differentiate themselves from a culture of hypocritical and affluent middle class, different from alienated colonial aristocrats’.

Membership was open to male students, regardless of ethnic group or race, but selection was stringent and most applicants were denied. For almost 20 years, the Pyrates were the only confraternity on Nigerian campuses.

As new confraternities were formed, they became increasingly violent through the 1970s and 1980s and by the 1990s, they operated as criminal gangs which are now called campus cults in Nigeria. Besides normal criminal activity, confraternities have also been linked to political violence, as well as other conflicts.

Campus cults existing in institutions, now include the Buccaneer Confraternity, the Eiye Confraternity, the Neo-Black Movement of Africa, the Vikings, the Mafia and lately, the Daughters of Jezebel, the Black Braziers among others.

A former Dean, Faculty of Education, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Prof. Kayode Alao, said everyone has a role to play in curbing cult activities in the country’s institutions.

He said, “When I say everybody, I mean parents, teachers and the government. Parents especially don’t spend enough time with their children. They pass on the burden to teachers and expect them to groom their children for them, which is wrong.”

Alao added that the Nigerian society was slowly becoming a meaningless one thus having a negative impact on students.

“Students go to the university with the notion that they may not get a job when they get out of the university. So, they see no reason giving their best at school, they have no value for education. Hence, they engage in wrong things which they think would bring them pleasure,” he said.

Alao maintained that there would only be a decrease in cult activities on campuses when the Federal Government focused on creating more jobs for graduates and parents performed their God-given roles.

To Prof. Oluwatoba Elegbeleye, a former head, Department of Psychology, OAU, the solution could only be reached by probing for the cause.

He said, “Apart from the fact that a large percentage of students are forced into these cult groups, many students get into a university without knowing the sociological set up of the university. And cult members are on the look-out for prospective members. Immediately they sight one, they work on the membership and do everything possible to get the person into their group.

“However, students join these groups for different reasons. They see it as a way to exercise freedom, being far away from home. They want to discover new things which include smoking and taking part in other wrong acts. They see the group as an ego booster and one that enables them to exercise power on others. This power may require being initiated into things like marijuana smoking, harassing or raping ladies, extorting money from people. It’s also a group that makes them live wild.”

Elegbeleye said joining cult groups would definitely have a negative impact on the student or individual.

“The students won’t be able to concentrate on their academics. They will engage in evil acts such as killing people. They also become arrogant. There is that cultural teaching that comes with being in school – a student is taught to respect his or her lecturers. For members of cult groups, this is the opposite, they have no respect for anyone,” he said.

The President, National Association of Nigerian Students, Tijani Usman, said there were various measures they would have to implement in order to totally eradicate cult groups across institutions.
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“We have to engage our students in full academic pursuit. We should also ensure the leadership of Nigerian students organises periodic lecturers and sensitisation seminar on the effects of social vices at our institutions. We would also educate them on the effects of undue influences.”

He enjoined institutions to stop sponsoring cult groups, also alleging that many of them support such.

“Institutions should join in the crusade against cult activities. They should cease playing active roles in sponsoring these groups,” Usman said.

The President, Students’ Union Government, LASU, Nurudeen Yusuf, noted that cult activities had drastically reduced in the institution over the past few years.

He stated “Compared to years back, we don’t have frequent cult activities in LASU and in other institutions. However, the union is doing everything possible to ensure that it remains that way.”

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