A cult can be said to emanate from great and excessive admiration or belief in a person or idea. This could be manifested in rituals, praise songs, chants and worship. It is an unquestionable practice that may be difficult to dislodge even with superior argument. Secret cult could therefore be defined as a set of practices, belief system or idea whose essence is known only to the inner members and excessively admired and defended even to the point of laying down one’s life. Secret cult groups have in recent years expanded fast, become bold, and gradually becoming a societal norm. They have been left largely unchecked by the security agencies thus operating in such ways that they cannot be described as a ‘secret cult’ any longer but a cult group.
Cult activities in Nigerian universities include various forms of violence to suppress other cult groups, tormenting innocent and vulnerable students, organising raids, and in some cases armed robberies. Cult members are also used as thugs during election to foster violence and rig elections in favour of their sponsors. It is hard to believe that someone who gets inducted into a cult group would be moulded into a better person because these groups preach negative values that would gradually turn one into a menace in the society.
In Nigeria cult groups have not been restricted to corners of the university campuses. They have spread into the society at large and operate in various cells in our communities. Cult groups now recruit their members from tender age as early as secondary school students, they also recruit non-students in a bid to grow their membership.
THERE IS ALWAYS A BEGINING TO EVERYTHING
The origin of cultism in Nigeria can be traced back to 1952 when future-Nobel Prize winning author Wole Soyinka and a group of six friends formed the Pyrate Confraternity at the University of Ibadan. The Pyrates was formed to checkmate the imbalance between the elite and the poor in the university system at that time. They observed that the university was populated with wealthy students associated with the colonial powers and a few poorer students striving in manner and dress to be accepted by the more advantaged students, while social life was dictated by tribal affiliation. For almost 20 years, the Pyrates were the only confraternity on Nigerian campuses.
Over the years, due to doctrinal differences and inability of intending members to meet required standards of the Pyrates confraternity, protestant ones started emerging like the Buccaneers, Mafia and Vickings.
A major reason for the creation of new confraternities was the fact that members of the new groups simply did not meet the high academic and intellectual standards set by the Seadogs. However, Soyinka would later point to individuals who became accustomed to exerting power in the rigidly hierarchical confraternity, and were unwilling to give it up, as to blame for the initial schism. As new groups formed, inter-group tensions led to fighting, though these were initially limited to fistfights. The early nineties thus witnessed a boom as every university was plagued with cult explosion such as the , Black Cats, Trojan Horse, Black Panthers, Eiye, Maphites, Temple of Eden, The Jurists, The Executioners, Black Beret, National Association of Adventurers, Black Scorpion, Eagle Club, Termites, Knight Cadet, Sonmen, White Angels, Amazons, Daughters of Jezebel, and the Black Brassieres.
The spread of cult groups outside the university campuses can be traced back to the late 1990’s when there was a nationwide renouncement of cultism by university students and the breakdown of traditional campus cults all over the country as a result of amnesty granted to all renounced cultists at the onset of the present democratic government. This led to migration of cultists from the campuses to residential neighbourhoods and streets as campuses were no longer a safe haven for them. Incompetence of security officials and inadequate facilities to police campuses led to the resurgence of cultism in the campuses as renounced cultists who could not be protected by the Law, went back to their cult groups to seek protection from rival groups who had discerned their identity as a result of the renouncement ceremony. This resulted in a situation where cult groups were now well established in- and outside the campuses.
WHEN RADICALS ARE LEFT TO RUN UNCHECKED PAINFUL EPISODES FOLLOW
After the split of cult groups and the spread of these groups from the four corners of their university campuses, the radicals ran wild in the street and painful episodes followed. The attendant effects of cultism on the learning process cannot be exhausted as both intra and inter-cult clashes negatively affect the students in a very high proportion. It sometimes leads to incarceration, rustication or expulsion of both innocent and student members.
On 8th June 2006, some cult members invaded University of Ado-Ekiti at 12 noon where they burnt the cadet’s office, killed three students and wounded many students and staff of the university. Cultists have struck and killed many students in higher institutions in Nigeria, with the most gruesome happening at the Obafemi Awolowo University, on July 10, 1999. Before the attack OAU had been considered one of the safest universities in the country, largely due to student-organized resistance to the confraternities. After one cult member was shot and killed during an attempted kidnapping in 1991, the confraternities appeared to stay away from the university. In February 1999, student leaders organized a campus-wide search, which found eight secret cult members who were stockpiling machine guns and other weapons in their dorm room. This enraged the confraternity, who organized a murder squad that hacked the student union secretary-general to death in his bed and targeted other student leaders.
Most recent cult trouble in Nigeria is the River State cult group clash. The trouble started when a cult group known as Sailor, allegedly invaded Omoku town in Onelga, killed and beheaded a member of a rival group, the Icelanders.
WHY CULT GROUPS ARE SEXY AND IRRESISTIBLE TO YOUTHS
In a society which you are deemed less important than a tiny speck that floats in the air, you receive neither protection nor recognition to gain a social reputation are required to belong to a fraternity. The fraternity would not only protect you but give induct you into the high class in the society. You are rest assured that you won’t be indicted for whatever wrongdoings you get involved and you have a solid backup.
There are numerous reasons why people opt to join cult groups, most notable of them are; influence of peer groups, parental background, societal decadence, erosion of educational standards. Cult members are even given a high level of respect on university campuses and the society at large.
THERE IS ALWAYS A WORKABLE SOLUTION TO IDENTIFIED PROBLEMS
The problems of secret cults on our campuses are many and complex, but workable solutions are few, cult groups keep spreading daily on university campuses and they seem to run rampage despite various efforts by the government to curb this menace.
Cultism is not only present in our tertiary institutions but in all levels of our educational system and a lasting solution to the problem, therefore, lies outside the purview of draconian laws and naked power show. To make cultism unattractive and an unnecessary option, there must be improved facilities and living conditions on campuses so as to minimize perceived strain in the social system which underlines cultism on our campuses. Our institutions must be overhauled in order to be capable of providing for all who live within them and be able to correct the injustices against any student or group of students by peaceful and lawful means. Adequate protection should be made available to non cult members and amnesty should be granted to cult members who are willing to denounce association with cult groups. Sensitization and orientation of youths of the evil cult groups pose to their lives and the society at large should be properly carried out. It is obvious that university cannot be all about academics and class work. Students need to be encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities. In North America students are encouraged to belong to brotherhood which is registered with the university administration, this can also be introduced into the Nigerian system.

I reserve my comment until I hear from Cultist Soyinka.

I am a Vikings, one of my biggest regrets, but believe me or not, it has some benefits.
But if you grow older in life, Jesus is the only Cult you need, Cultism takes life, and there is nothing spiritual about it, it's a scam. big FRAUD.
The strong preys on the weak, So, if you are not strong, no join. even this little i have spilled is enough for them to punish me.

lordizak:
I am Vikings, one of my biggest regrets, but believe me or not it has some benefits.
But if you grow older in life, Jesus is the only Cult you need, Cultism takes life, and there is nothing spiritual about it, it's a scam. big FRAUD.

benefits you say?pls indulge me.

hertz9te:
benefits you say?pls indulge me.

Ask yourself why peeps keep joining? i personally know thousands of norsemen alone.
You don't expect me to condemn the system in whole. there are things i can't say.

If only the likes of other cult groups followed Soyinka suit in creating cult groups that will benefit the poor on campuses and also increase academic excellence and competition among students on campus, we won't be experiencing this today.

Today they now compete with guns and machetes for no reason, what a shame !

lordizak:

Ask yourself why peeps keep joining? i personally know thousands of norsemen alone.
You don't expect me to condemn the system in whole. there are things i can't say

....things like what..i want to know that thing,,salary scheme,,member bonuses,,etc.if you can say here pm me

hertz9te:
....things like what..i want to know that thing,,salary scheme,,member bonuses,,etc.if you can say here pm me

do you go to church because of those reasons?

lordizak:

do you go to church because of those reasons?

nope i go to church cos i belive in God...so odin is real?

hertz9te:
nope i go to church cos i belive in God...so odin is real?

and that god rewards virtues and punishes vices? they believe in brotherhood, protection, a code and some get paid for being members.

lordizak:

and that god rewards virtues and punishes vices? they believe in brotherhood, protection, a code and some get paid for being members.

hmm...okay,,,lemme not make you say too much.