Former "Ajoor” or Aimuolinmhindede" member, Edafe Uhunamure said members of "the society" couldn't have crucifixes, religious paintings or trinkets in their homes unless it contained a skull or the letter, 'V' reversed on it.
Aimuolinmhindede as many prefer to call them, is a secret society that is popular in parts of Edo and Delta states that claims its followers descended from a, "hermaphrodite' who once lived in the local river.
It is said that as members, all can engage in Homosexuality, but lesbianism is forbidden. Worship of objects like stones, dedicated plants and animals like geckos, metals and even devotion to the dead are some of the practices.
Some male and female devotees have undergone starvation and deprivation for 5-days prior to initiation to prepare for them for membership. Once a member, no one is expected to renounce and stay alive. It is a lifelong membership.
Punishment is by deprivation of water and sex for 4-weeks in addition to walking about the streets like a lunatic naked, for a week. At death, members are obliged to donate some of their vital organs to the group to be cooked and “eaten’ by new inductees.
Aimuolinmhindede is said to be the “owners’, of the many cult groups that are outlawed on university campuses across Nigeria like the Neo-black Movement or “” and the Jezebels made up of female undergraduates, who engage in orgies with men for rituals and many others.
Through these practices members, men and women hope to end up famous and rich but could have their lives cut short mysteriously. Young people, who cannot get jobs and do not want to learn skills, are often married off to older but rich spouses who are widows or widowers in the group, former members say.
But this cult isn’t hidden away in some rural ditch - it operates openly among the young and old out of an old dilapidated hut along a popular street in the ancient city of Benin.
The group is not registered by any known local, state and Federal government agency and has no official documents and to outsiders, the group is called Aimuolinmhindede. To members, it’s just, "the Road.” The group is said to have about 300 members in Benin City alone, and there are congregations in Warri, Asaba, and Ughelli.
Dozens of congregants line up at dusk, on the street beside the nut to be ushered in for the group’s fortnightly meeting. The leader of the flock, Oguda Imazagbon, 73, teaches from a pulpit in the center of the dark room, reading from a wooden slate that is said to be several centuries old.
Members don’t have any scriptures texts to follow and aren’t allowed to take notes. They leave their phones at the entrance and do not wear shoes, once inside.
“It’s the cult next door to every Bendel person, and no one even knows that it’s there,” said an former member.
The former worshiper, a musician, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she fears retribution, joined the group in 2010 while dating a younger man who was raised in it.
“I was curious and just wanted to know what was going on,” she said, adding that her boyfriend assured her it was “nothing special. . . just the simple tenets of all traditional religious beliefs.”
The more she got deeper, the more confused she became. She spoke of fighting bad people in weird dreams and was told that AIDS, cancer, Hepatis and other illnesses were caused not by health habits, genetics or environment but by one’s actions, in the past.
She noted Imazagbon's obsession was breasts. He adored young women with nipples pointing out of their dresses. He was said to have a harem of over 20 wives.
Aimuolinmhindede, sources say, dates back to at least the 1940s and have met in the same location from time, though members are taught that the group dates back to the 14th century. Much of what the group believes is shrouded in secrecy, though former members say it has a lot to do with sexual rituals, heredity and wealth.
The former worshiper was shocked that attendance at fortnightly meetings was compulsory; absences for illness were not excused. When she asked a fellow member if her boyfriend would attend a church service, the woman responded: “What do you mean? He’ll go to the church. He has to attend all meetings.”
She was warned not to share the news with others, and she kept her membership secret from her family and closest friends.
“Everything is complex,” she said. “And if you ask, you’re told, ‘You just don’t remember. You’ll remember when you’re supposed to. . . Try to control your thoughts and dreams, and tonight you’ll remember a something unusual.’ ”
But she wouldn’t stop asking questions. During a midyear meeting, everyone was handed a black envelope - except for her. The next day, she joined her man friend, who had since become her fiancé and his parents for dinner.
The food wasn’t even served before her fiancé’s mother stood at the table and announced: “If you think you’re marrying him, you must be mad. I remember you from 5,000 years ago, and you tried to kill my husband ".
“We are launching a spiritual campaign to save him” the would-be mother-in-law said.
TO BE CONCLUDED