Gradually, Nigeria is slipping into the abyss. On a daily basis, the media – print, electronic and social – is awash with stories of killing and maiming by cult groups. Cultism, traditionally regarded as the exclusive preserve of the institutions of higher learning, is spreading into the larger society like wild fire. Everyone, young and old, men and women, seem to be catching the bug of cultism. And whether it is cultism in school or drawing its membership from the adult population, the effects are usually deadly. From the North to the South, East to West, no part of the country is spared.
The ripple generated by the killing of scores of people in Nasarawa State two years ago by Ombatse cult group, which extracts loyalty from its members through blood oaths, has not settled down. In May of 2013, the Ombatse cult group ambushed, dispossessed and killed more than 55 police officers and 10 operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS). The deadly group also burnt the victims’ bodies. Since March, about 10 people have been killed in cultrelated clashes in Benin and other parts of Edo State. In April, about five persons were killed during a clash between members of Eiye Confraternity and Mafiate group at Second East Circular area of Benin. A member of the latter group was reportedly hacked to death during a disagreement at a polling centre in Benin during the March 11 state House of Assembly election. Four others were said to have been killed in a reprisal attack. Also in May, four persons, two students and two women, were reportedly killed by cultists in parts of Benin.
The women were said to be the mothers of two men, who were targeted by cultists. The women were murdered at Virginia Junction and New Benin, when the killers did not find their targets. The two students were said to be on their way to attend lectures at the Edo State College of Agriculture, Iguoriakhi in Ovia South West Local Government Area when they walked into an ambush set by the cult members. In June, a man identified as Agu was shot dead by suspected cultists in his shop at Oroke-Onuoha Market in Oroke Onuoha community in Ebonyi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. The middle-aged man, who hailed from Oriuzor community, Ezza North Local Government Area of the state, was shot dead just as he was going about the day’s sales. Also in June, the police in Imo State said they had arrested some notorious cultists terrorising members of Egbu community in Owerri following a tip off.
The police said the cultists were arrested based on information that 15 of them terrorising members of Egbu community near Egbu Girls Secondary School were holding a meeting. On June 13, suspected members of a cult group snapped a man’s neck and dumped his body inside a swimming pool at Isheri area of Lagos State. The offence of the victim was that he asked the girlfriend of one of the cult members for a dance at a birthday party. Although the lady declined the invitation, it annoyed cult members who had been urging him to join them and had tagged him an enemy after he refused. On July 14, gunmen wearing black clothes and suspected to be cult members shot dead a 32-year-old businessman at Shimawa in Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State. The businessman was said to be a member of a rival cult group. The list of killings by cult groups across the country is endless. But the annoying thing is that the society seems to be complacent while this is going.
Efforts need to be made by government at all levels and religious bodies to work in concert with the police and other security agencies to check the spread of the deadly vice. This is where the National Orientation Agency (NOA) should come in. The agency must immediately embark on enlightening campaigns across the country in schools, private and public, on the dangers of cultism. Motor parks, communities and organisations must not be left out of the campaign against this deadly social vice.
If NOA is able to do this, it would be fulfilling its vision which is: “to develop a Nigerian society that is orderly, responsible and disciplined; where citizens demonstrate core values of honesty, hard work and patriotism; where democratic principles and ideals are upheld; and where peace and social harmony reign”. There are indications that some of these young cultists also go into armed robbery due to their ability to purchase arms at will. Government must see this as a frightening dimension. We are a nation in need of the best of human resources to galvanise our economy. Allowing killers in the name of cultists to take control of our schools and cities will further retard our collective drive for change.
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