In early May, one of Nigeria’s first generation tertiary institutions – The Polytechnic Ibadan, announced the expulsion of six students. Until their expulsion, they were students in the school’s departments of accounting, surveying and geoinfomatics.
As contained in a statement signed by the registrar of the institution, Hezekiah Ayodele, after appearing before the Students’ Disciplinary Committee, the students were found guilty of associating with Buccaneer, an illegal cult group.
Statements like this are regularly issued by various tertiary institutions in Nigeria as a way of flushing out cult groups in the schools and to ensure peace in the various ivory towers. The history of the cult groups is a far cry from its current state as most of them were created to fight injustice, eschew violence on campus and promote brotherhood among students.
The Genesis and Current Status
According to The National Association of Seadogs, The first occurrence of cult groups in Nigeria’s academic institutions came about in 1952. Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka and six other students at the University of Ibadan called themselves the Original Seven and formed the Pyrates Confraternity.
From 1952 to 1997, new groups were formed as a result of split within Pyrates. The newly formed groups included Buccaneers, Black Axe, Vikings and Red Beret. Within these new groups fighting encouraged a loss of vision. Missions fizzled and activities of the groups were geared towards establishing power. This resulted into carnages in Nigeria’s academic institutions. These carnages reached climax when irrespective of background or academic status, students were left dead.
Cult activities today are secret and non-members are not in privy of information concerning the respective groups; the groups’ members engage in esoteric practices at night and new members are thoroughly screened and grilled before they are accepted as members – some of the prospective members of the groups often die in the process. This is why many still ask what attracts students to the groups?
First-hand Experience
“While in high school, second year specifically, I was accosted by them (cultists) in school because I ignorantly wore their color combination,” Chibuike Alagboso, a social media expert told AFKInsider.
“They said I was the person that harassed them sometime. Knowing what could happen if the argument went further, I simply told them I wasn’t the person and I walked away without waiting for argument.”
Alagboso said he had to forfeit all lectures on that day and left the school.
“I never wore the shirt again until I graduated,” he said.
According to him, students that are members of such groups are probably battling with inferiority complex.
“There are so many ways people react to different things and I think that is their own way of feeling to be part of something,” he added.
Member Identification
Since the cult groups had expanded from universities and colleges in Nigeria to high schools, students in the various institutions that are non-members are alert and are the first to flee when trouble ensues; they also know the colors of the various groups and would not wear such colors on specific days or at all. Alagboso said his inability to understand the unwritten color code of the cult group almost landed him in trouble.
“I knew such existed. I used to hear names but I never knew their supposed ‘colors,’”
Now even teachers and other school workers are aware of the cult color identification system. Sola Funmi is a secondary school teacher in southwest Nigeria. She said even though the school made it a punishable offense for any student to wear socks of other colors apart from white, many members of the cult groups still flout the law to show their cult membership.
“On Thursdays I always see some of them wearing black socks which are a sign of the International Terrorists Union (ITU) cult group in the school. When such students come around, they are always full of themselves and attempt to intimidate everyone including teachers,” she said.
She said the cult members often threaten teachers with havocs if they fail tests or exams; she however added that many of the teachers often stand up to the young cultists and insist that they must read to pass.
“What I usually do is I call them by their first names so they would know I really know them and they would be easily reported to the appropriate authorities for further actions,” she said.
On the academic performances of the cult members, she said confirmed members perform woefully during exams.
“I think they mostly join the groups to intimidate teachers and to force the helpless teachers to pass them,” she said.
Recruitment Exercise and Robbery
Cult groups in Nigerian institutions of higher learning usually recruit new members during the early weeks of school resumption; the new male members are initiated at ceremonies that can involve severe beatings. For all-female groups on the other hand, new members could be subjected to rough sexual intercourse.
New members of female cult groups could also be introduced to prostitution rings, while politicians have been rumored to use the male groups to intimidate the electorate and rig at the polls.
In addition to threatening teachers, Alagboso said members of the group want the best things on the campus. He was once involved in an incident where a cult member tried to steal his phone in the late evening after classes.
“I was heading home when he stopped me and took the money in my breast pocket. He wanted to search my pant pockets, but I refused. I offered to bring out the contents myself because I knew I wouldn’t get the phone back the moment it entered his hands, Alagboso said.
“I brought out the phone and he asked for it. I refused. He turned and picked up a knife from a fish seller. I made a run for it before he turned to face me again.”
Ways out and Impact on Education
While some students are lured into the cult lifestyle, Alagboso believes that promoting mentorship and catching students at young ages will help them avoid cult group involvement.
He said cultism has a negative impact on Nigeria’s education system as members are poorly trained and become a burden to the nation.
“Most of them end up as half-baked graduates that get pushed into the labor market. They are not employable, but however complain of no jobs and turn to more serious criminal lives,” he said.
“Older boys of secondary schools can help here. They can map out time to visit their alma mata. Teach them. Share experiences with them so they know there’s no gain from such lifestyles.”