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Nigerians decry the menace of cultism in Nigeria

Nigerians on social media decried the menace of cultism in Nigeria, describing it as a nefarious act and a fail way to build confidence.

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Nigerians decry the menace of cultism in Nigeria

Nigerians on social media decried the menace of cultism in Nigeria, describing it has a nefarious act and a fail way to build confidence.

No doubt, the origin of cultism in Nigeria has always been traced to the Seadog Confraternity (a.k.a Pyrates), founded by Wole Soyinka and six others at the foremost University of Ibadan in 1952.

It was said that the peaceful, and non-violent confraternity set up then has metamorphosed into a secret cult whose activities have been characterized by some bizarre and violent activities.

An example of how Amotekun and which reports gathered that the cultist had around 11 am invaded Owo-Ope community around Ayetoro on motorcycles and killed a teenage member of a rival group and also the killing in Port Harcourt has been an issue in the minds of Nigerians.

Dr Chinonso Egemba, a popular online doctor in Nigeria lamented the “day cultists took my roommate and me in Awka and flogged us with the flat part of a cutlass till we bled.”

The major causes of cultism in tertiary institutions were the influence of peer groups, parental background, societal decadence, erosion of education standards, the militarization of the Nigerian polity, lack of recreational facilities, quest for power and protection among others.

However, some of the effects of cultism include loss of lives and properties, disruption of academic activities on campuses, unsafe university environments. It was therefore recommended that all the stakeholders in the university education system should fuse efforts to combat the menace. It was also recommended that government should be more aggressive in her quest to eradicate cultism in the universities.

A story of how a boy named Roland*  a first-year student when he joined the Buccaneers, a secret, illegal student society in Nigeria was a also shard on Twitter.

According to the story, a brutal initiation ritual was held late at night in the forest. Older members, singing, dancing and drinking, formed a ring around him and other blindfolded initiates, beating them severely until the early hours of the morning.

The ritual was supposed to purge the initiates of weaknesses and instil bravery in them.

“The moment you go in there and come out, you are a different person,”

These societies, also referred to as confraternities and campus cults, have names like Vikings, Black Axe, Eiye (a word in the local Yoruba language for bird), and the Buccaneers.

Majority believed that the main reason people join cult is that it provides them with networking opportunities to get good jobs and to access power which other normal group ca not easily provide.

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