Chris met his finish whereas having drinks at a pub within the Okokomaiko space of Lagos. Out of nowhere, younger guys like himself approached the pub with pistols and pump-action rifles. He was their goal; sadly, he didn’t see them in time, and neither did they permit him to see anything apart from their rifles releasing bullets into his skinny physique. His corpse was later taken away by members of his neighborhood to his mother or father’s home, turning the peaceable environment on the home right into a state of wailing.
The story of Chris’ demise was informed by a detailed buddy, Tade, who would have additionally ended up like him if not for what he claimed to be divine intervention.
In response to Tade, Chris was a member of the Black Axe, a secret cult present in nearly all campuses of tertiary establishments in Nigeria. He was a member regardless of not being a scholar of any greater establishment.
“He was killed on the pub, which was a couple of blocks away from his home, by members of Eiye Confraternity, a rival cult group that managed the realm,” Tade mentioned.
“Once I obtained the report of his dying and obtained to know the situation, I instantly recalled what he informed me eight years earlier than the incident. Chris informed me that each time he visited the pub to have some drinks, his spirit all the time felt uncomfortable. I didn’t know what he meant then till he was finally killed on the pub,” he mentioned.
Tade mentioned whereas he was looking for admission right into a college, he nearly grew to become a member of Eiye Confraternity as a result of most of his mates within the neighbourhood belonged to the group.
He mentioned, “I went by means of the primary initiation course of, and it scared me to my bones. I used to be taken to an uncompleted constructing to fulfill with a couple of members of the group within the space who beat me up and made me recite some phrases. After that, their chief took me to one of many rooms of the uncompleted constructing, the place he made me kneel. He then poured Alligator Pepper into his mouth and chewed it. Just a few seconds later, he poured native gin into his mouth to create a combination with the Alligator Pepper.”
Tade mentioned the chief spat the combination into his eyes, which made him endure excruciating ache that he thought would make him go blind.
“I struggled to open my eyes, however the ache was an excessive amount of. The chief then barked at me and informed me to open my eyes and look him within the eyes. What I noticed shocked me. His face regarded scary and vampire-like. The pupils of his eyes had been vertical slits like these of birds. I shivered whereas him,” Tade mentioned.
He mentioned the expertise, which he got here to understand was demonic, made him conclude to not proceed with the remainder of the initiation. He accepted Jesus Christ afterward and renounced no matter membership he had with the group.
Whereas Tade pulled away earlier than he may totally change into a secret cult member, it wasn’t so for Kingsley, a resident of the Ikorodu space in Lagos, who didn’t have any dream of furthering his training at a better establishment.
“I all the time admired members of the Black Axe in my space. I liked listening to tales of how they stood up for one another, and I observed that they had been feared by different guys within the neighbourhood. Earlier than I joined, I used to be informed that the group is a good one and that members don’t interact in stealing, raping, or any exercise that brings disrepute. Shortly after I joined, I noticed that these had been the precise issues they had been into,” he laughed whereas narrating.
Nothing to Achieve, A Lot to Lose
Kingsley said that after he joined, his group often met every so often to sing songs of initiates, recite code phrases, and narrate tales of fellow members who had been killed. In addition they strategized on the right way to steal neighbourhoods from rival cult teams.
He mentioned, “Issues had been cool to start with, and I knew nobody may mess with me in my hood. I walked boldly as a result of I had brothers who may die to defend me. However the second one among them was killed in chilly blood and the remainder of us needed to flee the neighbourhood for some time, I began to investigate my determination to hitch the group. It dawned on me that I used to be in a silly group once I requested a fellow member if there was any type of reward, maybe a month-to-month cost for being a member. He responded that I’d be feared by rival cultists and likewise these he described as Jew Males, a.ok.a. non-initiates. The reward was not price dropping my life, and so I renounced.”
For Musa, a carpenter who fled Sango in Ibadan after he renounced cult actions, wanting over his shoulders in concern was his reward for becoming a member of the Black Axe.
“I joined when there was a heavy conflict between the Black Axe and Eiye. I used to be a 21-year-old apprentice on the time and felt I wanted brotherhood. Now that I’m a religious Christian, I’ve come to understand that secret cult actions are demonic. Or how do you clarify the killings occurring?” he requested.
Musa mentioned earlier than he was initiated, the one that lured him in informed him that he may solely be killed if he had blood on his arms.
“What you might be by no means informed is that taking their oath is identical as inheriting all of the blood that the group had shed since inception. That is why you change into a goal no matter whether or not you might be just some seconds into the sport,” he mentioned.
How It Began, How It Is Going
The earliest type of campus confraternity may very well be traced to the Nationwide Affiliation of Seadogs, in any other case often called Pyrate, which began in 1952. It was shaped by some college students of the College of Ibadan to combat towards elitism. Nevertheless, breakaway factions arose, and different teams sprang forth with murderous ideologies, all in a bid for energy and management in society.
At present, there are greater than 10 confraternities, amongst that are the Pyrates, Black Axe, Eiye, Buccaneers, Maphite, and Vikings. Whereas they had been predominantly campus teams, their actions now have a stable footing in several communities throughout the nation.
A report by the European Union Company for Asylum (EUAA) revealed that cult-related violence accounted for 442 fatalities and 290 victims of kidnapping in 2017.
In Edo State, the fast previous Governor, Godwin Obaseki, whereas declaring conflict towards cultism, said that about 150 individuals misplaced their lives to cult-related actions between January and June 2024.
Amid the every day bloodshed, states have begun implementing measures to curb cult-related actions. In Edo State, an anti-cultism regulation was repealed to disclose the *Secret Cult and Related Actions (Prohibition) Regulation, 2025*, which imposes a 21-year jail time period for cult members and their sponsors.
In Lagos State, the same regulation exists, which punishes cultists with a 21-year jail time period and a 15-year jail time period for these harbouring them.
Regardless of these legal guidelines, cult-related actions persist. Youths now gloriously flaunt their membership on TikTok and different social media platforms.
In a chat with our correspondent, the Christian Affiliation of Nigeria (CAN), by means of the Director of Nationwide Points and Social Welfare, Abimbola Ayuba, tasked clerics to do extra from the pulpit to discourage youths from embracing the menace.
Ayuba mentioned, “These points begin from the household unit. You recognize that even the church itself is a conglomeration of household models.
“CAN continues to encourage church religion leaders to make use of the pulpit as a device to achieve out to individuals, households, and oldsters. The place attainable, counseling classes must be carried out to make sure that these concerned in cultism are faraway from such practices.
“If you wish to get rid of a tree, you go right down to its root, and the household system is the basis of all actions that kind society.”
