Real-Time24 Editiorial Board
Lending credence to the widely circulating notion that cultism has extended its fangs to all the strata of Nigeria’s education system, the Akwa Ibom State Government has responded with a legal option, unlike many states waffling over the scourge. Amid escalating cult-induced violence in parts of Uyo, the state capital, the governor, Udom Emmanuel, inked a new law (the Cultism and Other Violent Behaviour (Prohibition) Order, 2020) that proscribes all forms of cult groups and secret societies in the state’s primary and secondary schools. This is a huge step, but attaining a cult-free school system goes far beyond just the legal option.
Long before Emmanuel’s proscription order, Akwa Ibom, much like many states, had been engulfed by violent cult activities. Initially, the cultists, who are criminal gangs, were found in tertiary institutions, but their operations have now gone beyond the confines of their schools. In the past few weeks, they have made some parts of Uyo inaccessible. They deploy sophisticated weapons and maim rival gang members at will. In August 2017, their bloody operation in Udianga Enem Community in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area of the state led to the death of four persons.
Many times, they have wreaked havoc on the University of Uyo. In one of such instances last September, three people were killed. Apparently, because the decadence was not cured on time, it has spread to primary and secondary schools. Some secondary schools in the state are now notorious for violent cult activities. On February 14, the pupils of one of the secondary schools locked down the road leading to their school for hours. During the debate on the cultism bill, a lawmaker lamented: “Instead of carrying books to school, our pupils now carry axes.”
With this reality, the government has now outlawed 65 cult groups in the state. The law states in part: “…any society or group by whatsoever name whose activities are found to be consistent with the activities of a cult shall be considered and treated as such under this Order.” A step in the right direction, but only sustained enforcement will make the difference, considering that such a lapse is notorious in governance in the country. In 2018, for instance, the government had made a law that banned 14 cult groups. It was all to no avail. In shutting down Ewet Technical College in Uyo earlier this year, the government cited cult activities. Therefore, the critical element is implementation.
Unfortunately, almost all the states in the South are battling with the menace. At the Abia State University, Uturu, cultists slaughtered two students of the institution in March 2016. They criminally beheaded them and used the heads as goalposts in a football game. To lay down a marker, the state should have uncovered the perpetrators and prosecuted them.
In Lagos, evidence of bloody cult activities is palpable. They have berthed in the secondary school system so strongly that a former commissioner of police in the state, Edgal Imohimi, expressed shock at the involvement of minors in cultism. The most notorious groups include Eiye, Black Axe, Aiye and Vikings. In parts of Ikorodu area of the state, the cultists behave like terror groups, running transport unions and assassinating rival gang members in broad daylight.
This is also the order of the day in Rivers State, where cultists have arrogated the coercive powers of the state to themselves. With no sanctions against their lawlessness, they become more emboldened. In Ogun State, dreaded cult groups in Sagamu and Ijebu-Ode act as if they are above the law, making public schools a haven for their corrosive criminal undertakings. In May 2016, the police in Benin, the Edo State capital, arrested 14 Junior Secondary School students over their alleged involvement in cult-related activities. The students whose ages ranged from 12 to 15 were picked up when officers stormed a secondary school in Benin City.
With such an extensive grip on the public school system, it is curious that state governments are treating this criminality with levity. Strikingly, the prosecution of offenders is almost absent, let alone convictions for those caught stealing, pouring acid on victims and killing. The usual excuse is that they are minors, but those who are 18 years and above should not escape the wrath of the law.
In fairness, some of these children caught in the web of cultism are victims: they were bullied and threatened by the gangsters into joining against their will. For this, the police need to step up their game. Undercover investigators working with school authorities should infiltrate the gangs and protect those who want to exit the cults voluntarily.
Here, the civil society advocacy is relevant. After noticing a high rate of child offences in the United Kingdom, a non-profit, the Howard League for Penal Reform, urged police organisations there to change their tactics. Consequently, in the seven years to 2017, the arrest of children fell by 68 per cent, down from almost 246,000 in 2010 to just over 79,000 arrests in 2017. In this respect, those caught with weapons for the first time were subjected to counselling. In that situation, the police will depend on a reputable database to trace repeat offenders before subjecting them to prosecution.
Among other measures, the names of identified cultists should be circulated among the security agencies. A law could be made to bar them from seeking political offices or other forms of punishment could be imposed. The police should go after the sponsors of cultism and combine this with vigorous prosecution. The violent ones among the pupils should be put in children prisons, not with adults as the case is now. The society will benefit by putting special programmes in place to wean children off crime and rehabilitate those ensnared in it.