… ‘How some of my friends wee raped in several attacks’
The spate of violence and cultism in Kogi State University has escalated so much, that students are currently living in fear of being physically attacked or coerced into committing unsavoury deeds.
Some alumni and current undergraduates at the institution, who spoke anonymously for fear of being identified and victimised, narrated harrowing tales of sadism they suffered in the hands of fellow students and, sometimes, outside collaborators.
According to them, they had been “robbed”, “beaten mercilessly”, “threatened and blackmailed” before they eventually secured deliverance from “torment” of the gangs.
One of the victims recalled how he was beaten, threatened and blackmailed because he went out with a girl he was unaware had a cultist lover.
He said, “One night, around 9 o’clock, as I was sitting outside my lodge, a lady living in a distant place begged me to escort her home. As we got to her gate, armed robbers accosted and dispossessed us of our phones and other belongings. This made the lady feel bad that she was the cause of our misfortune. She offered me money as compensation and though I refused, she insisted.
“We eventually became close friends and I asked her out. Then the girl’s boyfriend, who I didn’t know was a cultist, saw our phone chat and he started a conversation with me through the girl’s account and his own account. He was threatening me to give him money, to the tune of N15,000 and sometimes more. I was sending money meant for my food and academics because I was scared. And the girl did not say anything.”
According to the victim, one day, he finally met the cultist in school. “He dragged me to a corner, beat me mercilessly and still demanded another N20,000. In fact, he made a habit of beating and collecting money from me. Soon, he started threatening my roommates too and collecting money from them,” he said.
“Eventually, after many sufferings, I had to look for guys whom I knew would know the cultists to beg the guy and his gang. While begging, they still beat me mercilessly and collected money before I was freed. The guy was a graduate but was still coming to school,” he added.
Another victim, a lady, who did not want her identity revealed, said she and friends were always on the run because her lodge was their den. She revealed that they were always attacked.
She said, “Cultists usually entered the lodges and threatened us to bring out money. Some of my friends are still traumatised, as they were raped in several attacks because they refused to go out with one of the cult bosses.
“We were always running for our lives. Sometimes, we may be in our room in the afternoon, they may just come with ammunition, asking us for N5,000 and if we couldn’t provide it at that moment, we would be beaten. It is not a good story to remember, it is traumatising.”
Another victim, who heaved a sigh before narrating his ordeal, said his final year project became tough after cultists took away all his gadgets where he had stored his chapters as he was financially constrained.
“It happened during my university days. Exactly project period that the incident took place. I had no laptop to carry out the typing of my result and could not contract it out because of insufficient fund. So the little money I had on me (last card) could get me a mini smart phone that I used in sourcing for materials online and with the help of quick office application, I could also do the typing on my phone. So I went and bought the phone with my last card.
“Two weeks later, at around 9pm, I was in my room in school reading for a test coming up the next day. There was no electricity, so my next-door neighbor had to put on his generator set. I needed to read and I was low on battery in my phone. I went to his room to charge for the mean time, with the intention of coming back to my room to continue my reading.
“Few minutes to 11pm, we heard a knock on the door. At first we thought it was one of our neighbors who wanted to come and charge also. So, one of us inside the room got up to open the door.
“The next thing we heard was a struggle between the guy that went to open the door and some other people. Before we could get up to ascertain what was happening, they pushed the guy inside, forced themselves in, and asked us all to lie flat on the ground without saying a word. We did as they said. These guys were four inside and I could still sense some others outside, too. So there was nothing we could do at that moment because they came with guns, axes and cutlasses.“
It turned out that they were cultists and were there to attack another person, who they claimed was disturbing a girlfriend of theirs.
“They asked for a particular name; that somebody told them that one of us was disturbing one of their girlfriends and they had come to teach that person not to joke with an ‘Amesey’ (the cult trade mark). They took all our devices that were charging, they beat all of us. They even tried to shoot me. Only God made me escape death, because they told us they were asked to kill one person.”
Giving reason for widespread cultism activities, an educationist and author, Ivor Ogidefa, disclosed that continuous want for power had geared their activities.
“Some students may engage in cultism in order to fight perceived injustice on their campuses against their members, search for satisfaction of individual aspirations and needs. Search for security and social identity. There are also students who join cult groups for popularity. They want to make name and to be regarded as powerful people. For these students, to belong to a cult group is a way of achieving prestige and greatness. They believe that they could influence decisions on campus and that they could as well dictate the pace during the student union and students’ representative elections.”
Ogidefa, however, noted that the activities could be curbed. This, he said, required the involvement of all, and not just the government.
“Over the past two decades, various attempts have been made to deal with the problem of cultism. The various measures taken include the enactment of decree 47 of 1989 that prescribed jail term for any cultist found guilty. Also, the Federal Republic of Nigeria under Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, in 2000, issued a three-month ultimatum to all vice-chancellors to eradicate cultism from the campuses. Some higher institutions also set up anti-cult groups consisting of the student body itself and some security agencies to monitor and check the activities of cultists on campus.
“Despite the various measures, it appears the proliferation of cult groups and their dastardly acts continue unabated. However, to curb this menace, the following are veritable. Government and non-governmental agencies and the media should step up campaigns against cultism and its destructive tendencies. The evil nature of cultism should be explained to young people in schools at all levels through sensitization, seminars, workshops, symposium, posters, handbills and public lectures. Parents should desist from being members of secret cults and also prevent their children from joining bad
groups.”
In the same vein, an ex-VC of Unilag, Prof. Ibidapo Obe, said their activities could be curbed through joint efforts.
“Religious and moral instructions should be re-introduced in all spheres of life and the decadent society should be spiritually reawakened by joint effort of parents, religious organizations, and government. Parents should be more vigilant concerning the activities of their children within and outside the home. Also, there must be improved facilities and improved living conditions on campuses so as to minimize perceived strain in the social system, which underlines cultism on the campuses.
“The authorities of higher institutions of learning must show their readiness and determination to eradicate cultism. They must brace up to the challenges of cultism, which has become one of the most potent evils of recent
time. “
