Reasons for Cultism in Nigeria and How 13 year old boy was initiated.

Arrested 13 year old boy Nigeria cultist.

Cultism in Nigeria.This is another sad story.How does a 13 year old become a hardened cultist? 13?At that age i could not even go to the shops myself at night.What is happening to our youths? What makes the story more incredible and sad is,his mother said he had enrolled the boy in a private school.So this was not a boy who had no motherly care or was abandoned.
The 13-year-old boy, Opeyemi Johnson, has disclosed how he was initiated into cultism and robbery by someone he respected and looked up to as ‘big brother.’
Just shows parents should really be careful who they let their little ones get close to.Both boys and
girls.I have seen some young girls of 12,13,14,who hang around some certain "Aunties" in the neighbourhood who have wayward lifestyles.What do you think is gonna happen when these little girls keep seeing these aunties frolic with all kinds of men?They grow up quickly and think its the thing to do.

Same as little boys who hang around rascally or older hoodlums in the neighbourhood. 
What is the history of cultism in Nigeria?How did it become so rampant and in our schools and universities?In my generation during the 70s and 80s,it was never this bad.Now it is rampant.

Johnson, a Junior Secondary School student of a private school in Sango, Ogun State, confessed to being a member of the dreaded cult group known as “Awawa Boys.”

He said:

 “I was initiated into the group about a year ago. It was one brother whom I only know as Ola that introduced and forced me to join the group. Initially, I did not know it would turn out like this. Immediately I saw their ways of life, I wanted to quit but they threatened to kill me if I leave the group.”

Recollecting his initiation day, Newtelegraphonline reports that Johnson said:

“It was on a Sunday evening at Abattoir, Agege. Ola took me to a dark room and ordered me to kneel down. In that room, I met other six members of the group already waiting for my arrival.

The cult leader, ‘Ijaomode,’ blindfolded me with a black piece of cloth and all the six members descended on me. They gave me a thorough beating.

“After that, they gave me alligator pepper to chew and alcoholic drink. One of them stood up, drew a tattoo on my forehead and below my eyes as a sign of being a bona fide member of the group.

Since then, I have been going out with them for operations. I stopped going back home and started sleeping in a shanty at Abattoir.”

Johnson was arrested after he and other members of the gang attacked and robbed passers-by of bags, phones and other valuables. The police said:

 “The suspect and 20 other members of the cult group were early on Sunday morning returning from a Street Carnival somewhere around Agbado Crossing, when they suddenly went on the rampage and started dispossessing passers-by of bags, phones and other valuable items.”

Secondary school cultists arrested in Nigeria,really sad.

Johnson also explained that he went with the cult members to a carnival at Power Line, Agbado Crossing. He said:

“On our way home, our ‘Capol, nicknamed Ijaomode, instructed us to start robbing anybody we met on our way. We robbed not less than 10 individuals of their belongings before we got to Fagba Junction. 

At this point, we saw a young girl, whom we immediately surrounded and collected all her belongings, including phones and jewelry. She later went to bring Rapid Response Squad (RRS) men who chased us and arrested me. My colleagues escaped.”

Johnson also said he had never met his father, a Congolese. He said:

“My mother just told me he is a Congolese. I had made frantic efforts to see him to the extent that I had to travel to Congo alone to look for him, but I didn’t see him.

Rather, I saw some of his family members who told me he had travelled out of the country. For now, I can only talk to him via phone.”

The boy’s mother, Mrs. Johnson, said she was shocked over the latest discovery of her son’s lifestyle. She said:

“He is my third child. Though I had remarried, that doesn’t stop me from playing my motherly roles for him. His two elder siblings are in higher institutions.

I have tried to ensure that he didn’t go astray. I enrolled him in a private school at Sango. I wondered how he got to Abattoir, Agege. I gave him and his siblings all my best.”

The victim of the gang, Naisha Akiomon, who alerted RRS operatives after she was robbed, said:

“I was on my way to Balogun Market, Lagos Island when they attacked me at Fagba junction. They were about 15 boys. They surrounded me with weapons and asked me to release all my belongings. They collected N58,000, permanent voter’s card, three ATM cards, phones and other valuables from me. I had to run to the other side of the road to shout for help. Fortunately, I saw RRS operatives patrolling and I explained everything to them.”

Picture of female cultism in Nigeria.

There are different types of cultisms in Nigeria. There are political ones,robbery cults,prostitution cults,child trafficking,female cultism in Nigeria is also rampant and more.I will never forget a day i went to a commissioners office in Nigeria.In Ogun state to be exact.And i saw young university students who had come to beg the commissioner to help get them back to school cos they had been expelled.They were all young skinny looking boys who you would think could not harm a fly! I was left in a state of shock hearing their stories.

So what are the causes of cultism in Nigeria? Well,the most obvious ones i guess.Government not catering for the youths.When youths have no channels to propel their energies into,they become restless and start looking for other ways.How many libraries do you have or see in your area for kids? How many local centres are their for kids to go hang out and engage in social activities?How many football fields do you have in your area were young men can go play football till they drop and return home to sleep because they have no energy left?
Unemployment.Just think of all the young men and girls you see who have passed out of secondary school or Universities and have been unemployed for years.Sooner or later,this youths start looking for ways to make their selves feel useful and sufficient,then they start getting beyond their means.

Picture of cultists in Nigeria.

The most common kind of cultism in Nigeria is probably the ones at our schools and Universities.They became incredibly rampant in the 90s and 2000s...So many students and lecturers were killed.Boys and girls were recruited forcefully and some were even killed for refusing to be members.One of the most common reasons giving for becoming cult members in Nigerian schools and Universities was said to be PROTECTION.But protection from what?Some said from certain guys on campus or schools,some girls wanted it so they can be protected from lecturers who tried to sleep with them for better grades.

I am not saying these are the only causes of cultism in Nigeria,but these factors play a big part.The government should definitely be held mostly accountable.

Oh,and absent parents as well.When you are not around to monitor your children,they obviously develop bad habits and get into bad company.

Story by Queen Olofofo.