Benin City: A stream flowing with street cultism

by Eromose Ileso

Cultism has become a menace to the Nigeria society, but in some places in the country, it is a bigger problem than it is in others. Benin City, the capital of Edo State is an example of where the menace has become an issue that never seem to end. 

In 2014, I wrote a piece that traced the evolution of cultism from the tertiary institutions to the streets in Benin City, and how the credibility that was common place in the streets have given way to cultism. 

Even at that, one prevalent thing about school cultism is that it is largely 'seasonal' in nature in that, rival cult groups most times engage in battle mostly during the end of a school session. This is why it is common place to see that certain final year students that are highly placed in the leadership of cult groups do not live to leave the University as their life is sniffed out from them shortly after their final examinations for deeds they carried out in their earlier years in school. Cases abound where this has happened.

The seasonal nature of school cultism is not cast on stone; something could trigger a disagreement between rival cult members that would lead to a larger problem at any time during a school session. However, with street cultism, it is never seasonal, it can happen at any time of the year, it does not matter what time of the year it is really.

At different times in 2015, the killings between different cult groups in Benin City was so high that it took the intervention of the then Inspector General of Police Solomon Arase who is from Benin City, Edo State to stem the tide. 

The IGP came down hard on the leaders of the groups as officers from the Force Headquarters in Abuja came to arrest several leaders of the rival cult groups in Benin City. Some of those arrested had association with highly placed individuals in government. Some police officers were not spared in the clamp down as those that have association with the cult groups were arrested. While some were taken to Abuja, others ended up in Lagos. 

The clamp down was so serious that even Divisional Police Officers (DPO) could not release on bail those that were in the Divisional Police Stations. But despite these arrests, there is/was little or no evidence of anybody that was charged to court, most of them eventually got out of detention on police bail.

That singular act by the IGP brought about a thaw between the cult groups as there was a sudden peaceable sphere that pervaded the landscape of Benin City as an unusual serenity descended on the horizon. Even you could hear some of the cult members giving cryptic signs via hush tunes that indeed they have been able to move around freely without fear that they would be attacked. Whether it was a Manfight, Eiye, Bucaneer, Black Axe and/or Jurist cult member, the intervention brought about by the IGP was something they all welcomed.

And it should be noted that one reason why the IGP’s invention was swift was because he understood the terrain as well as the various networks in the City. 

His intervention was reminiscent to that of retired (Deputy Inspector General) DIG Parry Osayande’s posting to Benin City as Police Commissioner of Old Bendel State in 1986 by military president, Ibrahim Babaginda to deal with the robbery menace of Lawrence Anini and his gang. Again, this was possible because Parry Osayande knew the terrain because he is from Benin City.

However, that thaw that was brought about by the intervention of the IGP later disappeared as the killings soon resumed. That undercurrent that is always there triggered another spate of killings. In the Evboneka Community of Benin City, there were killings almost on a daily basis, with a complete disregard for the sanctity of human life.

On Tuesday, January 26, 2016, the Edo State Police Command arrested and paraded over 46 cult members including those that were on their way to sniff out life out of a rival cult member. They had earlier been informed by a friend that their target was at Urokpota Hall, at Ring Road, so the two of them proceeded with a back pack to their destination, but fortunately, they were accosted by the police at Ring Road who searched their bag and discovered two firearms and a axe. It was at the parade, they narrated what they were on their way to do, before they were arrested. However, others that were targeted to be killed have not been as fortunate as they have met their untimely dead by a design they fostered on themselves.

At various times throughout 2016 and as well as 2017, there have been different spate of cult related killings. There was one particular case that was very bad. It happened in the Ikpoba Hill area of Benin City in February, 2017. A rival cult group went to the home of a rival to pull a hit, when they got there; their target was not at home. Instead they ended up beheading a sibling of their supposed target.

Street cultism in Benin City has become so bad that involvement cuts across every facet of the fabrics of the City. Artisans, electronic dealers, Technicians, ordinary persons and other group of persons are deeply involved. Primary and Secondary school students are also involved. 

Most of them join these cult groups willingly, while some end up there through peer pressure and at other times they are initiated into the cult groups by their friends. And the multiplier effect of this involvement in cult groups is that there is the domino effect of armed robbery. Those who are not engage in any productive venture, will end up being involved in kidnapping, armed robbery, rape and extortion. And one of the reasons why they engage in these social vices is that they have to pay dues to the cult groups they belong to. These dues are paid the way members of any association pay their dues. As a result, most of them go to any length to get the necessary money to pay the dues.

The reason why the rate of street cultism is on the high side in the various suburbs and communities in Benin City is something that was extensively dealt with in this piece of 2014.

But it would be unfair to claim that the menace of cultism in particular and street cultism in general is something that is a problem only in Benin City. All over the country, it is a problem that has eaten deep into the fabric of the Nigerian Society, It is everywhere. But a major difference between cult memberships in the supposedly high class is that there is this esprit de corps between them irrespective of the fraternity they become to, whereas, in street cultism, any fault lines and tensions from existing undercurrents result in killings.

There is a clear respect of hierarchy amongst the high echelons of this cult groups, but in street cultism, there is seldom respect as such, anybody can use a personal disagreement outside to initiate a spate of killings as there is always a loose chain of command, that is why these killings are so prevalent.

With the way the menace of street cultism is shaping up, it would take more than just the usual practice of arrest and parade by the police for it to be curtailed.

Something drastic has to be done to address the issue. For now though, the killings through street cultism continues unabated.