effect of cultism

Being Text of a Paper Presented by Mr Ben
Oguntuase, NAS Capone at the Anti-Cult Week
Symposium organised by the University of Lagos
on Wednesday, November 3, 1999 This Anti-Cult
week marks another important step towards
dealing with one of the contemporary problems
facing higher education in Nigeria. The problems
of the violence associated with "cultism" in
higher institutions reached a climax with the
cruel massacre of five students of the Obafemi
Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in the early hours of
July 10. I can say authoritatively that the trend
towards cult violence started in the early 1980s.
I believe the first cult-related violent death
occurred in 1984.
It is not very impressive of us as a nation that it
took over fifteen years since the violence began
and nine years since the Pyrates Confraternity
raised a national alarm on the trend before the
nation decided to rise up to the challenge and
deal with the problems. However, under the
circumstance, it is better late than never. In
this regard, I praise the organisers of this
conference and sincerely hope that concrete
steps will be taken hereafter to tackle this
problem once and for all. We really have no
choice on this. OAU must be the very last!
I have been asked to provide a perspective on
"cultism" in Higher Institutions andd how to
deal with its associated problems. I hope that
this topic is not intended by the organisers to
mean that student cultism is bad, while non-
student cultism is good. What is certainly obvious
to me is that there is at present no national
definition of the term "cultism". What I can
read from the general public is that fraternity
equals cultism. Another shade of interpretation
could rightly say that fraternity plus violence
equals cultism. I will attempt to define and
distinguish between the two terms in this paper.
I will also attempt to provide some insight into
the organisations we call students' cults and
suggest concrete ways to deal with the violence
associated with them. I will also be informing
you of steps already taken to ensure a
permanent end to this type of violence in all our
higher institutions of learning.
Finally for this preamble, let me state clearly
that whatever is said during this conference is
done in good faith and with the overriding
objective of terminating a menace, not to
destroy or castigate anyone willfully. Anyone
who may be offended by what I say here today
is hereby requested to take it as being in the
interest of the nation, the future of our youths
and the protection of the dignity and integrity
of our higher institutions of learning which no
doubt have been defiled.
Who really are the so-called "cultists"?
When people talk of students cult groups, they
in their sub-consciousness are referring to the
following:
1. The Pyrates Confraternity
2. The Buccaneer Confraternity
3. The Eiye Confraternity
4. The Neo-Black Movement of Africa
5. The Vikings
6. The Mafia and lately,
7. The Daughters of Jezebel
8. The Black Braziers.
There are a few others such as Mgba Mgba, the
Amazons, etc. that are really not significant
enough for discussion here although they should
not be ignored.
The first four started out with noble ideals,
which no one can really fault.
The Pyrates Confraternity set out to fight
moribund convention, neo-colonialism, and
tribalism and at the same time, defend
humanistic ideals while promoting comradeship
and chivalry amongst its members.
Buccaneers set out to pursue the same goals as
the PC and in fact broke out of the PC because
of some internal crisis.
The Eiye Confraternity started out as Eiye Group
with the objective of promoting a balanced
physical and mental development with emphasis
on sports and academic excellence.
The Neo-Black Movement was born out of their
determination to fight for the restoration of
the culture, dignity and pride of the black man.
Their establishment was in response to the
Sharpeville and Soweto massacres in South
Africa. Its newspaper was called Black Axe (so
named euphemistically as the Axe with which to
"cut" the white man and those keeping the black
man in bondage). This name, Black Axe, later
became the synonym for the movement.
The Vikings and the Mafia were created by
government during the regime of General
Babangida for the purpose of fighting student
unionism in aid of the self succession
programme of General Babangida and later, of
General Sani Abacha.
The Daughters of Jezebel and the Black Braziers
were both female responses to the all-pervasive
male chauvinism and domination on campuses
combined with the coincidental interest of the
girl friends of the members of the male groups.
The Pyrates Confraternity succeeded in
remaining a fraternity without imbibing or
internalising the culture of violence. For various
reasons, some of which we shall see later, they
have become generally acceptable to the public
and the academic communities although they do
not exist on campuses anymore. They have
largely succeeded in shedding the image of
cultism.
The Buccaneers slipped into violence at some
point and became neck-dip in intra-fraternity
violence. However, before the bubble burst and
perhaps taking a cue from the PC, they took
steps to restructure and re-organise in a way
that rid their organisation of violence.
Significantly, the Buccaneers have not been
involved in any of the campus violence in recent
times.
Much of the violence we have witnessed are
traceable to the Eiye Confraternity, the Black
Axe, the Vikings and the Mafites as they are
called.
In all, I will say that no less than a total of 150
students and others would have died as a result
of intra-fraternity rivalry in the last ten years.
I am still working on this very awful statistics. It
is significant to note that while this amount of
crime has been committed, no one has been
successfully prosecuted to the best of my
knowledge.
{mospagebreak}
Who is Responsible?
We all are. Let us briefly review the hierarchy of
responsibility.
The Government
Violence has for a long time been part of our
political culture since independence starting
with the crisis in the West. Also, since
independence, we have never had good
governance. Even during the democratic
government in the second republic, the image of
the Kill and Go police was overwhelming. The
military came and seriously dented civil conduct
and deeply implanted in our psyche the culture
of violence. The most significant imprint of
violence on our psyche took place in October 1986
when Dele Giwa was issued the letter bomb.
We all know what followed; the unbridled breach
of rights accompanied by torture and murder
sponsored by the state which all contributed to
the pervasive culture of violence that enveloped
the land. No institution was spared.
Military governance also gave rise to extreme
moral decadence in the society. Honour and
integrity were no longer virtues to be respected.
The economic decay largely engendered by
corrupt governance led to job insecurity, poor
pay and general job dissatisfaction. The result
was massive brain drain from the academic
community at a time there was an explosion in
University enrolment. This affected student/
staff ratio with severe impact on the quality
and intensity of learning.
Alongside all these was failure to invest
appropriately in the educational system leading
to collapse of facilities and decay of the
academic environment.
Far more significant than all the above was the
unwholesome infiltration of the groups and the
large scale impersonation that occurred. Under
military sponsorship, a lot of crimes were
committed which were attributed to the
fraternities. Armed robbers claimed to be
cultists when arrested. The military sponsored a
lot of killings and other forms of violence and
blamed it on the cultists in their well known art
of disinformation. Before long, this truth will be
exposed.
The Institutions
They too contributed. University administrators
became autocratic as they had to obey orders
from the powers that be made up of people who
themselves did not have the benefit of higher
education. The impact of a General becoming the
Vice Chancellor of a university with sole powers
through military fiat should not be lost.
Regrettably, no Professor got appointed even a
Brigade Commander, not to talk of GOC. This
major assault on the academia was not enough
to trigger an ASUU strike in protest against a
clear debasement of their sphere of influence
and control.
"Blocking", a system of grade purchase became
rampant. A student need not go to class as long
as he is well connected, preferably if he is a
cult member, or if she is beautiful and is willing
to deal. Otherwise, if he or she can pay the
price, the grade is assured.
The absence of virile student unionism resulting
from the Akanbi Panel recommendation that
student unionism be banned or at most be made
voluntary contributed significantly to this
problem. Although five students died following
the ABU crisis that gave birth to the Justice
Akanbi panel, the adoption of that
recommendation enabled most Vice Chancellors
to move in the direction of outright destruction
of student unionism. This created a vacuum that
was exploited by the cultists over the years.
Right under the watchful eyes of the University
authorities, students sold bed and floor spaces
to fellow students with the connivance of
Students Affairs Officers and Hall Wardens. In
some cases, a 90 per session bed space was sold
for as high as 20,000 to 30,000.
We have it on good authority that these so-
called cultists were used to settle personal scores
on many occasions. We had student versus
student, lecturer versus lecturer, student versus
lecturer. After all, a Vice Chancellor once used
them to harass and/or sack lecturers and
student union executives.
When in those days, Professors and Lecturers
were rushing to take government appointments,
some of us warned on the long-term danger of
this unwholesome collaboration with the military
and the danger of erosion of the cherished
autonomy of the institutions. Defending their
autonomy and integrity clearly became
subordinate to the opportunity for personal
enrichment that government appointments
offered.
Some Professors recruited these cultists in their
campaign to become Vice Chancellors while others
used them to fight students unions. They were
not so recruited because they were the best in
intellect. Rather, their disposition towards
thuggery was the qualification required to make
them suitable for those assignments. Banning
and un-banning students unions and ASUU
became very much a fashion for the military.
The instability in student unionism promoted by
the administrators on the orders of their
military masters clearly provided fertile ground
for the growth of cultism and its attendant
violence.
Given the large number of Psychologists,
Sociologists and Social Scientists in the academic
community, it is significant to note that no
major scientific study was carried out on the
cult phenomenon. There was no authoritative
study and proposals on how to achieve
modification in the behaviour of the cultists and
wean them from drug and violence throughout
the fifteen-year reign of terror on our
campuses. Elsewhere, books would have been
written, journals would have been awash with
papers and articles giving us all an insight into
the psychometric profile of the student cultist.
As an aside, many of us still look forward for
that Professor that will provide this nation an
insight into the mind and personality of Abacha
(really the principal cultist) and the motivation
for his voracious appetite for wealth, women,
power, and control.
{mospagebreak}
The Students Unions
Many of them lost focus and assumed the very
dictatorial and anarchist character of the
military regimes they claimed to be fighting.
They became contemptible of all laws of the
land. Operationally, it became difficult to
distinguish student union officers from the
cultists. Whenever a student leader wanted to
"chop", he creates a crisis that sends the rest of
the students out of campus. While managing
those artificial crises, they also managed their
pockets. We know of Union Executive members
who collaborated with university administrators
to trade bed spaces in the hostels.
Although it must be acknowledged that many
students played significant roles in the struggle
against the military domination, they also
contributed equally significantly to the moral
decay that became the lot of our higher
institutions and the society at large.
Others
The media, the general public, parents, etc. also
contributed their quota to the degeneration. We
all inadvertently massaged the ego of the
criminals in the schools each time we called them
cult members and painted a picture of them as
the ultimate in machismo. As if murder
committed by a so-called cultist is of a
different category as that committed by any
other citizen and therefore requires different
judicial approach, we failed to show the
necessary resolve that would have put those
murderers behind bars.
Up till now, I do not think we have learnt the
lessons. Otherwise why would those arrested in
connection with the OAU incidence be charged
before a Magistrate court which we all know
lacks jurisdiction over murder cases? Some say
there is no law under which to try the murderous
cultists. Sounds more like an escape from
responsibility. Ladies and Gentlemen, murder is
murder regardless of who the perpetrator is.
The "Cultists"
After all said and done, the cultists bear the
most responsibility for the evil they have
perpetrated. Whatever outrage the public is now
expressing against them is their own making.
They derailed woefully from the principles and
ideals of fraternity even as defined by them.
Present perception of them as dangerous
monsters to be wiped out of existence was largely
self-inflicted.
They lost control of their membership as they
embarked on unrestrained recruitment of new
members in large numbers with some recruiting
as many as 500 students in a session.
Supremacy, control and domination became
major drivers of violence. Each group saw the
academic institutions as private kingdoms to
lord over. Wars in the academic communities
that were traditionally fought at the level of
intellect and scholarship became reduced to war
of the barbarians with stone-age ferocity
accompanied by total disregard for the sanctity
of life.
Number of personnel, size and sophistication of
armory (real weapons) became vital to the
strategic equation of domination. All these were
inspired, not by any idealism Ð utopian or
pedestal - but by naked, primitive, raw ego.
What baffled me most in all these was the
callous manner our security forces in some cases
turned their eyes away and in others actively
connived while these students acquired these
sophisticated weapons of mass destruction. Can
you imagine a 15-year old student handling
AK47 with the dexterity of a professional
soldier! Who supplied the weapons and the
training? Did anyone care to ask?
In spite of all these, as I would soon show, the
leaderships of these groups were not party to
this orgy of violence a fact that does not
however fully purge them of vicarious liability.
Once the state apparatus under the military
hijacked the organisations from these leaders
through infiltration using the children of the
militaryand the elite who were well armed, the
leadership became helpless and abandoned ship.
Yet, there were a lot they could have done.
What really is Fraternity?
Simply put, it is brotherhood. All over the world,
fraternities among youths, especially the type
encouraged in higher institutions of learning,
exist to foster brotherhood, collective aspiration
and pursuit of noble goals. They provide a
platform for leadership capability development
and provide a forum and opportunity for active
participation in nation building. It was never
intended to be an avenue for exhibiting juvenile
delinquency and unrestricted unrestrained,
senseless, masochism. Least of all, it was never
intended to become an avenue to take or
jeopardise life with impunity.
Fraternity promotes active intellectualism. It
demands a lifetime of sacrifice for the sake of
humanity. It requires fraternal members to
place all others over and above their own narrow
ego considerations. It aspires to define and
sustain a noble, sometimes utopian vision for
society. It seeks to help create an environment
in which all can achieve their potential without
let or hindrance. It seeks to destroy artificial
barriers that stand in the way of each and all
fulfilling his or her worthy aspirations in life.
Fraternity is about challenge and how to meet
those challenges of life squarely. It is about
pulling up those who are down and providing
succour to the downtrodden. Fraternity is not
about curtailment of rights, it is about expansion
of opportunity. Fraternity does not survive on
fear, it flourishes on respect earned.
Fraternity is about brotherhood that lets each
one be his brother's keeper, it is not about
parochialism and narrow mindedness. It is not
about secrecy, neither is it about cultism. It is a
clear manifestation of weakness and inferiority
complex to result into cultism. No one aspiring to
leadership does anything noble under the cloak
of secrecy or cover of darkness. Whatever
anyone does that cannot be subjected to public
scrutiny and emerge unscathed is not worth it.
Nobility does not thrive on empty bravado.
{mospagebreak}
And Cultism?
The term cultism as currently popularly used in
Nigeria will seem to refer to any students'
organisation engaged in physical violence either
on self or others and is suspected to engage in
ritual or quasi-ritual practices. Some wide
opinions suggest members are charmed, drink
blood and have no fear of anything or anybody.
For these and other reasons, anything cult is
seen as bad.
In reality, this is not necessarily so. Not all cult
groups are bad. Even in those cults that are
considered bad, some of the frightful ritually
inclined activities they are alleged to engage in
are more myth than reality. There are Religious
cults, Traditional cults, Social/Professional
cults, and now Students cults. Universally, there
are two broad categories of cults namely:
Benign Cults - the good guys.
Destructive Cults - the bad guys
On our campuses we have the two types. All
usually set out as benign cults while some
especially those of concern to us today slip into
the destructive category. We should not make
any mistake in our evaluation and classification
of which category various students groups belong.
There are clearly several religious groups on
campuses which on the surface appear
benevolent but deep down are far more
destructive than those we currently associate
with violence. If you are in doubt, read
Professor Femi Osofisan's analysis of the cult of
ignorance in his article in The Comet of Sunday,
September 12, 1999. Religious fundamentalism
enjoys more prominence today on our campuses
than scholarly activities, sports and research.
We are all waiting on the Lord!
But let me use the following true-life stories to
warn our fundamentalists and those
encouraging them over and above vigorous
pursuit of academic liberalism and excellence on
the potential problems they might have to deal
with in future if care is not taken.
Heaven's Gate which was founded by Marshall
Applewhite, had 37 of their members commit
suicide in 1997. They regarded their bodies as
mere containers of their souls. Theirs was a
curious mix of Christianity and unusual belief in
UFO. Their suicide mission was seen as a journey
to the next plane of blissful existence.
Solar Temple which was founded by Luc Jouret in
1977 was a form of Christianity mixed with New-
Age philosophy, homeopathic medicine and high
finance. Their leader, Jouret, believed he was
Christ. Believing the world was coming to an end
and the need not to be part of the apocalypse,
a total of 43 of their members transited
voluntarily or by force in 1994 in a well-
coordinated international suicide enterprise.
Branch Davidians, Students of the Seven Seals
was a group founded by David Koresh out of
Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1942. It's own
doomsday theory anticipated a major battle
when Christ comes back to earth. Thus when 76
heavily armed officers of the American Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) visited
them in 1993 in Waco, Texas, they saw the
invasion as the start of the Battle of
Armageddon. After the initial battle, 51-day
siege and the final battle, 81 members and 4
ATF agents lost their lives.
One group that really shook the world was The
Peoples Temple founded by Rev. Jim Jones. After
facing harassment in the US, the group moved
to Jonestown, Guyana where they set up an
agricultural commune. The group's philosophy
evolved from a social gospel that preached
human freedom, equality and love to what they
later called Translation, a belief that all
members must die together in order to move to
another planet for a life of bliss. In November
1978, this group murdered a US Congressman,
Leo Ryan, and four members of his entourage
following which the group embarked on mass
suicide and murder that claimed the lives of
914 members.
At home, we know of our own "Jesus of Oyingbo"
whose edifice at Maryland stands today as a
monument of religious pervasion and moral
decadence. They called on the Lord, yes; but
clearly it was in vain. That was a clear example
of a destructive cult in action in Nigeria.
All these groups were characterised by:
1. A strong charismatic but highly morally
perverted leader well versed in mind control
techniques. This leader ultimately is usually seen
as the Christ or even God.
2. A strong intra-group apocalyptic belief
3. A rabid obsession for eternal celestial purity
even if that is to follow a life of moral
bankruptcy on the terrestrial plane. For them,
an exalted end justifies whatever unorthodox
means are employed in arriving at that end.
4. Mostly intra-group directed violence arising
happily from their selfish arrogation of celestial
bliss to only their members.
5. A secluded existence accompanied by an
arrogant belief in their chosen superiority over
others including family members outside their
group.
We should all look out for these traits in our
religious fundamentalist groups we today
epitomize as the ideal students we would want
all our students to become.
I therefore say that the challenge before us
today is how to eradicate all forms of violence
in our higher institutions without destroying the
students constitutional right of association. At
the same time, we will like to see our campuses
restored to their status as citadels of learning
and development of character based on the
principle of liberal academic pursuit.
{mospagebreak}
What of others?
Before I go into solutions, let us briefly review
the experience in the United States of America
whose path we seem to have decided to follow.
College fraternity started in 1776 with the
establishment of Phi Beta Kappa at the College
of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia as a
student revolt against English discipline. It was
also a revolt against the authority of the college
and a student assertion of the rights of
assembly, free speech, independence and
freedom.
Fraternities in the US adopt Greek letters as
their names, and so we have Kappa Alpha, Chi
Chi, Alpha Delta Phi, Zeta Psi, Alpha Phi Alpha,
etc.
Women also started their own and are called
sororities with the establishment of the
Adelphean Society which was a forerunner of I.
C. Sorosis now called Pi Beta Phi. It was founded
at Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois in
1867. Kappa Alpha Theta soon followed in 1870
at the Indiana Asbury University.
America today has Social fraternities,
Professional fraternities, Honor fraternities and
Service fraternities (and sororities in each
case).
These fraternities and sororities operate in USA
and Canada with chapters in some European
universities. According to statistics, by 1970s,
American universities and colleges have
approximately 300 intercollegiate societies with
more than 21,000 operating chapters that had
initiated nearly 10 million male and female
students. They include 75 men's social
fraternities with 2.8 million initiates; 35
women's social sororities with 1.5 million
initiates; 65 men's professional fraternities with
1.3 million initiates; 23 women's professional
fraternities with 290,000 initiates; and
approximately 4 million members of honor,
service and recognition societies.
What these statistics portray in my view is that
having fraternities on campuses is not the
problem. It is what they stand for, how we
manage them and the environment under which
they operate.
How did they do it?
Because they were borne out of dissidence,
American fraternities also had their own ups
and downs in their relationship with the
authorities. They were banned in some campuses
at different times. For example, all fraternities
were abolished at Princeton University in the
later part of the 19th century. In 1878,
fraternities were banned at Virginia Military
Institute and Virginia Polytechnic Institute. In
the 1890s and early 1900s, reports have it that
several states in the South prohibited Greek-
letter fraternities in state institutions. But
today, fraternities in the US are nationally
regarded as a vital source of leadership
training. They can boast of having produced
many presidents of the United States, senators,
state governors and Supreme Court justices.
When fraternities became widespread and
national control and order became imperative,
the state promoted with legislative support the
establishment of various national bodies to
exercise administrative guidance and control
over the various types of fraternities and
sororities. Thus we have the Association of
College Honor Societies, the Professional Pan
Hellenic Association, the Professional Inter-
fraternity Conference, the Pan Hellenic Council,
the National Pan Hellenic Conference, and the
Inter Fraternity Council (IFC).
IFC for example is made up of representatives
from member fraternities and regulate rushing
(recruitment) programs and procedures,
promote amity among their constituents and
inspire good public relations through the conduct
of Greek week and other inter-Greek functions.
In many cases, a Dean of fraternities is
appointed to coordinate these programs and
serve as Counselor to IFC leaders.
I cannot imagine any parent in America sending
his child to a college or university today and will
not look forward to that child becoming a
member of one fraternity or the other. They
know clearly this is not a voodoo enterprise.
Now let us come back home.
What do we do?
Historical approach
Our approach to dealing with this problem had
always been to view these organisations as evil to
be exterminated. We never saw anything positive
about them to warrant encouragement and
collaboration. The more each organisation
struggles to gain recognition, the more the
repressive machinery of state is visited on their
members driving them underground only to re-
emerge more virulent, more vicious. In some
cases however, others simply adopt new
strategies to pursue their desire for public
recognition and acceptance.
The story of the Pyrates Confraternity clearly
demonstrates the latter case. The PC is an
organisation that started out with very noble
ideals in 1952, continued for a while along this
path, slipped momentarily into cultism, re-
discovered its original identity, then took
conscious steps to build on and sustain those
ideals of the founding fathers. The PC became
an organisation that evolved out of campus
existence to an international organisation that
continuously look for ways and means to be
strategically relevant to the society. Members of
the Confraternity in fact do have an obsession
for service to the community while shying away
from whatever privileges might eventually result
from such service.
Thus, it campaigned against all odds to
eliminate corruption at the Lagos and Ibadan
tollgates but shied away from the economic
opportunity offered on a platter of gold to
handle the contract to collect the tolls. Even
when it was clear to all that its members were
making vital contribution to the Federal Road
Safety Corps as volunteer Special Marshals
during the Corps glorious days, the organisation
as a whole avoided deriving any economic
benefits from FRSC for fear of being seen as
opportunistic with the possible loss of integrity.
PC is one organisation that is very sensitive to
public opinion of it. To the PC, perception is
stronger than reality.
The point being made here is that the Pyrates
Confraternity since the 1980s took conscious
steps to ensure a good image and strong positive
contribution to society. The logo was changed
from the "frightful" skull and crossed bones to
one that is more friendly - the Sail.
The PC, in order to be part of the new world of
information, opened a web site that is very
active in discussing and disseminating news and
commentary on contemporary events. Its
coverage of the series of elections leading to our
new democratic order is fully reported on the
site.
{mospagebreak}
All these changes were inspired by:
1. The active involvement and strong guidance of
the leader of the founders, Professor Wole
Soyinka. If any possibility existed for drifting
into violence and drug inspired behaviour, his
Nobel Prize in Literature put paid to that as
that achievement represented a new level of
aspiration for all members. Almost all members
are fired by the inspiration and the sudden
realisation of the possibilities of global
recognition and honour if Professor Wole
Soyinka could attain that height.
2. Many members are in positions of responsibility
in the society and could trace their success
partly to the discipline acquired on deck while in
school. The moral standard required of all
members was so high that it was almost
impossible to go through without one form of
infraction or the other. The practice was, rather
than lower the standard, it is the member
violating the standard that must go. After all,
it was no friend, no foe. These senior members
identified strongly with the organisation and
resolved to re-shape its character and reinforce
it as a platform for developing leadership
capacity among the youths. To ensure this new
direction is not jeopardized, the PC registered
with the Corporate Affairs Commission in order
to operate within acceptable legal framework
and later pulled out of campuses in 1984.
3. Strong commitment to intellectualism, a
discipline inculcated right from the school and
reinforced by the presence of Professor Wole
Soyinka. During the student days, every deck was
entitled to only 15 members as the "fifteen men
on a dead man's chest". If no member
graduates, you cannot take any new member.
Members having re-sits or recording outright
failure were therefore seen as blockers of
rejuvenation. Rather than keep the PC stagnant,
they were thrown out. No wonder members
committed themselves seriously to their studies
which was a condition of continuing membership.
In spite of all the above, the Pyrates
Confraternity as an organisation still suffered
attack from the authorities as recent as 1997
when 65 of its members were paraded before the
Miscellaneous Offences Tribunal accused of
belonging to a secret cult. 10 others were
detained in Enugu for attending the wedding of
their zonal leader just because the State
Military Governor also attended the wedding not
minding that he too was just as much an invitee
(or perhaps less) as the members.
Happily, the judgements that came out of those
cases are so profound that such treatment can
never happen again to the Pyrates
Confraternity, at least so long as we are
governed by the rule of law.
Unfortunately for others, the response to this
assault from the state would have been to amass
weapons, mobilise and attack relatives of the
oppressors in the cover of darkness and under
the influence of drugs and alcohol. The Pyrates
Confraternity chose the legal approach which
yielded far greater dividend that no amount of
killings and other forms of counter-torture
would have ever produced.
Current approach
Current approach to dealing with cultism is what
I have characterised as the Search and Destroy
strategy. The Federal Government has provided
large sums of money (10 million for federal and
5 million for state universities) to fight cultism.
Total amount released is estimated at 500
million. Each university has a panel set up to
identify student cultists and have them
renounce their membership.
We have seen in the newspapers and television
stations various confessions and expressions of
penitence sometimes followed up with admission
into the new religion to be born again. One
university claimed to have achieved the feat of
having over 500 student-cultists surrender at a
go. Just out of curiosity, where were this
university's administrators when such huge
numbers were recruited into the cults?
Paradoxically, it was in that same university a
former Vice Chancellor once used one of the so-
called cults to sack the entire Students Union
government.
While I can understand why this approach was
ordered, I am afraid, it will not solve the
problem in the long run, at least not given the
method being adopted to induce these
confessions and what is known of the character
of the leadership of one of the coordinating or
collaborating movements, the Global Peace or
something like that.
I am aware that as much as N10,000 is being
paid secretly to purchase these confessions by
the university committees. In some cases,
students with existing disciplinary cases are
being coerced into agreeing to surrender or face
expulsion. It does not matter if these students
never belonged to any of these groups in the
first place.
The Polytechnics and Colleges of Education are
now proclaiming the existence of cults in their
own schools and therefore should enjoy the
windfall. If money had not been involved, I bet
they would have proclaimed to high heaven the
zero presence of cults on their campuses and
demand a reward for their outstanding success
in keeping the evil at bay.
It is very clear that our present approach is
wasteful, has the capacity to breed fraud and
cannot solve the problem. Whatever solution it
achieves will at best be tentative. In all the
circus shows going on, I have not seen the
involvement of our trained psychologists and
sociologists. Yet, this is a psycho-sociological
problem.
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Rather than promote solutions that will reinforce
the liberal culture and adventurism rooted in
guided curiosity that make Universities flourish
in learning and research, our Universities have
again embarked on a path of regimentation of
students rooted in one of the principal
psychotropic agents indulged in by a deprived
people, religion. Born againism flourished today
as one of the symptoms of our military trauma.
When democracy takes roots, what we will do
when human souls begin to re-claim the beauty
and realities of this plane and gradually give up
what is clearly a temporary solace in heaven
propelled by the frustrations of the moment?
In some cases, some university administrators
have advocated that parents and guardians
must sign undertakings that their wards will be
of good behaviour. Some have threatened that
they will demand photographs of each parent
and guardian to enable their publication in the
event of their ward belonging to any of the
assumedly undesirable groups. I hope we will
extend this to University Administrators who
must provide photographs of their sureties when
they take office so that those photographs can
be published in the event of any misdemeanor
on the part of any of the administrators. Quite
apart, isn't there a point when an individual
legally becomes an adult and is therefore legally
responsible for his or her behaviour? Our law
books say it is 18. Or is one group of adults more
adult than others?
My plea is that we abandon this charade with its
attendant illusion of success and deal with this
problem in a more fundamental and
enlightened way that will achieve a lasting
solution. Please let us remind ourselves we are no
longer in the military era. We are now moving
into the age of intellect and excellence.
So which way forward?
I hereby submit that higher education in Nigeria
has collapsed and require urgent attention. We
have arrived at a state of emergency in our
educational system. The environmental issues
that need to be addressed include but are not
limited to:
New admission procedure in which the continuing
relevance of JAMB as the recruiting agency must
be reviewed. JAMB should at best do no more
than set the national minimum standard of
entry into the higher institutions playing their
role as the US Educational Testing Service that
conducts the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). This
role is of course necessary since the standard
across secondary schools vary, hence the need
for JAMB to establish and sustain a universal
standard. Each institution should thereafter be
free to admit its own students. One immediate
fallout of this is that institutions with poor
record of performance will lose patronage while
secondary schools with low college enrolment of
their students will either improve their standard
or fold up.
Raise the staff/student ratio through improved
condition of service for the lecturers and
professors to a level that will reverse the brain
drain of the military era. Doing this will ensure
students are better engaged, better supervised,
and better trained. A lecturer coping with over
250 students in one class cannot produce the
best trained graduates that can compete at
international level.
Upgrade facilities in the hostels, libraries,
bookshops, laboratories and lecture rooms with
appropriate teaching aids. We must return to
academic excellence through research and
scholarly pursuits. Additionally, the institutions
must be equipped with adequate sporting and
recreational facilities for their community.
After all, they exist to promote character and
learning.
Decongest the schools. Certainly not all who are
in these institutions today are cut for higher
education. Many purchased their way in and
bribed their way through. A return to merit has
become imperative.
Embrace active and dynamic student unionism.
This is even more imperative in a democratic
setting. Student Unionism through their
elections, Executive, Student Representative
Councils, all combine to provide informal
training to these students in the art of
democratic governance and assimilation of
democratic culture. After all, they are the
leaders of tomorrow.
Conscious efforts must be made to develop and
promote liberal academic culture. Restrictive
approach to education can not be in the long
term interest of the society. Curiosity and
adventure are part of the attributes necessary
for building a rich and diverse academic culture
such that can ultimate deliver value to the
society. It is curiosity that triggers research into
the unknown where all possibilities of nature are
explored without any hindrance.
The above are part of the ways to deal with the
factors that make cultism and violence thrive.
However, more specifically, I will propose the
following as the way forward to a permanent
and lasting solution to the problem of cultism
and violence in our higher institutions.
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1. Rather than eliminate them (a potentially futile
exercise), let us embrace what I have described
as a Rescue and Reform approach which assumes
we are willing and have the capacity to embrace
fraternities as veritable platforms for
leadership training and nation building. We
cannot all be Lions, Hyenas and Jackals! There
is room for more within agreed boundary and
rules of relationship.
2. The leadership of all the groups namely the
Black Axe, Eiye Confraternity, the Buccaneer
Confraternity and of course the Pyrates
Confraternity should be called upon to work with
administrators of the higher institutions
(through sub-committees of the Committee of
Vice Chancellors, the Conference of Registrars,
and the counterpart bodies in the Polytechnics
and Colleges) under the co-ordination of the
Federal Ministry of Education to clean up the
mess.
3. The leadership of the groups together with
representatives of the academic community and
the Ministry of Education should constitute a
National Inter-fraternity Council. If for
whatever reason government finds it
uncomfortable at this time to openly be part of
the Council, they can, through the Ministry of
Education, provide the enabling environment for
the council to exist. Whichever way it is achieved,
the Council will be charged with the following
responsibility:
1. Identify all student members of each group
including those groups not listed above and
prepare the comprehensive (complete) register of
student members. There is no need to deal with
people who are faceless but perpetrate the worst
of crimes.
2. Screen all student members and identify those
with criminal orientation and drug/alcohol
abuse and recommend them for appropriate
treatment. Those who committed crimes
especially murder and rape should be made to
face the law while those merely suffering from
drug/alcohol addiction should be provided
expert treatment for rehabilitation. Those whose
mental conditions are suspect and those with
poor orientation should also face expert
psychologists for necessary treatment and de-
briefing.
3. Establish guidelines for the existence and
operation of fraternities on campuses and the
means to monitor and regulate their conduct.
For any fraternity to exist, it must be
accredited by the National Inter-fraternity
Council based on approved charter and as a
condition of its recognition by any institution.
4. Develop appropriate framework for minimising
and dealing with inter-fraternity conflicts as
well as formulate programmes that will enhance
inter-fraternity harmony through collaborative
activities aimed at providing service to the
communities, and competitive activities as in
sports and academics. For example, a national
fraternity day can be organised to promote
inter-collegiate science, literary and other
competitions even at secondary school levels.
There is nothing really frightful about
fraternities. We need not make monsters out of
them.
5. Develop framework to monitor and report on the
composite academic performance of each group
and their members and recommend appropriate
rewards for academic and moral excellence
thereby imbibing some of the traditions of the
American Honour societies.
6. Develop a comprehensive programme to de-
mystify all fraternities and bring into the open
all activities. Ritualistic tendencies and
physically excruciating tasks associated with
initiation should be expunged thus placing more
emphasis on the intellect than on the physique.
In the same vein, all vestiges of terror and
danger contained in their paraphernalia should
be jettisoned in favour of symbolism that will
enjoy public appeal.
7. In tribute to all those who have lost their lives,
the National Inter-fraternity Council should
compile a complete catalogue of all violent
activities that took place over the years and the
losses that attended each violence. The lists of
all those who died should be compiled on a
monument to be erected on each campus to serve
as permanent reminder to all fraternity
members and indeed all students of the pain
and agony of violence. The monument so erected
should contain the pledge, NEVER AGAIN. The
Council will then formally apologise to the nation
on behalf of their members for the horrors of
the past. Meanwhile a campus peace endowment
should be set up by this Council to be awarded
each year to the best student and/or students'
organisation in the name of these victims of the
senseless violence of the past.
8. Put up a programme to disarm all their members
and surrender the weapons to the authorities.
Those not willing to give up their weapons
voluntarily should be reported to the authorities
for necessary action. Those who supply the
weapons to the students and those who train
them should be identified and appropriate
actions taken by the government to terminate
their sinister activities. Action to be taken by
the government need not be punitive considering
they too might need the services of our
psychologists. Please note carefully that present
efforts do not seem to address this vital part of
cult violence in schools.
In addition to all these, each institution should
establish a Students' Societies Registration
Council (SSRC) comprising students'
representatives, the faculties and the Students
Affairs Office. This council will review the
charter of each student society, register them
including their members, approve and monitor
their activities. They will also deal with all issues
that may arise in the course of students' rights
to form associations. The Council, SSRC, will
maintain the record of all students' societies,
their membership as well as programme of
activities. This council will also publish at the
end of each session comparative academic
performance of these societies, a practice that
will definitely awaken the consciousness of each
group to their realities. This should be the basis
for the expression of any ego.
In conclusion, please consider
If we say because these organisations have
committed so much acts of terror in the past we
should therefore eliminate them, we may be
throwing away the baby with the bath water.
Some day, they will come back. I submit that no
other organisation has committed the worst acts
of violence against this country than the
military. Yet, we are not throwing away the
military. Instead, we went ahead to elect one of
them as our President and agreed that what
they require is re-orientation and re-
structuring. As it is with the military, in my
humble view, given the potentially beneficial
impact fraternities can and should have in
managing our restless youths, so let it be with
the fraternities.
Ladies and Gentlemen, ours should be a nation
governed by men who have the capacity to
forgive and heal wounds. We should not be a
nation that will deny opportunity for reform for
her aberrant citizens. We must be willing to
rescue and reform the worst of us while
protecting the bests of us. If we have the will,
we can find the way.
Thank you.
Ben Oguntuase
Past Capone, National Association Of Seadogs
(Pyrates Confraternity)
Wednesday, November 3 1999
References:
Makanjuola, O. A Psychologist, A Parent and A
University Teacher Takes a Look at Cultism in
Nigerian Tertiary Institutions Paper delivered at
NAS Annual Converge on 21.8.99
Oguntuase, Ben Violence and Cultism in Tertiary
Institutions: The Way Out Paper delivered at NAS
Annual Converge on 21.8.99
Oguntuase, Ben Open Letter to Nigerian Students
on Campus Banditry 13.7.99
Baird, William R. 1920 Manual of American
College Fraternities Menasha, Wisconsin: Banta,
1968
Robson, J. The College Fraternity and Its
Modern Role. Menasha, Wisconsin: Banta, 1966
Ritchie, Jean The Secret World of Cults Angus &
Robertson,