Cultism: has the company accepted vice as a norm?

The Lagos State Police Command recently announced that five bodies resumed along the Bank of the Oreta river in the Community of Igbogbo, Ikorodu LGA was connected to the violence linked to the cult.

While confirming the accident, the CP Olohundere Jimh assured that the communities devastated from the cult activities that the new interventions were distributed to Ikorodu and in other flash points throughout the state.

“That’s why we are investigating; you know that we recovered the bodies and we sent crime scene experts.

“The team informed me and we have given more directives on areas to touch; we will make the result of public investigations,” he said.

In Edo, the cult-wire and kidnapped operation has also recently arrested nine cultural suspicions and seized firearms in the north-east.

These were not isolated cases since the clashes related to the cult between the rival confraternities leave the students who died on university campuses.

The situation became so alarming that the police had to issue annual warnings on the cult celebrations “Aiye Day”.

Independent evaluation of cases of worship

In 2022, the database of subsequent violent conflicts showed that 50 cult accidents were recorded, leading to 124 victims between January 2022 and only May 2022.

“The wars of worship are episodic in many Nigerian roads where young people are the main authors.

“Multiple actions of gangs and retailers attacks lead to the death of band members and residents in the rooms of violence.

“The flourishing groups of cults and their expanding basis pose significant concerns for the fragile security of Nigeria. Cults groups are the armed groups promptly available to be hired by people who try to unleash terror in society.”

According to some scholars, there is also a link between cultural, militancy and political delinquency in some states in Nigeria.

“Chiari examples are the states of lagos and rivers while Lagos may not face militant violence, he experienced several episodes of cult violence and electoral violence.

“In the rivers, culture remains one of the main concerns for both the government and residents,” said Nextier.

The threat took a disturbing proportion to the extent that international agencies such as Interpol trace groups of Nigerian cults for global computer crime, thus raising a question if the Nigerian society easily accepted cultural as a rule

Cultism as a accepted rule?

However, many Nigerians have said that despite the laws and messages that condemn culture from religious bodies, it has been woven in everyday survival strategies.

“If you ask me if cultural has been accepted, I will say that the answer is stratified. Officially, we know that culture is put out of the media, condemned by the media, clergy and punishable by rigid prison sentences; however, in many cities, campus and political spaces, cult activities are tolerated, fear and carried out as normal daily activities.

“What emerges is absolutely not acceptance, but a worrying normalization of a vice that refuses to die.”

The origins of culture in Nigeria date back to the late 1950s, when a group of students founded the pirate brotherhood at the University of Ibadan. The original goal was Campass and intellectual commitment, not crime.

Over time, Splinter groups have emerged, adopting violent identities and names such as Black Ax, Bucanieri, Eiye and Vikings, etc.

What started as a brotherhood of the campus has turned into criminal unions involved in extortion, racket and, more recently, transnational computer fraud.

An Asian Journal of Advanced Research and Reports report found the escalation of violence linked to worship in Nigeria in the 90s.

According to the report, the number of groups and the intensity of their activities have increased dramatically during that period, moving from campus to roads and communities.

“This era saw the formation of street wings and streams of cults of the campus, such as Deebam and Deewell who engaged in bandits and organized criminals.

“One of the most noteworthy episodes of this period was the massacre of the University of Obafemi Awolowo in 1999, where members of the Black Axi confection killed five students.

“This event led to public protests and prompted the government to issue an ultimatum to universities to eradicate cultural,” says the report.

Another report by Nexier 2024 entitled “Fraternite Grip on Nigeria” also said that the explosion in the confraternity led to the extreme canvas, violence and bloody struggle for the supremacy among the rival confraternities.

Since the 2000s, cult groups have become deeply invised in organized crimes and political violence; They are involved in armed robbery, kidnapping for redemption and extortion.

Many of these groups have also aligned themselves with militant organizations in the Niger delta, participating in attacks in oil infrastructures.

Cult members are also often used as criminals and police law enforcement agencies and intimidate opponents.

To curb the scourge

Their activities prompted the police to launch various initiatives, such as the police campaign against cultural and other vices (Pocacov), but issues such as corruption and lack of resources often hinder their efforts.

By 2024, the Interpol Jackal III operation was explicitly targeting Black Axi and allied groups for the E -mail of business and romantic scams in 21 countries, including Nigeria.

The international spotlight have strengthened what many Nigerians already knew: culture had moved beyond the violence of the campus in a global criminal economy.

“Unfortunately, it seems that we have normalized the cult activities inside and outside our campus. Now it is common for new students to be harassed and intimidated.

“The other students are warned of colors, seasons of initiation and areas within the campus to avoid. The violence is shocking, but the students adapt to normalizing it by normalizing it,” he complained about a parent.

In addition, an analysis of posts on social media by celebrities on July 7, 2025 revealed the rate in which the cultism was normalized, if not dignified.

The police had to issue warnings on the “7/7” day which became an annual ritual and more or less approved by some celebrities.

Despite what seems an accepted reality, Nigeria has repeatedly strengthened its laws against cultural.

For example, the illegal companies of the illegal state of Lagos (2021) prescribe up to 21 years in prison for adhesion to cult and 15 years to help or favor.

In May 2025, the Edo government announced a legal action against the neo-black movement after a series of murders, reporting the desire to face worship groups not only as faces without faces but as responsible organizations.

These are added to the general ban on culture pursuant to the criminal code (sections 62 and 63).