Confraternities have, for time immemorial, been part of human socialisation. However, in the time past, membership of such groups were strictly for adults and mature minds, who are old enough to control their emotions and shun irrational behaviours. That has since changed as young folks now form the majority of membership of deadly cult groups who unleash untold mayhem on the society as the various groups battle for supremacy. In this report, INIOBONG EKPONTA, examines the threat cultism poses to basic education in Akwa Ibom State.
The menace of cultism in the socio-political and economic life of Akwa Ibom State has put the administration of Governor Udom Emmanuel in quandary as the problem continues to permeate the social system despite several attempts to stamp it out by relevant instruments of the law.
In the run-up to Governor Emmanuel’s re-election in 2019, the state was agitated over fears of possible breakdown of law and order. There were reports of the proliferation of small arms, light weapons and heavy duty guns, mostly in some local government areas including Etim Ekpo, Ika, Ukanafun, Oruk Anam, Ikot Ekpene, Essien Udim, Eket, Esit Eket, Ibesikpo Asutan and others.
However, Ukanafun and Etim Ekpo were the major epicentres of cult war as scores were killed, including policemen and soldiers. They were said to have been killed in order to get possession of their weapons and uniforms, while the politicians and other members of the civil society were kidnapped for ransom. Over 2,000 people were driven out of their residences, forcing them to become Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Iwukem village in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area, as well as other places like Uyo, Abak and Ikot Ekpene.
Worried by the development, the then Commissioner of Police, Adeyemi Ogunjemilusi and other security agencies had impressed it on the government for the cultists, who had branded themselves as militants, protesting lack of jobs and other social amenities in the rural communities, to be given amnesty “for them to come out of the bush and surrender their weapons”.
Governor Emmanuel had obliged and joined security forces and religious leaders to woo them out of their hiding to get a new lease on life under the amnesty deal, which would ensure their rehabilitation, payment of stipends and engagement in vocational jobs, after dropping their arms.
Currently,150 of the repentant militants drawn from the two councils, it was learnt, are undergoing vocational training in various fields such as welding, tailoring, shoe manufacturing and others in different states across the country.
No fewer than 65 cult groups and other secret confraternities have been identified by security forces as operating in the state, forcing Governor Emmanuel to impose a blanket ban on cultism. He also signed into law the prohibition of such groups, with prescribed punishments for offenders, depending on the degree of commission.
The intervention of the state government on the matter, checks by Nigerian Tribune revealed, had reduced the tempo of violent confrontations among many cult terrors in the state following the deterrent measures. However, in recent times there are growing concerns about the resurgence of violent cult clashes reportedly enveloping Geography Uyo, the state capital. More worrisome to the state government is the return of campus cults at the University of Uyo (UNIUYO), town campus along Ikpa road, in which a final year student of Geography was gruesomely killed and another final year student of Fine Arts shot in the chest and leg currently receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital. A campus security official is said to be nursing several machete cuts to his head.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Akwa Ibom State Command, Mr. Odiko Macdon, a Police Superintendent (SP), who confirmed the incident, said “operatives of the command have swung into action,” stressing that “the Commissioner of Police (CP), Mr. Amiengheme Andrew, has ordered discreet investigation to ascertain the immediate and remote causes of the fracas.”
Investigation revealed that the dead student, simply identified as Ndukeabasi Alexander Ekwere, from Nsit Ibom Local Government Area, was lynched by some students of Fine Arts Department, while trying to forcefully gain access with his friends into a gala night organised by the students of Fine Arts at Onyeama Ugochukwu hall.
“He (the deceased) came with his friends without invitation into our gala night. When he was told the event was strictly on invitation, he tried to beat the security check at the entrance, but a scuffle developed and a mob action followed. He fled and slumped at the mini stadium and was later declared by the medics on duty at the university clinic as ‘dead on arrival’ before those who took him left the corpse and fled,” a Fine Arts student, who would not want his name mentioned, recalled.
In the reprisal that followed, some group of boys suspected to be cultists, according to him, had launched an attack at the Fine Arts Department, where they fatally shot a final year student, one Kini Etim Inwang, while carrying out his sculptor assignment in the Fine and Industrial Arts studio.
Beside, one Boniface Nnoli, a private security guard attached to the school, was severely attacked with machete cuts to the head as the violence raged. Nnjoli, it was gathered, was already on his way out of the gate, after closing in the early hours of the day before the attack. The crisis, Nigerian Tribune further gathered, led to the disruption of the ongoing examinations and abrupt closure of the school to prevent further loss of lives.
The statement by the institution’s Registrar, Mr. Aniediabasi Udofia, directed the students to vacate the school hostel “and continue with other academic programmes from home.”
More disturbing, according to the Commissioner for Education, Dr. Idongesit Etiebet, is the penetration of the menace into the state public school system, where teenage boys and girls have been influenced.
Investigation revealed that metropolitan schools in the Uyo axis including Aka Comprehensive, Uyo High School, Ewet Technical and others have become centres, where the evil of cultism has become so endemic.
“Even most principals and school heads have become too fearful of these teenage student cultists in their schools so much so that bending of rules for some dreadful students has become a norm. These students impose certain rules that the managements must adhere to if they must enjoy peace in the schools,” notes Effiong Bassey, a teacher in one of the schools in Uyo.
“I had to seek transfer from Ewet Technical when violence between them and the Uyo High School became so rampant with students hauling stones and exchanging gunfire from small arms\light weapons with the police anti-cult operatives,” another teacher, who wanted to remain anonymous, added.
Last week, the cult war reverberated at the Uyo High School, when desperate students suspected to be cultists, gave the principal, Elder Etuk, an ultimatum to ensure six of their colleagues arrested by the police during cult-related violence in the school last month are released from police custody with their suspension waved for them to return to school.
To drive their message home, fetish objects were placed at the entrance to the principal’s office with a warning to expedite action on the matter, or risk losing his entire household in a separate attack. Treading the path of caution, the school was last week hurriedly shut so that necessary security measures could be put in place before resumption.
The six students, it was learnt, were arrested following the review of the CCTV camera at the nearby filing station which identified those students behind the attack. The teen students whose cases, it was gathered, have been registered at the state Magistrate Court, Fulga Road, Uyo, are currently being held at the Remand Home of the State Ministry of Women Affairs, along IBB Avenue, Uyo, while their bail conditions were being perfected.
Among the fetish objects discovered at the entrance to the principal’s office were palm frond, red oil, old coin and warning inscriptions such as: “We give you 24 hours to release our boys”; “We know your house and family”; “We used to protect you when we fought with Ewet Technical School”, amongst others.
To, however, protect the students during their Junior Secondary School (JSS) certificate examination, the state government had announced a staggered resumption of the school beginning from Monday, July 5.
According to a statement at the weekend by the chairman in charge of the State Secondary Education Board (SSEB), Dr. Ekaette Ebong Okon, academic activities would resume in phases beginning with all staff and students of Junior Secondary School, JSS 3 classes for their Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) on Tuesday July 6, 2021.
JSS 1 and 2, the statement explained, would resume on July 5, while the Senior Secondary School, SSS 1 and 2 classes, are expected to resume on July 12, warning that “any student who acts to contravene this order will be expelled and handed over to security agencies for further actions.” Under tight security, some students and teachers who heeded the directive have resumed under intense security watch as our correspondent observed.
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