ONE of the very lucid indices signposting dysfunctionality in a society is high crime rate arising from the activities of outlaws of different shades who engage in indiscriminate asocial and criminal behaviours that constitute a threat to law and order. Sadly, the Nigerian society has its own fair share of these malefactors in the mould of armed robbers, kidnappers, insurgents, bandits, scammers, pedophiles and so on, with each variant wreaking havoc on the society at will in an environment that is patently underpoliced. And as if the orgy of violence and terror being perpetrated by criminals through banditry, kidnapping and killings across the country are not enough, it is saddening that there has been a resurgence of cult clashes lately, leaving some rival cult members, and oftentimes innocent citizens, killed or maimed in their wake.
In particular, the renewed cult clashes and killings in Sagamu, Ogun State, spanning days and leaning towards an unending splurge of violence, would indicate that cultists and those fanning the embers are dictating the pace of action. And as is customary, the government has been releasing ineffectual statements to enjoin security agencies to do something to put a stop to the clashes and killings. Meanwhile, it is evident that those routine charges to the police to up their ante have yet to result in any concrete reduction in violent clashes because there is nothing to suggest that the security agencies based on those statements have put in more efforts to truly and decisively handle and act against cult clashes and killings. Otherwise, the cult acts would not be spreading and occurring anew in many parts of the country and would-be participants would have been so reckless in taking the decision to engage in cultism and violent cult clashes.
The government has to reimpose order by checking the spate of cult clashes in the society. Otherwise, the distraught and weary citizens who have continued to endure the binge of violence in the society will start to ask fundamental questions regarding the legitimacy and ability of government to administer the society and whether it truly deserves to be saddled with the onerous responsibility of governance. Government must retool the extant strategy, which is evidently suboptimal, and brace up to the challenge of arresting the descent into disorder and ineluctable anarchy represented by pervasive cult clashes and killings.
To be sure, cultism and unbridled cult clashes are by no means alien to Ogun State, especially in the Ogun East senatorial district, and that is why it is rather surprising that an enduring solution has yet to be found to the menace from the official circles. The Ogun State government should frontally address the deterioration within its territory signaled by incessant and unending cult activities. People are fighting and getting killed every day. Perhaps it bears reiterating that the maintenance of law and order and welfare of the citizens are the primary essence of government.
The state is on record to have mooted the idea of enacting a law to make cultism punishable by death, setting up special courts to treat cultism cases, and offering amnesty to repentant criminals. Much as we hardly subscribe to capital punishment, if the proposed law is what will stymie the current spate of wanton and seemingly unending destruction of lives and properties in the state, it should be enacted without further delay. And since cultists are known to often carry out premeditated murder of their victims, it may not be out of place to serve them a dose of their own medicine, albeit legally. Nonetheless, as the state tries to bring deterrence forcefully to bear on the perpetrators of cult-related violence and killings, it should not shy away from attacking the foundation of the menace through different levels of leadership in the society: family, traditional, religious and governmental. Stakeholders like traditional rulers, community and religious leaders should collaborate to expose the cultists.
Also, politicians and anyone in government found to be egging on misguided youths to engage in cultism and to carry out dastardly and hideous activities should be severely sanctioned according to the law. More significantly, parents, in particular, have a duty to bring up their children and wards in a manner that makes them to grow up loathing crime and criminals. There is no gainsaying that ultimately, the government and the society at large will benefit from an atmosphere of peace and tranquility that will ensue if an urgent and permanent official solution is crafted to address the menace of cultism and cult clashes frontally.
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