I wrote this article about a year ago now while serving in the eastern part of the country as a Youth Corper. I am convinced that the cultism menace has risen sporadically across the country with little or nothing done to curtail it. Please read and share.

Unusually, after CDS meetings at the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri, I sat at the stadium gate under the shed provided by a food seller. I was engrossed in a conversation with a very good friend (a corper). But what happened in a twinkle of an eye gave me goose bumps and a lot to ponder about the future of our beloved country - especially the youths. A gang of secondary school kids (age range between 11-15) swarmed round two school girls like bees who'd caught the man who harvests their honey red-handed. The boys were uttering some words in ibo which I couldn't understand (a minus on my side having stayed here for over 10 months). But from their gestures and attitude, I was able to fathom that the girls are in possession of their belonging(s).. I presumed.
A boy amongst them (who I think is their leader) held one of the girls tightly and appeared to be swearing with aggression and bloodshot eye in ibo. I felt the urge to settle whatever issues they might have amicably. I was lost in this thought only for my dear friend to jolt me back to life with these words, "I think they are cultist." I couldn't believe my ears and every thought of being a superhero in a foreign land disappeared without trace! So I decided to lay low and watch the whole drama unfold. Lo and behold, the girl succumbed to the boy's threat and all and I repeat all he was able to retrieve or apparently he's been fighting for was just a mere 'yellow' handkerchief! "Oh my goodness! You've to be kidding me!", I screamed inside. Then my friend - who works at one of the secondary schools here in Owerri - said she knows some of them. "They're my students. Some are even in my class.", she revealed. I just stared at her with my mouth literally agape.
To confirm it to me, she called one of the boys and quizzed him. The young boy (probably 12-13 years of age) replied with every gusto and effrontery you wouldn't have imagined for a boy of that age, "Yes, they are cultist." I could only SMH - Shake My Head - and slump into a pit of abject pain and sorrow for the future of these Nigerian kids.

I thought the relevant Nigeria authorities is winning/has won the fight against cultism? I thought it was only limited to tertiary institutions? How as this societal decadence managed to creep into the grassroots? What does the future hold for these kids who I believe do not know the gravity of what they're doing? How can the society be cured of this societal rancidity? All this I thought about as I watched the boys dispersed to their respective destination with their trophy.

Do not join the naija mainstream media to confuse cults with gangs. Cult is very different from Gang, and also diferent from Fraternity or Sorority. All are secret societies, though. Cult is a secret exclusive organisation based on religious or mystic practices. A Gang is secret and exclusive also, but with the avowed aim of criminal or deviant practices. A fraternity is an exclusive association of men with any select aim of association, with practices and method kept secret.

Now, secret society's have existed since time immemorial in every land, clime, and age. It is not necessarily a bad thing by itself, though the concept can be corrupted and abused just like anything else.There have been political secret societies like the mau mau of colonial kenya which fought to liberate the people from the white colonists; mystical and philosophical organisations like the Freemasons of Europe and America, which pioneered the scientific and political enlightenment of those societies. Or back home, the sociopolitical organisations like the yoruba Ogboni, Igbo Ozo, Efik/Ibibio Ekpe etc which stabilised and regulated society in precolonial times.

Your young students are practicing to become street gangsters which is very very bad and should be nipped in the bud, because the sole purpose of gangs is antisocial and criminal behavior.