CONFRATERNITY: A FOREMOST INFLUENCE OF VIOLENCE
Education as popularly noted is the best legacy a parent can give to their children. It has now become a common saying among concerned parents, most especially when their child is about leaving for higher institution, telling them not to join bad society emphatically cult groups, but the question remains, why do these children still join? Have they really considered the consequences vividly? have the advantages been weighed over the disadvantages? Parents who strive hard to send their wards to school, waiting patiently for their convocation mostly end up been disappointed either by the child having academic issues or the child been killed over cult clash. I put my pen to work this present moment taking the words of mark twain which states “Courage is resistance to fear; mastery to fear – not absence of fear” as a watchword.
Taking an historical look at cultism, it can be traced back to 1952, when Wole Soyinka and six of his friends created a group called pyrate confraternity and refer to themselves as the magnificent seven. This group was established at the elite university college, Ibadan, then part of the university of London and was created as a social organization for promising students. According to research, they observed that the university was populated with wealthy students associated with the colonial powers and a few poorer students striving in manner and dress to be accepted by the more advantaged students, while social life was dictated by tribal affiliation. The organization also known as the National Association of Seadogs (NAS) adopted the motto "Against all conventions", with skull and crossbones as their logo, while members adopted confraternity names like "Cap'n Blood", "Long John Silver", Ahoy, and PC. Membership was open to any promising male student, regardless of tribe or race, but selection was stringent and most applicants were denied. For almost 20 years, the Pyrates were the only confraternity on Nigerian campuses and some of their slogans then was No Friend, No Foe (NFNF), Absolute No Lagging (ANL) etc. In 1965, a group of students from the university of Ibadan, formed the supreme eiye confraternity [SEC] also known as the national association of airlords. This confraternity is an affiliate to the eiye secret society which exist in the western part of Nigeria. This cult group was established to make positive impact on the social-political mind, social cultural, physical and mental development of its members, and where indifferent to other conventional cult group. Some of their Beliefs and sayings are Secrecy, autocracy, discipline, brotherhood, no Friend no Foe. Members are referred to as: Fliers, Airlords, e.t.c. their major colour of identification is blue.
In 1972, Bolaji Crew (Code-named “Late Ahoy Rica Ricardo”) and others were expelled from the Pyrates for failing to meet expected standards. Crew went on to found the Buccaneers Confraternity (also called the National Associations of Sea Lords), largely copying the Seadogs' structure, symbols and ceremonies. A major impetus for the creation of new confraternities was the fact that members of the new groups simply did not meet the high academic and intellectual standards set by the Seadogs, and thus considered the original organization to be elitist. Some of their sayings are, no prize no pay, no brothers in the wood, no laughing on board, Blood for blood, Let the devil that lead you guide you. They have other sayings, which are basically to make new members feel they made the right choice in belonging to a fraternity with such high code of conduct and discipline. Some of the names they call themselves are: Fine boys, Ban Boys, Alora, Bucketmen, Lords, etc. and their major colour for identification is yellow.
In 1976, the Neo-Black Movement of Africa (also called Black Axe) was formed at the University of Benin by some young men with the motive of building a body to fight against the oppression against Black men (Students) at the university. Those who initiated this association are rumoured to be runaways from Neo black Movement of Africa, an organization in South Africa that fought the apartheid war and escaped into Nigeria for safety. Investigation has shown that it was the borrowed notion that was imported to Nigeria. Some of their beliefs and saying includes: The Black man will be freed with an axe, Forgiveness is a sin, Don’t betray your brother in the hood, obey before complain or Abeyance, He who price must pay. Members of this group are referred to as: Aye Axe-men, seven (7) or Amigos, while their major colour of identification is black.
It must be noted that some of this cult group were created for positive reasons but the orientation given to members then differs from what they get now. Member that are initiated now are students that feel they are unprotected on campus and when they are made to pass thru the initiation rite, they become haughty that they begin to act like oppressors on campus thereby misbehaving and causing havoc on campus. Such members sometimes do test of power which they call pricing and this most time results to cult clash. This cult group are what people call secret society because they are not proud of what they do so their activities are always top secrets. Taking a vivid look at the orientation they give to new members, they all have one unique saying which is forgiveness is a sin. In view of this, let’s consider what Mohandas Gandhi said “The weak can never forgive, forgiveness is the attribute of the strong”, can we now possibly say that this groups are weak group? then how do you expect such group to protect you. Goethe once said, “There is nothing worse than aggressive stupidity”, can we now say waging war to test power or to take vengeance is an aggressive stupidity?
Citing from the words of Mohandas Ghandi, he stated that a man is a product of his thought, what he thinks he becomes, so a student that feels he/she is insecure will surely lack security and will be controlled by evil vices. Total security comes from God, no man can protect, cult groups cannot protect, they all believe in population that’s why the scout for new members. Mother Teresa once said, “if you are humble, nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.” It must be noted that there are other confraternities in Nigeria like, Black Cat, Snow Men, Fraternity of Friends, Black Cobra of Ife, Green Berets, The Blood Spot, Scorpion, etc. The Ladies are equally not left out in this case, they form sorority groups as responses to their male counterparts’ activities, imitations, and most interestingly these females are girlfriends of the members of the male cult groups. They act as spies to their male counterparts, prostitutions syndicates, agents of set-ups, etc. some of their groups are called, Black-bra, Black Berets, Woman Brassier (brave), Daughters of Jezebel, Pink Lady, Amazons, White Angels, Lady of Rose, Sisterhood of Darkness, Golden Daughters, The Ten Wonderful Girls, White Ladies, The Royal Queens, Daughters of the Knight, The Knights of the Aristos, etc.
Before I drop the ink of my pen, I will like to cite from the words of Muhammad Ali, he noted that “he who is not courageous enough to take risk will accomplish nothing in life”, students must summon the courage to say no to cultism, students must summon the courage to resist all for of oppression on campus because you lose nothing when you are fighting for a just cause, losers are those who don’t have a cause they care about. Cultism does not pay
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