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CHAPTER ONE

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The last two decades has witnessed secret cult violence in Nigeria. Cult activities involving blood-letting and waste of human lives have reached an alarming proportion. Anxiety, agony, anguish, destruction and death are the trademarks of secret cult attacks. The explosion of cultism in Nigeria is a glaring reality. The situation becomes more worrisome when one realizes that Nigeria is now replete with cultic activities. There is always a spill-over of tension and crises from the activities of cultism. Tranquility which had been the heritage of the Nigerians, for years now has become an illusion. As a result, academic activities in the schools are being strangulated, religious, political, economic and social lives of the people are adversely affected. The atmosphere is tense as there is a feeling of uneasiness in the country. It is against this background that this research work is set. Secret cults are associations of persons, which binds members with oaths of secrecy. They usually require elaborate forms of ritualistic initiation for recruitment, and adopt peculiar  use  of symbols, passwords, praise songs, chants, secret signs of greetings such as handgrips, a charm to wear, and most importantly, members are made to take vows of allegiance to keep organizational secrets no matter the inducements. Oath-taking usually involve spillage of blood from members or from animals. Initiates may also be taught to endure pain by ordeals that may include hunger, thirst, eating unsavoury food (including human faeces), walking through fire, standing at cross roads at midnight, forcibly raping a woman, and so on. Cultism presently exists in many primary and post-primary institutions in Nigeria, even in the Nigerian Defence Academy, the elite military training institution. More and more females are also being drawn into cult activities and exclusively female secret cults exist in some of the nation’s educational institutions  (see Maliki 1998;  Oguntuase 1999;  Awe 2001;  Akinfolarin 2003, Aina, 2003, Ogunbameru 2004, Okwu 2006; Ugwuoha, 2008, Ajayi et al 2010). Campus cults in Nigeria go  under  such names  as:  Pyrates,  Bucaneers, Black  Axe,  Black  Brothers, Black  berets,  Black Scorpions, Temple of Eden, Egbe Dudu, Green Berets, Eiye Confraternity, Vikings, Monks, Seven stars,  Shara, X  Corps,  Sons  of the  Night,  Mgba Mgba  brothers,  KKK  and  so  on.  Among the exclusively female secret cults are the Amazons, Black Ladies Club, the Mermaids, Pink ladies, and Daughters of Jezebel (see Maliki 1998, Oguntuase 1999, Rotimi 2005, Ugwuoha 2008).  Only the Pyrates  Confraternity  (National  Association  of  Seadogs,  NAS),  is  registered  among  these associations (see Gbadamosi 1998; Oguntuase 1999). Furthermore, individuals who get involve in cultism act suffers physically, emotionally, academically among others. It is on this basis that this study tends to evaluate cultivism and its attendant consequences.

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