By Femi Oyelola
Cultism in the past was unknown to Kaduna state and almost the entire north as it was usually seen as a problem of the south, especially in tertiary institutions’ campuses where it hitherto holds sway. However, the phenomenon has gradually found its way into the state and it has now become another security threat waiting to happen.
In the past, what may be called cultism was the activities of criminal gangs like Sulu and BA Sulu, two rival groups fighting each other anywhere and anytime they come across one another.
The Sara Suka otherwise known as ya shara are also what residents see as a miscreant troubling some part of the Kaduna Metropolis.
People of Kawo New Extension, Mando, and Angwar Rimi areas are mostly at the receiving end of the unwholesome activities of the groups.
However, the scenario took a different dimension on September 10, 2023 as a group armed with machetes and other handheld weapons stormed the Graceland community, breaking into homes, inflicting injuries, and robbing inhabitants of their belongings which included mobile phones, money, jewelries, ATM cards, etc, after which they fled into a nearby forest.”
The residents of the area who spoke to Weekend Peoples Daily said they had never seen it in that fashion before as the cultists were singing and chanting incantations as they moved from one apartment to another.
Acting Spokesman for the Kaduna State Police Command, ASP Mansir Hassan corroborated this and said some suspected cultists who met in Zaria, Kaduna State for an initiation ceremony and thereafter robbed the residents of the Zaria Graceland community, have been arrested by operatives of the Kaduna Police Command.
According to him, the suspects were arrested by the command through its operatives attached to the Divisional Headquarters, Sabon Gari, Zaria,
He said the arrested suspects confessed to being members of the Aiye Confraternity, who came from different higher educational institutions and parts of the country to the Graceland area as their rendezvous for initiation.
“Afterwards, on September 10, 2023, the unlawful group armed with machetes and other handheld weapons stormed the Graceland community, breaking into homes, inflicting injuries, and robbing the inhabitants of their belongings, which include, inter alia, GSM mobile phones, money, pieces of Jewelry, ATM cards, and escaped into a nearby forest.
“The police operatives trailed them to their hideout in the bushes and tactically apprehended 13 out of the yet-to-be-ascertained number of persons. The arrested hoodlums are cooperating with the police investigation, especially towards arresting the fleeing others,” he said.
A resident of Graceland Mike Amos said the community noticed the activities of the group a long time ago and informed the security agencies.
Amos disclosed that the group usually arrived at weekends and book accommodation in a popular hotel within the vicinity.
He stressed that their appearance created
fears in the psyche of people, especially because of the hazardous experiences people have had, either directly or indirectly from Bandits kidnappers, and other criminal elements.
He said he became afraid, knowing the havoc that cult groups unleash on youths, families, and the society at large wherever they operated.
Another resident of one of the areas who did not want her name in print said she knew about the presence of the cult group sometime early this year when two of her friends said they were raped when returning from a nightclub in the Area.
She explained that the group was armed with cutlasses and dangerous weapons, and “since then once it is 7pm, we are all in our houses for fear of being their victims.”
Asked what the police and other security agencies are doing to reduce or put a stop to the activities of these cult groups, she said; “they are trying their best that is what led to the arrest of some of them during initiation recently. “But these people suspected to belong to the cult live amongst us and there’s fear that if you point them out, they come after you and your family ” she said.
Investigation revealed that it is not only in Graceland Zaria that cult members are instilling fears, anguish, and pain in residents, posing threats to security of lives and properties in Kaduna state
In some parts of Kaduna Metropolis, places like Kawo, Mando, and U/Rimi had come under the siege of different cult groups.
Similarly, places like Black Street in Sabo Tasha in Chikun Local Government Area recently witnessed a bloody fight between two drug kingpins who were trying to control illicit drug market in the Area.
Pastor David Ayuba Azzaman while reacting to the unfortunate development opined that Religious leaders should find time to preach about this “Yahoo” menace.
According to him, he has preached the same messages in his Church and many of these boys came out to renounce it.
“If the Religious leaders, Parents, and even schools should talk to this boys about the menace of this thing I believe it will go a long way.
“Government can only arrest them, but let us nip it in the bud, that’s in our Churches and Mosques
“And the government will do well, arresting the witch doctors that give these boys various charms assuring them, they will succeed in this act of cultism,” he said.
Speaking in the same vein, Mallam Umar Dalhatu of U/Dosa Mosque is of the view that parents and the community have a great role to play in tackling cultism in the state
He warned that people should be wary of people displaying wealth without good sources of income.
A lecturer at Kaduna State University, Ibrahim Adams observed that many youths or students become members of secret cults because of the thirst for power and authority. It is common among them to fight for their rights. In Nigerian schools, the main reason why people join cultism is to fight those who oppress them, the wicked lecturer, school authorities, and the rival cult members.
No wonder, countless cases of murder, bloodshed, and revenge reveberate in schools with high cultism rate.
On the way out Prof. Adams admonished Parents to enforce discipline on their children.
“They should adopt good parenting styles, have time for their children, visit them at schools, and monitor their children. Also, parents should live exemplary lives and desist from secret organizations. School authorities should have high discipline and stringent punishments for cultists. This will serve as a solution to cultism as a whole.
“Schools, religious houses, parents, students, government, non-governmental organizations and the society as a whole should as a solution wage war against cultism through seminars, workshops, campaigns, and talks. The dangers associated with it should be preached to the students,” he said.
