CULT GANGS AND YOUNG PEOPLE
Security agencies must do more to contain the menace
The recent arrest by operatives of the Lagos State Police Command of 21 suspected cultists, following a hotel raid is an indication that this violent menace is not about to abate. The suspects had reportedly converged in the hotel in the Ajao Estate area to celebrate the birthday of a wanted kingpin before the police swooped on them.On the same day in Port Harcourt, one person died following a violent confrontation between some cult groups allegedly triggered by a dispute over a woman. We should all be concerned that young Nigerians are increasingly having their lives brutally terminated as a result of cult activities which have exacerbated the climate of lawlessness and fear in the country.
A recent investigative report in THISDAY LAWYER has revealed the growing trend of cultism among girls in Delta State secondary schools, highlighting the challenge among young people across the country. “There are over nine female gangs in Asaba alone… These are the most dominant groups, many of them were created as the female arm of existing male-dominated gangs and secret-cults: TG Girls (Trigger Girls), Vice Queen (Vipers), F-Tibi (Future Tibi), White Angels (JVC – Junior Vikings), Pink Lady (Apache), Red Devils, Bad Dragon, Blue Birds, and Red Sea,” according to the chilling report which details the activities of the groups. “The notorious three on this list are: JVC, Vipers and TG. They all use the same spot for ‘initiation’.”
Questions should be asked as to what is responsible for the dangerous path which many of our young men and women have chosen. Hardly a day passes when some young people would not fall victims to this goring spectre of criminal violence many as a result of battles for turf between rival cult groups. In many states, especially in the southern part of the country, gang wars are now almost a daily fair with several innocent bystanders becoming victims. What is more worrisome is that members of many of these cult gangs are also involved in armed robbery and kidnappings.
In several towns and cities across the country today, clashes involving cult gangs and reprisal attacks are daily occurrences. Young men and women now take solace in cult gang instead of directing their energy into positive enterprise. Some of these clashes can be for reasons as flimsy as supporting different football clubs in Europe. Yet, the rate at which they hack themselves to death without restraint, with cudgels, machetes, axes and other dangerous tools, should make critical stakeholders to shudder in fear.
This menace, which otherwise should have been conscripted to the stone age is debasing our ethos and social values. Bars, nightclubs and gardens where innocent people gather to revel are not spared this atmosphere of lawlessness. Indeed, these public spaces have become hideouts for most of these criminal elements to disrupt the social order and unleash terror on members of the public after becoming high on drugs and alcohol. Perhaps more disturbing is that powerful elements in the society are also known to be fueling this malady, using the cult boys as political thugs to settle scores against their adversaries.
These influential public figures are the unseen faces that that provide the funds used to acquire arms and support the egregious lifestyle of this band of social misfits. Cultism is adversely affecting our youths. The lives of many of them are wasted in their prime in gang clashes. We call for the arrest and diligent prosecution of these miscreants and their backers. We must put an end to this menace.
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BEYOND THE FRINGE
Edo State is feeling the impact of Okpebholo’s stewardship, reckons JOHN MAYAKI
Many governors have come and gone in Edo State with different styles and interests. When former Governor Oshiomhole manned the helm in Edo, he brought an earthy style, with his experience in the labour that was absolutely sensible and down to earth. He was a genuine leader with no pretense. He worked on roads and state infrastructure and this connected him deeply to Edo State. He is well loved. The fellow who took over for the next years had a large pen with plenty black ink. He used it to sign MOUs and eventually threw the state into a dark age. That was an aloof, with a medieval and meandering style of governance that seemed to have no direction.
It is now a truism that a good leader does not fill only one pot, he ensures that every stove in the village has something cooking on it. In Edo State today, under the watch of Senator Monday Okpebholo, the stoves that Oshiomhole started cooking with, which had been allowed to run cold, are now being relit. And more are added daily. From the university student burning the midnight candle in Ekpoma, to the aged pensioner in Auchi, to the market woman selling pepper under the Benin sun, the warmth of purposeful governance is reaching them all. Everyone is benefiting something across board. This is all-round governance.
When rain falls, it does not choose which forest to enter. Okpebholo’s is an administration reflecting all-encompassing governance that refuses to leave any sector behind. And in a state that has known its share of abandoned promises and hollow manifestos, such breadth of impact is revolutionary; a scale of workmanship last seen during the Oshiomhole administration.
Governor Okpebholo knows that youths are the future of tomorrow. The establishment of a bursary and scholarship agency in Edo State for students is a statement louder than any campaign speech. It is a sign that government putting its money where its mouth is. In a season where education has become a luxury that many families struggle to afford, this intervention is a lifeline thrown to the drowning. When a child from a humble home in Igueben or Ubiaja can look up and see the government holding a lamp on their academic path, something fundamental has shifted in the relationship between the governed and those who govern.
And what of the farmer who feeds that same student? He has not been forgotten. Across the state, farmers are receiving government support that transcends press releases and yields results in the lives of people. Tractors and agricultural equipment have been distributed across all 18 local government areas. Osadebe Avenue is close to farmers.
Ask any Edo market woman; she will tell you she feels every economic policy in her purse, every infrastructure failure in her profit margin, and every government neglect in the ease of her doing business. It is therefore deeply significant that this administration has turned its attention towards market people.
The news of international-standard markets under construction across the state is not a small thing. And to the victims of the devastating POWA market inferno, who watched years of sweat and savings turn to ash in a single night, the provision of ₦6 million per victim is an acknowledgement that their pain was seen, and that the government is not merely a fair-weather friend that appears only at election time.
For the civil servants, there is perhaps no greater indignity in public service than waking up each morning to go to work without knowing when your salary will come. Pensioners who spent the best years of their lives in service to Edo State understand the pain of queuing endlessly, of being told to come back next week, of watching their dignity erode one delayed payment at a time. Governor Okpebholo has moved decisively against this culture. This is a significant administrative improvement. A man who eats well works well; a pensioner who receives his dues on time can hold his head high in his community.
The teaching profession has also received renewed attention. Teachers are being employed, compensated fairly, and even offered opportunities for international training. The civil service too has seen improved incentives. For too long, the phrase government work represented an unspoken acceptance that the system rewarded those who showed up regardless of whether they delivered. It was a thankless job with no reward on earth.
“Teacher’s reward is in heaven”. Okpebholo seems intent on changing that narrative.
And, importantly, Road construction is ongoing across Edo State, and crucially, rural communities are not being treated as afterthoughts. The roads are receiving attention. In the same vein the expansion of healthcare infrastructure under the administration speaks to a government that understands that only the living can enjoy the dividends of a working government. New health facilities are being built, and inclusive health policies are being implemented. State-owned tertiary institutions in Edo have sometimes felt like the forgotten children of the government.
Okpebholo, however, is devoted to properly funding these institutions, alongside ongoing infrastructure development.
For too long, governance in Nigeria, and in Edo, has seen grand promises and MOUs dissolve under the weight of inertia, corruption, and political distraction. But what sets this administration apart is the visible, tangible, multi-sectoral nature of its delivery. The child everyone said would never come eventually arrived.
Edo people have waited a long time for governance that sees everyone, touches every household, and treats every sector with equal seriousness. The signs, today, are encouraging. When the tree bears fruit, even the roots rejoice. And across Edo State, the roots are beginning to feel it.
Mayaki is a Journalist and Diplomat
