The Lagos State Police Command recently announced that five bodies recovered along the Oreta river bank in Igbogbo community, Ikorodu LGA were connected with cult-related violence.
While confirming the incident, CP Olohundare Jimoh assured communities ravaged by cult activities that new interventions were being deployed in Ikorodu and other flashpoints across the state.
“That is why we are investigating; you know that we recovered the bodies and sent scene-of-crime experts to the place.
“The team has briefed me and we have given more directives on areas to touch; we will make the outcome of the investigation public,” he said.
In Edo, Operation Flush out Cultists and Kidnappers also recently arrested nine suspected cultists and seized firearms in Ovia North-east.
These were not isolated cases as cult-related clashes between rival confraternities leave students dead on university campuses.
The situation has become so alarming that the police had to issue annual warnings about ‘Aiye Day’ cult celebrations.
Independent assessment of cult cases
In 2022, Nextier Violent Conflict Database showed that 50 cult incidents were recorded, leading to 124 casualties between January 2022 and May 2022 alone.
“Cult wars are episodic in many Nigerian streets where young people are the major perpetrators.
“Multiple gang actions and reprisal attacks lead to deaths of gang members and residents in theatres of violence.
“Thriving cult groups and their expanding membership base pose significant concerns for Nigeria’s fragile security. Cult groups are readily available armed groups to be hired by people seeking to unleash terror in society.”
According to some scholars, there is also a link between cultism, militancy and political thuggery in certain states in Nigeria.
“Clear examples are Lagos and Rivers states while Lagos may not face outright militant violence, it has experienced multiple incidents of cult-related and electoral violence.
“In Rivers, cultism remains a major concern for both the government and residents,” Nextier reported.
The menace has taken a disturbing proportion to the extent that international agencies such as INTERPOL track Nigerian cult groups for global cybercrime thereby raising question whether Nigerian society quietly accepted cultism as a norm
Cultism as an accepted norm?
Many Nigerians however said despite laws and messages condemning cultism by religious bodies, it has been woven into everyday survival strategies.
“If you ask me if cultism has been accepted, I will say the answer is layered. Officially, we know cultism is outlawed, condemned by the media, clergy and punishable by stiff prison sentences; however, in many towns, campuses and political spaces, cult activities are tolerated, feared and carried out as normal daily activities.
“What emerges is not outright acceptance, but a troubling normalisation of a vice that refuses to die.”
The origins of cultism in Nigeria dated back to the late 1950s when a group of students founded the Pyrates Confraternity at the University of Ibadan. The original aim was comradeship and intellectual engagement, not crime.
Over time, splinter groups emerged, adopting violent identities and names like Black Axe, Buccaneers, Eiye and Vikings, etc.
What began as campus brotherhoods transformed into criminal syndicates involved in extortion, racketeering and, most recently transnational cyber fraud.
A report by the Asian Journal of Advanced Research and Reports traced the escalation of cult-related violence in Nigeria to the 1990s.
According to the report, the number of groups and the intensity of their activities increased dramatically during that time, shifting from campuses to the streets and communities.
“This era saw the formation of street and creek wings of campus cults, such as the Deebam and Deewell which engaged in banditry and organised crime.
“One of the most infamous incidents of this period was the Obafemi Awolowo University massacre in 1999 where members of the Black Axe confraternity killed five students.
“This event led to a public outcry and prompted the government to issue an ultimatum to universities to eradicate cultism,” the report said.
Another Nexier 2024 report titled, ‘Fraternities Grip on Nigeria’ also said the explosion in confraternity led to extreme hooliganism, violence and bloody struggle for supremacy among rival confraternities.
Since 2000s, cult groups have become deeply enmeshed in organised crimes and political violence; they are involved in armed robbery, kidnapping for ransom and extortion.
Many of these groups have also aligned with militant organisations in the Niger Delta, participating in attacks on oil infrastructure.
Cult members are also often used as thugs and enforcers by politicians to rig elections and intimidate opponents.
Towards curbing the scourge
Their activities prompted the police to launch various initiatives, such as the Police Campaign Against Cultism and Other Vices (POCACOV), but issues like corruption and a lack of resources often hamper their efforts.
By 2024, INTERPOL’s Operation Jackal III was explicitly targeting Black Axe and allied groups for business email compromise and romance scams across 21 countries, including Nigeria.
The international spotlight reinforced what many Nigerians already knew: cultism had moved beyond campus violence into a global criminal economy.
“Unfortunately, we seem to have normalised cult activities on and off our campuses. It is now common for new students to be openly harassed and intimidated.
“Fellow students are warned about colors, initiation seasons and areas within the campus to avoid. The violence is shocking, yet students adapt by normalising it,” a parent lamented.
In addition, an analysis of social media posts by celebrities on July 7, 2025 revealed the rate at which cultism has been normalised, if not dignified.
The police had to issue warnings about the “7/7” Aiye Day which has become an annual ritual and more or less endorsed by some celebrities.
Despite what seems like an accepted reality, Nigeria has repeatedly tightened its laws against cultism.
For instance, the Lagos State Unlawful Societies and Cultism Prohibition Law (2021) prescribes up to 21 years in prison for cult membership and 15 years for aiding or abetting.
In May 2025, the Edo Government announced legal action against the Neo-Black Movement after a spate of killings, signaling a willingness to confront cult groups not just as faceless groups but as accountable organisations.
These are in addition to the general prohibition of cultism under the Criminal Code (Sections 62 and 63).
