Gansterism, Cultism Or Criminal Gangs?

By Ejiro Umukoro

Samuel turned 15 two days ago. He is the son of a widow who adopted him nine years ago when he was 6-years-old. The widow had found Samuel and his biological mother living under a bridge in Lagos and took them into her home to live with her. Sometime later, Samuel’s mother remarried and went on to live with her husband leaving Samuel behind to be taken care of by his new mother.

In 2017 a group of boys lured Samuel to join their association, known as VIPER. They promised him security, popularity, and protection from harassment from teachers and bullies. They also promised him he was going to make lots of money too. Not too long after, Samuel was initiated into the group after he was forced to drink a concoction and swear an oath. Prior to joining the group though, Samuel’s adopted mother had cried severally to the school authority complaining about his pilfering and penchant for telling lies. Today however, Samuel wants to leave the group. But they would not let him go. They reminded him of the oath he swore that he could never leave. As Samuel waits in the principal’s office, fear and anxiety radiates all over his face. He is jumpy. Some members of his group are waiting outside the gate to waylay him. If he steps out unaccompanied, he knows what the consequences would be. 

Camsi is 16 years-old. A month ago she had planned to renounce her membership from the group she belonged to but they won’t let her. “They say if I leave, they will deal with me.” What she did not expect them to do was to wait at the gate of her school after school hours to attack her in broad day light. She was assaulted by JVC (Junior Vickings), a group she belonged to that is dominant in Asaba, Delta State. 

Twelve members of this same group, all boys, ages 14 to 16 years, recently renounced their JVC membership through the help of their caring Principal who went to great lengths to ensure that these students dump the group in order to regain their self-worth personal advancement. This action by the 12 boys stirred in Camsi a strong desire to leave too but it hasn’t been easy for her. During what was described as initiation, she was asked to choose what form of initiation she preferred: sex, fine or physical beating? She chose sex. 6 boys had sex with her on the day she was initiated. Camsi is in SS2 but has only been seen a few times in school since the session began five weeks ago. She’s afraid for her life, which ironically was the reason why she decided to join the group: to get protection, to belong to the popular ‘cool’ gang, and be envied by other girls for having her way with boys. The school principal is doing all that is possible to reach and help her but since she hasn’t been to school for a while, there’s only so much that can be done. 

But the real question is: did Camsi join a gang or a cult?

On the final day of their final year exams in 2017, both schools attended by Camsi and Samuel  experienced a rise in teenage violent reprisals from different gang groups. Whenever such clashes occur, each group wielded machetes, cutlass, knives, and daggers to cause mayhem. But these the weapons are the ones commonly used during the first ten months of the year. However, the December violent outbreaks, termed ‘Christmas revenge’, becomes the time where various groups’ indiscriminate use of fire arms becomes the order of the day.  

In that same year in another school in Delta, of the more than hundred members of a group who instigated the attacks in December just for the fun of it, and in response to what some say was to threaten teachers and terrorise students, more than half of them escaped and have since not returned to school in 2018. However, about fifty of them were arrested when the attack occurred and were taken to the Police Station where they were jailed for a week. Parents flocked into the station demanding for their erring anti-social children to be released. An arrangement was agreed between the parents and police. The students were asked to sign an undertaking while their parents were asked to pay fines ranging from N40,000 to N50,000 depending on their economic capacity or degree of desperation, even though a sign at the police station stated that bail was free. None of the students were taken to a rehabilitation centre or remand home nor was a special court assigned to look into the matter.

Most often, an observant teacher or principal can spot when a clash between rival groups is about to happen. Earlier in the year 2018, during a clash at an inter house sports held in Samuel’s school, where a member of one group decided to change the colour of his beret from red to blue, that slight change, wearing blue beret instead of the red one sparked a revenge attack. The offended group felt they had been rejected for another and considered it an act of betrayal on the part of the member who had switched sides, which led to serious altercation. Dangerous weapons appeared from ‘nowhere’ it seem, almost leading to a bloody clash that was promptly intercepted by their vigilant principal.

Samuel explains that it was mandatory for them to pay weekly and monthly dues. The weekly dues ranged from N200 to N400 and must be paid. Failure to do so gives the group the right to inflict corporal punishments, physical abuse, and emotional trauma on defaulters. Most of the leaders, Samuel explains are into drugs, alcoholism and smoking. To keep up these habits, the dues serve as their source of income. If any of them could not pay their dues, they often resort to robbery: stealing phones at night, using keke to target people at night to steal wallets or bags. Sometimes they steal at home or anywhere they could get away with it, even at school.

Camsi on the other hand cannot be seen hanging around other boys or date them because the boys-arm of her gang forbids such interactions. She says there are three other girls like herself who belong to this group in her school. But many of the other girls she knows who belong to similar associations are members of White Angel, an all girls’ gang in another school. The group was formed in response to sexual harassment or intimidation from teachers, a desire to have group power to fight off bullies, curiosity to experiment with sex, and the desire to be popular and be seen as the ‘happening’ girls. Camsi explained that the desire for attention, love and support drew her to join the group she now wants to leave. She said often, lonely girls become easy targets by boys who are quick to assume the role of someone who cares about them.

The circumstances surrounding Camsi and Samuel’s desires to belong, seek protection, acceptance, popularity, or money to engage in anti-social behaviours raises many questions: are the actions of the group Camsi and Samuel once aligned themselves with be properly described and labelled as criminal behaviour or teenage delinquency? Is delinquency a milder euphemism for lawbreaking? What should be the proper labelling of the kind of anti-social group associations now prevalent in Nigeria primary and secondary schools: gangs or cults? When teenagers engage in violent behaviour that leads to assault, killing, rape and murder, does that excuse them of the crime committed? What is the difference between a gang and a cult? Are their frameworks the same? Should parents shield their children from the consequences of their action committed in the name of the group? At what point should children assume responsibility for acts of criminal behaviour? Can parents, by their action, become silent perpetrators of criminal behaviour amongst their wards? Do schools directly or indirectly promote a school environment that nurtures the forming of associations that metamorphose to gang and cult activities? 

According to the United States National Criminal Justice Reference Service states that: “groups regarded as "cults" have much in common with groups regarded as "gangs". They are similar in that both groups restrict members' exercise of freedom in thought and belief; both demand unquestioning obedience from their members; both have self-appointed authoritarian leaders; and once persons join both types of groups, they tend to undergo certain predictable personality changes. Cults, like gangs, fall in the realm of deviance, and both types of groups encourage members to become situationally dependent on the "group identity." Both gangs and cults recruit members based on the human need to be accepted and be a part of a group that will affirm personal significance. The primary difference between cults and gangs is that cults have as their axial principle of organization some spiritual/religious/ideological belief system; gangs, on the other hand, are commonly perceived to have no such well-developed belief system. Further, gangs are more sinister in terms of the use of violence against their own members and those outside the gang. Disobedience in a cult occasions much less severe discipline, and violence against non-cult members is not common behaviour for cult members.”

According to Delta State Anti-Cult Unit (SACU), cultism is defined as an enclosed organized association devoted to the same cause with members who always commit themselves to oath and allegiance, which serves as their strong bond. Cultism is a form of organisation whose activities are exclusively kept away from the public under the guardian of an authoritative and charismatic leader.

A 19-years-old former student
caught in the crossfire of gang clash 

Going by this definition, the groups Camsi and Samuel belongs to are properly labelled gangs rather than cults. Gangsterism have initiation and code of ethics (how they operate) whilst a cult is a secret society (sometimes have agenda that are good or not). In the case of the schools we have sampled, the groups have formed themselves into gangs but use the MO of cultist operations around it. Having sex as an initiation act is a distortion of what cultism really is. Cults most often are ideologically driven, their screening process clearly spelt out, they are organised or institutionalised and guided by a code of ethics. But today the term, cultism, as used in Nigeria is been distorted with criminal behaviour infused into them. Endurance test, etc., which are part of cult activities has been replaced, bastardized and distorted with obscene behaviour such as killing someone or rape masked as initiation requirements are criminal behaviour offences. The swearing of oath common in both groups is simply to keep commitment. By their nature of practice and behaviours, these anti-social groups found in secondary schools in Nigeria manifest as a mismatch of cult and gangsterism, and as such can no longer be simply termed a cult but criminal gangs. Their activity and behaviour should be properly described as gangsterism. This mismatch needs to be clearly spelt out so we can get to the root of the problem and find the right solutions. These gangs are not the same as in-school clubs designed to integrate students, promote intelligent socialisation, social skills and career development.

An interview with two principals and three teachers revealed different anti-social gangs in Asaba: TIBI, JVC, TG, White Angel, Viper, Eiye, Vikings, and many more they are yet to identify by name. The four schools sampled in this report showed that between 0.1-1.2% of the school population belongs to an anti-social group. School 1 with a population of 1,400 students had 24 students who were cultists. Of this number, twenty were boys, 4 were girls. School 2 with a population of 3,000 students had 46 students who belonged to different groups (a total of five groups) spread through-out the school. Of this number 3 are females. In School 3 with a student strength of 1,000, out of this number 110 students, all boys, belonged to a particular cult. These gangs target secondary school students between the ages of 9-16 years. Recruited members still in secondary schools are known as Coordinators while those who have graduated are known as Leaders. These leaders are responsible for the recruitment of students across all secondary schools in Delta. It was a surprise to learn that a number of the leaders are between 20-26 years, with a number of them engaged in informal and formal jobs or artisanship such fashion designers, keke (tricycle) riders, etcetera. Once recruited, coordinators must pay dues to the gang, recruit new intakes to fund the economic pool and ensure the gang’s hold within the school is maintained. 

Delta State Anticult Unit (SACU) gave a list of more than 20 such groups. This list however may not be complete. And in each case, these groups exhibit deviant behaviours and carry out violent crimes and criminal offences within and outside the school premises. According to SACU Warri has the highest number of suspects arrested (316) and number of prosecuted (300) since 2016 till date, followed by Kwale with 250 arrested and 222 prosecuted. Asaba with 107 arrested suspects and 77 convictions tops at number three. In total, 24 towns and cities in Delta State are fast become breeding ground for secret-cult gangsterism. Since 2016 till date, a total of 1,598 have been arrested and 1,337 prosecuted. Of this number, 62 were girls arrested for related offences and 49 of these were prosecuted.

Bad behaviour is what gangsterism is. Gangsters are persons who have gone off the rail. And at the root of gangster formation is insecurity; often created to gain protection from environments, establishments or people who bully, intimidate or threatens their source of support, care or sense of belonging. Criminal Gangs on the other hand are organised crimes often termed ‘cultism’ in Nigeria parlance. In other words, these groups have metamorphosed into secret-cult-gangs. If we protect and care for our children, they won’t need to join gangs for protection. 

The slave girls and women in the movie Spartacus, choose to be lovers of, or marry men who were gladiators, warriors, soldiers or street fighters even though some of them had questionable characters, in lieu of security and protection in a society and country that left women insecure and exposed to abuse. 

The Nigerian girl and every girl in the world including boys simply want to live in a home and school environment where they are treated with dignity, care, love and appreciation. That is all they ask of the adults in their lives. And it costs nothing for us to live up to that role.