Gruesome cult murder at Uturu

Two undergraduate students of the Abia State University, Uturu were recently beheaded by suspected cultists who afterwards used their victims’ heads as goalposts. The deceased were identified as Ebuka Nwaigbo, a 300 level student of the Department of Estate Management; and Samuel Ethelbert, a 300 level student of the Department of Political Science. The victims were until their deaths living at Chi-Doo Lodge along the Uturu-Afikpo road.

Investigations revealed that the incident is an upshot of a brawl between two rival cult groups, Burkina Faso and Maafia. According to media reports, one Collins Agwu, a member of Burkina Faso was killed last month by the Mafia. Agwu’s colleagues from the Burkina Faso group decided to retaliate by killing Maafia group members. The suspected cultists arrived at the lodge on four motorcycles, forced their way into the lodge, beheaded their targets, took their bodies in a sack to a playground near the school gate and they mounted their victims’ heads on goalposts. 

Abia State Police Public Relations Officer Ezekiel Onyeke Udeviotu said the State Commissioner of Police Joshiak Habilah had ordered the Criminal Investigations Department to commence investigation into the students’ murder. The humiliating display of the two victims’ bodies after their gruesome murder is un-heard of in the history of cult-murders in Nigeria. It shows how hard hearted young undergraduate Nigerian students have become in recent times. It also depicts how they debase and devalue human life. The perpetrators of this inhuman act must not be allowed to escape the full wrath of the law in order to serve as deterrent to other students who think cultism is the in-thing on campus. 

The havoc caused by violent cult activities is a source of worry to many communities that host higher institutions of learning in Nigeria. A university community which is supposed to be an intellectual environment where only academic activities thrive is now hijacked by cultists for their nefarious ends. Besides gruesome murder, cultists engage in armed robbery, rape, house breaking and intimidating lecturers and fellow students. 

 

They often carry out their nefarious activities under the influence of drugs using dangerous weapons including guns, axes, knives and swords. 

Broken homes, poor upbringing, over-pampering by parents, peer group influence and frustrations arising from poor academic performance are some of the factors responsible for young boys and girls joining cult groups. Other possible causes include admission of unqualified candidates into tertiary institutions as well as un-coordinated running of institutions where administrative lapses allow expelled or withdrawn students to hang around campuses. 

Since it is generally believed that campus cultism is a social problem, addressing the menace would require the synergized efforts of all and sundry including university authorities, parents, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), the police and other security operatives. Parents and guardians have the greatest role to play in salvaging the society from cult activities. They must watch and monitor the kind of company their kids keep. Parents should also take time to understand their children, listen to them and make the family environment friendly to their physical and psychological needs. Deviant behaviours of children must be promptly and properly sanctioned.

Besides ensuring that students who have been withdrawn are disallowed from gaining access into campuses, university authorities must improve upon existing recreational facilities to enable students channel their energies to useful and creative purposes. Sports festivals such as NUGA should be more regular than currently obtains. With well-designed sporting programmes, students will have less time to indulge in anti-social behaviour and violent crimes. Student Union Governments of tertiary institutions should collaborate with university security units to organize students into anti-cult vanguards to watch and report on suspected cult members. 

NGOs could also collaborate with tertiary institutions to organize sensitization lectures and plays to educate students on the evils of cultism. To ensure that the message gets to as many students as possible, the use of social media platforms may also be expedient. Increased intelligence gathering and sharing between the police and other security operatives including campus security units would also help to curb cult activities within and outside university campuses.