Edo: Inside story of killings, inter-cult clashes in Ekpoma

 

Whenever folks gather to talk about killing fields in Nige­ria, Borno, Yobe and Ad­amawa states easily come to mind. In recent past, Jos, the Plateau State capital assumed the inglorious po­sition as the most notorious city to live in Nigeria. Scores of deaths were recorded every day. A city once acclaimed to be calm and peaceful became Nigeria’s ver­sion of Iraq and Afghanistan. For now, the killings appear to have abated. Unknown to many, there is a town called Ekpoma, located in Edo State, South-south Nige­ria where there is a raging war of a kind. Those engaged in this bloodbath are not terrorists or militants; they are students, farmers and artisans in the community. For keen observers who have followed the blood orgy, cultism in the historic town has been taken too far.
Ekpoma town is the second most popu­lar city in Edo State, after Benin City, the state capital. It has an area of 502 km² and a population of 125,842, according to the 2006 census. The popular Ambrose Alli University (AAU) is situated in the town. It also boasts of notable Nigerians and heavy­weight politicians. The main language spo­ken by indigenes is Esan. Pidgin is equally very popular and has become the lingua franca in the town. The town accommodates strangers from every part of the country and they live happily together in peace.
However, that peace has come under se­vere threats by sons of anarchy who have turned the place to a war zone. The endless cult clashes have resulted in the death of hundreds of students and locals. The situa­tion has so degenerated that the community becomes a ghost town after 8pm every day, for fear of being raped, robbed, murdered or attacked by cultists. In Ekpoma, everyone now sleeps with one eye wide open.
The genesis
Violent clashes between rival cult groups in Ekpoma is as old as the university in the town, AAU. Until the mid 1990s when stu­dents of the university had a running battle with the military and scores of students were killed, cultism was regarded as something reserved for the misfits of the society. Af­ter the military massacre that claimed over 100 lives of students, various cult groups embarked on massive membership drive. Freshmen were initiated, while old students were sometimes blackmailed to enlist. Since then, the university community and the en­tire Ekpoma town has lost its peace.
Since the late 1990s, there has not been any semester that students are not massa­cred or engaged in inter-cult battle. At some point, some of the killings happened within the university campus. Vice chancellors and deans of students at different times, tried endlessly to mediate. Sometimes, they suc­ceeded; at other times, they failed. During those mediation meetings, the vice chancel­lors, the dean of students, the police DPO and leaders of various leaders of the cult groups stayed up through the nights. A pop­ular spot located opposite the famous Igbin­edion Hostel inside the university campus, was the meeting point.
In its drive to stem the endless killings back then, the university authority backed the formation of Anti-Cult Campaign Or­ganisation of Nigeria (ACCON). In its first few years, the group succeeded in waging coordinated war against cult-related ac­tivities in the university. Things, however, changed when some daredevil cult members launched an early morning attack on the base of ACCON in 2003 and killed eight of its members. Thereafter, cultists infiltrated the group and weakened its structure. Since then, it has lost its valour and it has been unable to tackle cultism in the university. Observers and students believe the anti-cult group is now being run by cultists. In which instance, the devil thrives unchecked.
The new trend
In Ekpoma, it is difficult to tell who is a cultist. The whole town has become a tap­estry of cultists. Membership of cult groups is no longer a special privilege enjoyed by students of AAU. Locals are the new bosses. Mechanics, farmers, electricians, okada rid­ers and other artisans/technicians have en­listed and the war is raging. A former student of the university, Ehichioya (last name with­held), who runs a barber shop in the town sat down with our correspondent and gave graphical details of how cultism has eaten deep into every fabric of life in Ekpoma. He equally spoke on series of coordinated killings in the area and how police appear to have been compromised.
“In Ekpoma, it is a crime to be law-abiding”, he began. “I have spent all my life in this town. I am in my early 30s, so I can tell you I understand how this town works. I am very scared and many too in this town are scared. There is too much lawlessness going on here and those that should ensure there is peace are doing nothing. It is so bad that parents can no longer tell their children what to do. It might not be as bad as Boko Haram in the North, but we are in real trouble.
“In the past, only few students were members of popular cult groups. I remember then as a kid how students used to block the express lane when they were protesting. I also remember how cult members used to clash and kill them­selves. But the school authority was quick to intervene then. Things really got bad when a certain vice chancellor took over in 2004. He destroyed students union activism and started fraternising with cult members and holding meetings with them. That action gave some sort of backing to those boys. Because they knew they were not going to be arrested, they started recruiting and initiating more members. This new relationship between cult members and the vice chan­cellor gave rise to cult activities.
“Before you knew it, cult boys started fighting inside the campus. Soon, they took over the Students’ Union Gov­ernment (SUG). They started insisting on sponsoring their members that will form part of SUG. Before you could say jack, SUG officials started joining cult groups. It became an unwritten rule that you must belong to a known cult group before you could be elected as president of SUG. As I speak, that rule is still there. Most SUG members in AAU are cult members and the current vice chancellor is helpless.”
Aluya spoke further: “Now, it is different. What we have in Ekpoma is now street cultism. All sort of people are join­ing cult groups. Today, mechanics are even joining cult groups. Sometimes, when you take your car to a local me­chanic in Ekpoma, you see something very strange. When a mechanic goes under your car, you see a gun attached to his trousers. He openly wears his band or cap which displays the cult group he belongs to. That is how far they have taken cultism in Ekpoma. Okada men threaten you and openly tell you that they belong to a cult group and nothing will happen to them.
“Secondary school students have started joining cults now. Some carry guns to school and this is very common in public schools. So, by the time these boys get to the univer­sity, cultism becomes a child’s play to them. They see cult­ism as a lucrative venture and many young people are lured to join. Some of them have become armed robbers. They lay siege along the highway and even attack private homes at night. Go to Iruekpen, Ujemen, Eguare, Ihumudumu and all small towns and villages in Ekpoma. It is the same story. Cultism has gone to the streets.”
There is a particular hotel in Ujemen owned by a former chairman of the local government. That hotel is the new den of robbers in Ekpoma. Cult wars start and end in that hotel. Only on Christmas day, some group of cult boys stabbed a 22-year-old boy to death. Prior to that ugly incident, a simi­lar case was reported of how another young man was shot dead in the same hotel.
Armed robbery attacks in Ekpoma
In 2011, some dare-devil robbers, suspected to be stu­dents of AAU, launched a daylight attack in one of the new generation banks. Lives were wasted and millions of Naira carted away. According to eyewitnesses, the robbers spent over two hours and police officers in the area were chased away. “It was a gory experience and something I wish I could erase from my memory. What really surprised me on that fateful day was how a young lady mounted the main road and chased policemen away,” one of the eyewitnesses recalled.
During that deadly attack that changed a lot of things in the town, the assailants stormed the town with a juju man and dynamites. The entrance to the building was bombed and sporadic gunshots were fired. There were series of other high-profile bank robberies in the town within the period. Angered by the refusal of Edo State government to act swift­ly, all the commercial banks in the town closed down opera­tions for over six months. Residents were forced to carry out their bank transactions in Benin City, Uromi or Auchi. After series of pleas and interventions from stakeholders, banks in the area reopened, but only work half day for fear of being attacked again by robbers.
“I remember that day those robbers came to Ekpoma. It was like a war situation. A girl operating a salon opposite the bank was killed by a stray bullet. Policemen were chased way. Even military guys were scared to engage the robbers. For over two hours, they operated freely and held the town hostage. Before that major robbery, the town had witnessed other robbery attacks. Banks were always targeted and peo­ple were even scared to go to the banks. The sad thing is that, we all know how this thing started and since everyone has been compromised, no one can bring an end to this mad­ness,” Aluya spoke briefly on robbery attacks in the town.
There is another fear silently expressed by residents and natives of the town as the country prepares for the general elections. It is an established fact that elections in Ekpoma are among the most violent in the country. Snatching of bal­lot boxes and harassment of voters are common occurrences in the area. With the proliferation of arms in the town and the secret backing of some candidates by known cult groups, violence might break out in Ekpoma and spill over to other neighbouring towns and villages.