Current Affairs

Every little argument in this report is linked to the growth of off-campus street affiliates of the fraternities that were created in the Universities of Nigeria. The confraternities recruit their membership from the unemployed youth, out of school children and secondary school students. The results are that these groups are active in whatever they are asked to do, whether it is political agitation, stealing ballot boxes or just street crime, they are a force that is powerful. Some existing confraternities establish these groups in their own name, like Eiye or Black Axe, others developed names for their gangs, like the Klansman who produced the Deebam.

Most confraternities are territorial and conflicts are common, whilst others are more invested in political violence, sabotage of the oil industry (Bunkering) and others have become employees of the industry through signing agreements for protective services. But most are on the payroll of politicians when elections come round and support the politicians through protection of their investments (posters), act as bodyguards or ruin elections through ballot box stealing, spoiling ballots, intimidation or even murder of candidates.

In a report by the UNODC, they interviewed a member of a cult and they argued that “the majority are cultists in this part of the world. “The government is comprised of people in cults, the President, the Senate and cultism is everywhere.” They argued that members of the police and the army were members, and they went on to argue that it was “only the boys on the street that are recognised as members,” which was wrong.

There is an interconnectivity to the cults, they argue that everybody knows each other and that they act act nationally: “people from Port Harcourt know people from Lagos, and people from Lagos know people from Wari.” The cultists interviewed argued that “if someone offends me, and that person is in Bayesa, I can call any cult members there to report the person,[…] [and] they will execute the plan for that person.”

IN the UNODC report, revenue streams are hard to come by, the most common form of revenue was extortion of businesses and communities within the cult’s territory. They argue that they provide a security service to these businesses and communities and that they protect the property of those paying from attacks by criminals. They stated that this “homage [is] an informal security taxation fee.” They also provide a mechanism to collect debts and resolve disputes, while at the same time make contracts work through threats, intimidation and at times through real violence.

According to UNODC, once cults have secured a monopoly in an area, it can operate with the understanding that groups from outside or unauthorized criminals in cult areas will be severely punished. But the cult members have to generate revenue and to do this they form cartels, such as armed robbers or businesses. Everybody is expected to generate revenue for the cartel and grassroot members are expected to generate revenue, even if it is the protection of political posters, while the leadership gains their income from political sponsorship. One member interviewed said that they “raise funds by ourselves, like normally we […] loot phones [on] the streets, point [a knife at] somebody, steal phones and other things.” “From there [he argued] you will have the money to buy a gun. That is how you go about robbing shops.” Each action causes a reaction and as they grow bigger, they become more powerful until they are dealing with politicians personally and taking their money for protection and other activities.

Politicians are alleged to facilitate connections between the cult members and security services, which includes arming them and providing information. In the same manner as a politician maybe a member of a cult, security personnel are also members, or they are corrupt and can be brought off with a share of a crime. As one member of the cult put it: “we normally have [an] understanding with security services […]. There maybe some that were supposed to be at the place are going to […] cause a problem, but they got the call to go away from there and another man [is] posted.”

Between 1995 and 2010, seventy one percent of recorded attacks at sea were robberies, but between 2010 and 2015, there was an additional increase in hijacks and from 2016 to 2020 a wave of kidnaps, with forty percent proving successful.

Between 1995 and 2006 there were 26 incidents of kidnapping, with most occurring after 2006. These attacks as well as robberies relate to the Niger Delta conflict and were part of a campaign that served as a form of protest against the oil companies and the federal government. The causes were said to be widespread unemployment and decay of traditional livelihoods due to environmental damage. In an interview with UNODC one of the respondents said that “I started 10 years ago, when I was 10 years old, that was when John Togo [ex-militant leader] teach me how to shoot gun in my community… Many ex militant work with us…[…] we are sea pirates. We are working together.”

Some interviewees claim that politicians or prominent political figures directed them with information and protection. As one of them put it, “sometimes the government use us … to do some security job, some dirty job for them… and they pay us… Politicians…make you angry because after using us, they still dump us… They don’t come back again… [until the next election]… That is why you hear some of them are assassinated. Not because somebody really need them to die, but… we have to clear them off so that the next person can also get his own chance…”

Nigerians have long been involved in the trafficking of drugs, especially cannabis and methamphetamine, but domestic drugs such as codeine and tramadol, and international drugs such cocaine and heroine.

According to UNODC, Nigerians have been arrested in over 70 countries for drug trafficking. At least 38,220 Nigerians were arrested between 2010 and 2019 and a further 4,300 were arrested for cocaine smuggling and 2,400 arrested for opiates. In a Business Day report they talk about the current Nigerian President Tinubu, being arrested in America by the Revenue Services on trafficking charges. ‘Kevin Moss, a special agent with America’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in section 21 of a sworn court affidavit in July 1993, at the US District Court in County Cook in the State of Illinois. Mr Moss’ testimony underpins the forfeiture of US$460,000 by Mr Tinubu to the American government in 1993 as proceeds of narcotics trafficking. The affidavit goes on to detail how Mr Tinubu at the time operated bank accounts for a gang that he was part of.

According to business insider. Mr Tinubu was already a senator in the Nigerian senate at the time and was a close associate to Moshod Abiola, the “presumed winner of the 1993 presidential election. President Tinubu, finally answered in the 2023 general election that it was a long time ago and that the US court narcotics trafficking assets forfeiture order in 1993, was against his bank accounts and not him personally. He also argues that it was a civil matter, and not a criminal one and according to business insider, Tinubu interprets the decree as forfeiture and not a fine.

Nigeria is a dynamic country with a lot of potential, it has a young population that is trying to do the best it can, but the lawlessness and corruption is endemic in a young country that is the biggest economy in Africa. Like anything, money breeds a lineage of arguments that determine how a person lives, survives and is educated. But the gang cultures that have grown through the universities, the environmental arguments, the pirating, kidnapping, drugs and political corruption are all weights that are challenging the country’s ability to move forward. Corruption starts at the top and works its way down to the street robber with a knife and in many ways that is the identity of Nigeria, a country that elected someone as President, who cannot see they have committed a crime, but also someone who knows and understands the culture that is all persuasive in Nigeria and that is the Politician is as mighty as those around him who have elected him in the most corrupt manner.