Student Fraternities of Nigeria: Bloody rituals, murders and kidnappings

We have learned everything we know about fraternities from American youth TV series. Neat "nerds", daring athletes, harmless, often funny rituals and grandiose parties. In Nigeria in the early 50s, everything was also conceived that way, but after a while the Western style won over the African specifics.

The first fraternity in Nigeria was founded in 1952 by Wole Shoyinka, a student at the University of Ibadan and a future Nobel Prize winner in Literature. Wole and his friends called their society Pyrates Confraternity — "Pirate Brotherhood". The guys took pseudonyms in honor of the heroes of adventure novels and began to fight against the class and racial inequality of the colonial university.

The fraternity was very serious and its members were very proud of their community. For a decrease in academic performance or unworthy behavior, they could be excluded from the "pirates", which was considered a disgrace among students. But there were such cases, and the losers and hooligans exposed from the brotherhood founded their own group, calling themselves "Buccaneers" and almost completely copying the structure and customs of competitors.

Until the end of the 70s, fraternities at universities in Nigeria appeared like mushrooms after the rain, but no one really thought about studying and discipline anymore. The financial component and power came to the fore. That is why the communities were constantly at enmity with each other, often resorting not only to verbal sparring, but also to physical assault.

In the early 80s, the student idyll was stirred up by a revolutionary coup in the country. Ibrahim Babangida's military junta was overthrown and political life began to develop rapidly in the country. Of course, politicians soon came up with the idea of using student fraternities for their own purposes, for example, to fight trade unions.

Students received weapons and patronage of those in power, and their leaders — money, authority and prospects. Of course, the politicians won the most — they had ready-made street gangs with an almost inexhaustible human resource at their disposal. It was then that the Nigerian student communities transformed into a real mafia, with its own subculture, hierarchy and rituals.

It is not easy to find data on cultist students - their fraternities are closed from outsiders and they do not communicate with journalists. Only statistics of murders related to the activities of these youth groups are publicly available.

Sometimes something interesting can be learned from the communication of fraternity members on forums and in social media groups - they talk in a creepy dialect similar to the language of the Orcs. It is known for sure that all new members of the brotherhood undergo a mandatory initiation rite. Most often it is drug taking and beating, but there are also extremes like murder and rape.

Here are some descriptions of youth groups typical of modern Nigeria of such a plan:

1. "Black axe" or "Butchers". The fraternity first appeared at the University of Benin in the late 70s and later found many imitators in other African countries. They position themselves as ideological fighters for the rights of blacks and were inspired by the "Black Panthers" and South African anti-apartheid fighters.

Members of the brotherhood can be recognized by white shirts and black berets with bright yellow piping. "Butchers" practice cruel rituals associated with human sacrifice and rape. They usually gather in cemeteries and abandoned buildings away from prying eyes.

An indispensable part of all gatherings is drinking "kokoma" — a ritual narcotic potion named after Charles Kokoma, who once stood at the origins of the brotherhood. The founder of the "butchers" is not particularly honored, since he was convicted of betrayal and beheaded with an axe at one of the cult meetings.

"Black Axe" tries to give the impression of an official organization with socially important goals. The brotherhood members hold rallies in support of political prisoners, organize seminars and lectures on history and culture, and gather thematic meetings.

In fact, the group has a bloody trail of murders, among which the most terrible is the attack on members of the student union of Obafemi Awolovo University in 1999. Then five people died and seven were seriously injured.

2. Klansmen Konfraternity. This is already a real Nigerian Ku Klux Klan, although in the case of Africans it may seem silly. For the first time these guys appeared at the University of Calabar, where they quickly took power into their own hands. The customs of the brotherhood are strongly implicated in mysticism and local beliefs, and members of the community worship the demon Ogor.

In the early 90s, the group left the student campuses and took to the city streets. The combat wing of the organization, which is called "Dibam" (Be strong), does not consist of students at all and is a gang of real thugs, many of whom do not even know how to read.

They talk to each other in incomprehensible slang, but for greetings they pathetically use the Latin "Ave", and they address each other only as "sir". In Rivers State, members of the brotherhood have committed many murders and kidnappings. It is also known that the gang is fighting for control of the state's oil industry.

3. Vikings or De Norsemen club. Even more ridiculous, but no less dangerous guys who first announced themselves at the University of Port Harcourt. Viking Negroes consider the Scandinavian god Odin as their patron and consider themselves the spiritual heirs of the ancient Northern sailors and warriors.

Among all the fraternities in Nigeria, Vikings have the clearest class division into elite elite and ordinary members. Street fighters have a very vague idea of their leaders, perceiving them as some legendary personalities. In general, dark-skinned Varangians are prone to unmotivated violence under loud and very chaotic slogans.

Like the "Dibam", the "Vikings" passionately want to control the oil-bearing area, which is why they constantly engage in shootouts and carnage with machetes and axes with opponents. The combat wing of the brotherhood was headed by Ateke Tom, who had recently settled down and proclaimed himself... king.

Tom took the throne of the village of Okochiri in Rivers State after he voluntarily surrendered to the authorities in 2009 and served until the next amnesty. To understand how the bloody executioner got off with a symbolic punishment, you need to be a citizen of Nigeria, so it's better not to delve into the essence of the issue.

4. Yahoo boys. These guys are well known and cursed not only in their native Nigeria, but throughout the Internet-covered world. These are the very authors of tearful Nigerian letters who, oddly enough, still bring their authors substantial profits.

In addition to letters, members of the brotherhood are engaged in carding, small Internet scams and even fraud with forged documents. The Yahu boys are the elite of Nigerian youth who were smart enough to use university knowledge for illicit enrichment.

It would seem that these guys should believe in innovation and worship technology, but, as it turned out, they are no less superstitious than their brothers from Dibam who do not know the multiplication tables. In the absence of luck in their dark deeds, Yahoo boys resort to the help of sorcerers and shamans or themselves conduct gloomy rituals using human organs and blood.

Also among the cultists-spammers, it is customary to bark like a dog one day a month to attract good luck, wear enchanted amulets for good luck and steal women's underpants for special rituals. Very often, it is the grandiose collections of worn women's underwear that serve as proof for the police that a modest programmer guy belongs to a dangerous gang.

5. Badoo. The most terrible thing in Nigeria, and perhaps in all of Africa, is the brotherhood. They first declared themselves in 2015, plunging the residents of Ikaroda, Lagos State into chaos and horror. A number of brutal senseless murders and rapes took place there during the year, after which the police found the same inscription on the wall: "I am Badu."

In 2016, a man suspected of a series of crimes was arrested, but soon "Badu" was released again and immediately raped a child. This time, the residents of Ikarod did not bother the authorities, but caught the maniac themselves, doused with gasoline and burned alive.

However, after the massacre of "Badu", the nightmares did not stop. Someone killed the townspeople right at their home, not particularly choosing the victims and the time of day. Only from March to June 2017, 50 citizens died, whose motives for killing could be called cult.

The dead were killed by a smooth cobblestone on the head and carefully gutted. The blood of the victims was not only drained into containers, but also wiped off with large white cotton handkerchiefs. The trophies thus obtained were sold by members of the secret brotherhood to healers and all those in need on the black market of occult goods.

The murderers were not even afraid of the fact that local residents periodically caught individuals suspected of murder and, according to a good tradition, fried them right in the middle of the street. But in the summer of 2017, everything ended — the police arrested more than 100 members of the Badoo gang and a witch doctor who supplied the killers with drugs and organ orders. The leader of the gang, Omotayo Abamoyeguna, was detained only in 2018.

It was he who ran a business based on death and personally sprayed sleeping powder in the houses where the murders later took place. During the investigation, a local oil magnate Alahaji Kamal was found among the leaders of Badoo, who actively participated in ritual murders.

We have not told about all Nigerian fraternities founded as student fraternities, but turned into criminal and mystical ones. Special mention is made of female gangs, such as the "Vikings" — Viqueens. The girls from this group specialize in prostitution, and the initiation ceremony involves cooking soup with their own blood.