4. Nigerian Confraternities
When the first Nigerian confraternity, the Pyrates Confraternity, was founded in the early 1950s, it was intended as a student club serving as a social liberating influence in fusty University College, Ibadan, Nigeria’s oldest tertiary education facility. In the 1960s and ’70s, confraternities became radicalized by anti-colonialism, Marxism, and pan-Africanism. They became more ritualized in their uniforms and initiation ceremonies. Civil War, reaction to Pentecostalism and radical Islam on campuses, and the destructive growth of the oil industry helped to change the nature of the confraternities into militarized criminal cults. Violence on campus increased, and the confraternities began to incorporate traditional religious objects—juju—into their initiations.
Notable confraternities included the Klansmen Konfraternity, the Supreme Vikings Confraternity, and the Black Axe Confraternity, all of which were involved in violence both on and off campus, as well as criminal street gangs and corrupt politicians. In the 1990s, they were deeply involved in the drug and weapons markets and the illegal siphoning of petroleum, known as bunkering. Cultists have been involved in racketeering, armed robbery, assassination, prostitution, political intimidation, bribery, human trafficking, and kidnapping.
Confraternities remain a serious problem in Nigeria today. In May 2015, over30 people were killed in confraternity wars in Benin City, Edo State. Police shocked the community by alleging that 14 junior secondary school students ranging in age from 12 to 15 were involved in the attacks. A month earlier, a number of alleged confraternity leaders were arrested, including four government functionaries.
Confraternities have also spread abroad. In 2007, Italian police arrested members of the Eyre Confraternity to prevent looming violence. This cult, which has branches throughout Europe including the UK, is known for its uniform of blue hats, clothing, and shoes as well as a ritual in which cultists bleed into and later drink from a communal bowl.
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