ABUJA: Cultism In Secondary Schools?

• 70 Gwagwalada JSS students in initiation rite

The problem of cultism in schools used to be the headache of tertiary institutions but that was in the distant past. Today, even junior secondary schools pupils are deep in cultism. The busting of a cult initiation and arrest of teenagers in Gwagwalada, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), was an opener.

The minors, who had just completed their junior WAEC exams, were all roped into cults and taken that fateful day into the bush for initiation.

The students are all of Government Secondary School (GSS), Gwagwalada, and had that day assembled to take oaths and rituals to join the Black Axe Cult, one of the most dreaded in campuses.

Abuja Metro got facts that it was almost a tradition in the school for the junior students to join any cult of their choice when they completed their Junior WAEC, before  beginning their senior secondary school cadre.

They were lured into becoming members by their senior colleagues, who had been running them through tutorials before the initiation.

But unknown to them, a security man at the school, who had been monitoring their activities, alerted a team of policemen on patrol around the area about the plans and the day the initiation would take place, which was June 27.

The students had on the day of the initiation left the school premises for the nearby bush behind the Kontangora quarters at about 8pm. The rituals lasted till the early hours of the following day.

When the police arrived the school to arrest them, they had gone. The police decided to repeat the visit to the school early the next day. They met the students just arriving the school premises from the bush. They made to escape in all directions on seeing policemen in the school that early.

However not all of them were lucky to escape, as the police apprehended five, including three new ones and two old members. Some of those arrested are Kamale Umar Isaac Akande, Ibrahim Yusuf and Mustafa Saidu. The arrested ones revealed the number of students involved.

The five cult members, who are now in police custody, confessed to the police about their mission and how it had been a tradition at the school for JSS students to join cult group before their senior cadre.

Items recovered from them included razor blades, charms and occult materials. The police is still going on with investigation.

Source: Sun News