“If you do not speak to warn the wicked man to renounce his ways, he will die of his sins. But I’ll hold you responsible for his death.” – Ezek 3:18
In the early fifties when the existing higher institutions in Nigeria
were more or less controlled and dominated by Whites and colonial
ideologies, all kinds of machinations were employed by the Whites to
intimidate and lord things over the few black staff, and students in the
universities.
Victimization, oppression, nepotism, and violations of rights were among
the tools used by these Whites to carry out certain pro-colonialist
agenda.
At a point few black students with ‘guts’ began to rally around each
other to draw strength and support from each other to check perceived
excesses of the Colonialist who dominated and oppressed them in their
very homeland.
The 1950s also marked a heightening of the nationalist movement and the
sad recourse to tribal alignments in the country. “Quick as always to
absorb the worst tendencies of many nationalist movements, the
University
College, Ibadan, itself became a breeding ground for the worst kind of
tribal clubs. The Students’ Representative Council, all forms of
students’ activity, including sports; became mere expressions of tribal
pettiness” (National Association of Seadogs website, 2005).
Men In Cities
It was not long before some of the students with ‘guts’ seized the bull
by the horn, and began to transmute some of the already existing social
clubs into opposition groups – to resist the unwholesome acts and the
negative effects on the Nigerian polity.
In the front line of these crystallizing opposing groups were the now
Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka with six others - Ralph Okpara,
Pius Oleghe, Ikpehare Aig-Imoukhuede, Nathaniel Oyilola, Olumuyiwa Awe,
Sylvanus U. Egbuche, making the ORIGINAL SEVEN, who founded the Pyrates Confraternity in the University of Ibadan in 1952, to curtail the perceived excesses and anti social tendencies (Seadogs website, 2005; Eguavon, 2008).
The fraternity, which started in the then University College Ibadan –
Jolly Roger 1, blossomed in the sixties, and began to spread its
tentacles and decks to other higher institutions in the country.
However, it was not long before rancor and acrimony crept into the
confraternity, and began to threaten the unity of this family. In what
he alleged as violations of the confraternity creed, Bolaji Carew, took
another ‘bold’ step to correct the observed ills, by pulling out of the
Pyrates Confraternity, with some like minds - Kunle Adigun, and Tunde
Jawando, to form the Buccaneer Confraternity, in late 1972 (Alora website, 2005).
In 1976, the Buccaneers Modaship gave birth to numerous Decks,
established in various parts of the country. As these went on other
fraternities were founded. The Supreme Eiye Confraternity,
which emerged once again from the west, more or less as a tribal action
group, was allegedly formed in 1965 as a group of three, and later
blossomed into a confraternity in 1969 (Supreme Eiye Confraternity
website, 2008, Rotimi, 2005). The Black Axe Confraternity sprang up in University of Benin in 1977 (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, 2005; Black Axe website, 2004). The Supreme Vikings Confraternity
sprang from the east in 1982, founded at the University of Portharcourt
(Vikings Confraternity website, 2008); as well as the Klansmen
Konfraternity, in 1983 at the University of Calabar (Welligthon, 2007).
The Mafites Confraternity came into existence almost within the same
period.
It was not long, before the country was engulfed in the phenomenon –
lined north to south, east to west with a plethora of confraternities.
Other notorious campus confraternities were as well formed. At the Enugu
State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), the Brotherhood of
the Blood, (Black Beret) was formed. Needless to say that countless
groups appeared, including: Second Son of Satan (SSS), Night Cadet,
Sonmen, Mgba Mgba Brothers, Temple of Eden, Trojan Horse, Jurists, White
Bishops, Gentlemen Clubs, Fame, Executioners, Dreaded Friend of
Friends, Eagle Club, Black Scorpion, Red Sea Horse, Fraternity of
Friends, and Victor Charlie Boys — allegedly formed by Professor
Augustine Ahiazu during his tenure as vice-chancellor of the Rivers
State University of Science and Technology (Welligthon, 2007).
The spark ignited in 1952 began to spread like wild fire! A few years later, it became glaring that the fraternities had derailed from their original course – navigating anticlockwise with neither the guiding sight of the Polaris nor the Orion – engaging in activities contrary to the dictates of their creeds.
The Pyrates and Buccaneers, realizing what had become of their brainchild, were among the first to publicly denounce and dissociate themselves from the nefarious activities of the modern day frat men, operating in the various higher institutions. The Pyrates, in July 1974, following the Odas of Captain Blood, closed down all ‘ABC’ Decks (undergraduate fraternities) all over the country, bidding farewell to active campus affairs.
The Buccaneers, during their “DOUBLOON” in 1982 by the Odas of the Grand Eye submerged all the Buccaneering Decks in the country, in a bid to have a grip at the organization once again.
However, just as before, ODAS were no longer ODAS and the fraternities continued to flourish in the universities, and other higher institutions, while stubbornly insisting that they were still part of the main body and enjoying uninterrupted patronage from the Lords. Apparently due to the misconceptions of the frat men doctrine of ‘Broda Deliver Broda’; the various fraternities ran amok and went on rampage, killing and undermining each other. The main objectives of the first fraternity, were thus, changed from the original plan of fighting social injustice and academic corruption, to fighting and struggling for supremacy and domination, among the different fraternities.
Whether marooned or submerged, the efforts made by the senior frat men to extinguish the already flaring fire in the fraternities in the Nigerian higher institutions have failed to achieve the desired results. The horrifying activities of the various fraternities in the schools have pricked the conscience of the nation. Almost six decades after the first fraternity emerged in the Nigerian scene; tertiary institutions in the country have turned into dens for brutes, vandals, assassins, armed robbers, and misguided felons, with close to sixty percent of male and twenty percent of the female students belonging to one fraternity or the other.
The alarming resurgence of violence and killings associated with cult activities in the country in the past few years, and their patronage by politicians, call for serious concern and demand drastic action to combat this repulsive menace. It has become quite obvious that the fraternities should not only be submerged, but also entirely torpedoed.
This piece is intended to neither raise any confraternity against the other nor glorify one over the others. It is more or less an X-ray of what has become of these ‘one-time-commendable’ groups, and how it has eaten deep into the polity – weaving frat men, university administrators, politicians, and high-level government officials into an intricate underground and dangerous network; with the ugly potential of wrecking the nation. Readers are strongly dissuaded from thinking otherwise.
In reviewing the activities of these families, it is the intension of the author to discourage would-be frat men from taking that step, and to persuade those already in it to quit.
One fact, which currently seems very obvious to almost every Nigerian, is that Confraternities as they exist in the universities and other higher institutions in the country at the moment, are no longer CONFRATERNITIES, but have transmuted into deadly antisocial monsters that ought to be curbed. Every well-meaning Nigerian has to stand up and fight it. If we do nothing to stop the stench of blood that has started in our higher institutions now, the stench will definitely increase to a level we just cannot withstand, even with our nostrils covered.
I guess I have done mine with this little piece. If you already belong, take a pause, and ask: What have I achieved? What have I gained? And what have I lost? Are you sure you still have your peace? Or are you not afraid?
WHY NOT TAKE THAT BOLD STEP?
The spark ignited in 1952 began to spread like wild fire! A few years later, it became glaring that the fraternities had derailed from their original course – navigating anticlockwise with neither the guiding sight of the Polaris nor the Orion – engaging in activities contrary to the dictates of their creeds.
The Pyrates and Buccaneers, realizing what had become of their brainchild, were among the first to publicly denounce and dissociate themselves from the nefarious activities of the modern day frat men, operating in the various higher institutions. The Pyrates, in July 1974, following the Odas of Captain Blood, closed down all ‘ABC’ Decks (undergraduate fraternities) all over the country, bidding farewell to active campus affairs.
The Buccaneers, during their “DOUBLOON” in 1982 by the Odas of the Grand Eye submerged all the Buccaneering Decks in the country, in a bid to have a grip at the organization once again.
However, just as before, ODAS were no longer ODAS and the fraternities continued to flourish in the universities, and other higher institutions, while stubbornly insisting that they were still part of the main body and enjoying uninterrupted patronage from the Lords. Apparently due to the misconceptions of the frat men doctrine of ‘Broda Deliver Broda’; the various fraternities ran amok and went on rampage, killing and undermining each other. The main objectives of the first fraternity, were thus, changed from the original plan of fighting social injustice and academic corruption, to fighting and struggling for supremacy and domination, among the different fraternities.
Whether marooned or submerged, the efforts made by the senior frat men to extinguish the already flaring fire in the fraternities in the Nigerian higher institutions have failed to achieve the desired results. The horrifying activities of the various fraternities in the schools have pricked the conscience of the nation. Almost six decades after the first fraternity emerged in the Nigerian scene; tertiary institutions in the country have turned into dens for brutes, vandals, assassins, armed robbers, and misguided felons, with close to sixty percent of male and twenty percent of the female students belonging to one fraternity or the other.
The alarming resurgence of violence and killings associated with cult activities in the country in the past few years, and their patronage by politicians, call for serious concern and demand drastic action to combat this repulsive menace. It has become quite obvious that the fraternities should not only be submerged, but also entirely torpedoed.
This piece is intended to neither raise any confraternity against the other nor glorify one over the others. It is more or less an X-ray of what has become of these ‘one-time-commendable’ groups, and how it has eaten deep into the polity – weaving frat men, university administrators, politicians, and high-level government officials into an intricate underground and dangerous network; with the ugly potential of wrecking the nation. Readers are strongly dissuaded from thinking otherwise.
In reviewing the activities of these families, it is the intension of the author to discourage would-be frat men from taking that step, and to persuade those already in it to quit.
One fact, which currently seems very obvious to almost every Nigerian, is that Confraternities as they exist in the universities and other higher institutions in the country at the moment, are no longer CONFRATERNITIES, but have transmuted into deadly antisocial monsters that ought to be curbed. Every well-meaning Nigerian has to stand up and fight it. If we do nothing to stop the stench of blood that has started in our higher institutions now, the stench will definitely increase to a level we just cannot withstand, even with our nostrils covered.
I guess I have done mine with this little piece. If you already belong, take a pause, and ask: What have I achieved? What have I gained? And what have I lost? Are you sure you still have your peace? Or are you not afraid?
WHY NOT TAKE THAT BOLD STEP?
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