In December 2020, I was invited to a dockyard, and after the meeting, I asked my inviters that I wanted to catch fresh breeze outside their workshop. A huge young man in his mid-twenty ran to me, and I thought my engineer friend sent him to recall me to his office, but I was wrong. The young man stared at me with a mixture of fear and soberness for the first one minute, and nothing was said or done. I noticed that I might have hysteria if I remained on the same spot due to insecurity in the country, so I moved briskly backward. Seeing such leap, he muttered ‘Please help me, I don’t want to die’.  ‘Why would you die?’ I asked after a brief silence, he began to narrate how his father joined The Ogboni Confraternity (also known as Fraternity group), and how he has become a target to be killed soon. As I drove back home that day, I had a deep thought concerning his ordeals, trauma, and fear, and then decided to share this phenomenon with the public one day. 

In the 21 century, people may not believe that such incidences are still happening; but truly, they are.  For clarity sake, Ogboni Confraternity has been existing for centuries and they had members across Nigeria and abroad. In recent years, one faction broke out of the main Ogboni cult group, and called their appellation The Reformed Ogboni Confraternity. This separated Ogboni group may not be as popular as the traditional Ogboni Confraternity, but it is known to be an open social class group unlike the traditional Ogboni group.  However, people still classify both Ogboni groups as secret cult societies in Nigeria.

Back to the purpose of this write up, does it even make sense to join a cult group, where one pledges to sacrifice oneself in an exchange for wealth, or power? Does it make sense and civilised to be avenging the sins of one’s parents on their innocent children? Some may lampoon these questions and stand on the principle of give and take, while some may rely on the peculiar ethos of some groups (including the secret societies), which may be known or unknown to a new member prior their acceptance to such groups. However, it should never be forgotten that many secret societies especially the Ogboni Confraternity is highly surreptitious and many children of parents in this cult group may have no inkling that their parents are active members. What this portends is victimization of relatives (especially the children) of any Ogboni members who tries to quit the group. Similarly, those who are at the grave danger are children of Ogboni members who abscond from the cult group without paying their initial pledge (s) like using their first child for ritual purposes.

An online news channel named City Rovers monitored recently threw more light into this dangerous undertaking by members of Ogboni Confraternity group. A man named Yekini Ajibosho (who is now 70 years ) joined the confraternity 13 years ago (i.e. in 2008) but in 2015, he  began to regret his action. He explained how he was lured to the group, and made to pledge sacrificing his first son in exchange of wealth and power.  He was quoted as saying that once a member ignorantly pledged his/ her child(ren), there is no going back until the child is dead.  The septuagenarian said further, “Why I’m so pained now is the fact that after joining, they’ll make you pledge different unimaginable things. The most common is your first son. You can pledge a male child as early as a day old. If you don’t have a male child, they can make it happen for you”. Ajibosho said further, “I don’t care what happens to me, I am ready to face the consequences alone. As long as I refuse to pledge any of my kids, they will have nothing to do with them that is why I came out now so that I will be the one that should be dealt with”.

Emphatically, in the 21 century, not all social acts, religious, traditional, or cultural activities are permissible unless we are to close our eyes and ignore human rights as enshrined by various chatters and conventions such as one from the United Nations, which Nigeria also signed. As the young man earlier mentioned has been made to live in a palpable fear, they have no hope of living beyond teens or adolescent as they may be struck anytime, and have their lives been terminated in their prime. In addition, many who have no hope of surviving such pathetic situation carry along their heavy heart wherever they go and keep living in a dehumanised and psychologically demented manner. Without peeping into the full details of Ogboni Confraternity and the new faction(s), as well as their modus-operandi, it is essential to save innocent children of members of the confraternity by making their father or mother who are the members of the confraternity pay the pledges (which should be themselves) and therefore save the lives of their children.

Martins Henri, martinshenri455@gmail.com, an author, and an advocate of socio-cultural, economic, and religious reformation in Nigeria.

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us

Share

Share

Share

Share

Share