Dreaded Cultist, ‘Solution’ Killed in Rivers State
By Ebere Inyama
(Port Harcourt) The Rivers State Police Command has gunned down the commander of a dreaded cult group, Izuma David Odiereke, a. k. a ‘Solution’, who has been on the wanted list of the police for nearly 10 years.
‘Solution’ commanded the ‘Greenlanders’ confraternity before he was killed during a shoot-out with the police in the Owube Kingdom in Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers state at about 4 am on Monday, March 25, 2024.
In a statement on Monday, the state Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, described the cult commander as a serial killer who was responsible for the death of the paramount ruler in the area in February this year, among about nine notable names murdered by his gang.
“His reign ended when the command took men to his camp at Api Forest between Odiereke Ubie and Joinkarama 4 in Ahoada West LGA,” Disu said.
“Attempts were made to capture him three days ago, but he escaped. We continued to lay siege on him. He has been on the wanted list since 2016. He has been a serial killer. A lot of people have died at his hands,“ Disu went on to say.
“Nobody can fish. Nobody can go to the farm because of this man. We are so happy that today, officers went after him, and luckily for us, they got him. So this is the end of the era of General Solution”, according to the police statement.
In an interview with TruthNigeria, a repentant cultist who hails from Enugu State, and who identified himself as “Mike,” told TruthNigeria that he belonged to the Vikings Confraternity during the time he was a student at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUTH) from 1995 – 1999. According to him, members of his confraternity do not engage in any form of violence unless they are provoked to do so.
” When I was a student at ESUTH. I belonged to the Vikings Confraternity,” Mike said. “Our objectives then were to ensure that nobody would harass us within and outside the campus and to ensure that we did not fail any course. Our lecturers then were coerced to give us pass marks even when we performed badly in the tests and exams because we gave them money. Any lecturer who tried to be stubborn or who refused to accept money would be threatened. Sometimes we would storm the lecturer’s residence or trail him to a quiet location in town and issue threats to him.” Mike said.
“I feel very bad that nowadays, members of some confraternities are reported to be engaging in violence and shedding of blood, Mike went on to say. “Politicians now hire members of confraternities as bodyguards and later turn them into thugs. Most of the cultists that carry guns for politicians are university dropouts. Clashes between confraternities occur when there is a conflict of interest between two different groups.
“I renounced my membership of the confraternity in the year 2000, a few months after my graduation from the university, because I gave my life to Christ and I saw no reason to continue associating with the group,” Mike told TruthNigeria.
Cultism Claimed More Than 200 Lives in Three Years in Rivers State
Cultism in Nigeria dates back to the precolonial era. At the time, a group of people came together to ask for protection from their ancestors. The aim of these people was genuine and had no ill motive, and they conducted rituals to appease their ancestors. Over time, it became normal to initiate people into the sect. This practice appears similar to the religious practices evident in West African countries during the 16th century. In a scholarly article titled African Slave Religions, 1400 – 1790, and published by Northwestern University, the Author, Sylvester A. Johnson wrote that ‘ African Religions had established a tradition of incorporating elements of theology and ritual from cultures other than that of the devotee’.
At least 202 persons have been killed as a result of cult and gang- related violence in Rivers State between January 2021 and September 2023, according to a report by the Partnership Initiative in the Niger Delta (PIND).
According to the report, Ahoada had the highest number of incidents with 63 deaths. This is closely followed by Port Harcourt LGA with 60 deaths while 32 deaths were recorded in local governments around Port Harcourt LGA (PHALGA).
“Cult gangs are often funded and used by politicians to attack opponents and influence election results,” according to the report.
Cultism In Nigeria’s Tertiary Institutions
Cultism among students of tertiary institutions in Nigeria involves carrying out secret or ritualistic practices in order to obtain benefits from supernatural entities. Confraternity organizations commission students to kill or commit other crimes with the promise of power, riches, or newfound prestige. The cult leaders lure members into believing cultism would give them supernatural abilities to achieve their goals.
Young idealistic men started the confraternity system in Nigeria in 1952, during the last years of British colonial rule. They protested against notions of elitism by middle-class Nigerians and were not violent. Some Nigerian confraternities hide their symbols and keep the identity of their leaders a secret among their members, whereas other cults make their signs public.
The cults groups that exist among university students in Nigeria include the Pyrate Confraternity (The National Associations of Sea Dogs), the Buccaneers Confraternity (The National Associations of Sea Lords), the Black Axe, the Supreme Vikings Confraternity and the Supreme Eiye Confraternity or Air Lords among others.
More than 100 Cult Groups Fueling Violence in Rivers State
According to a report by SB Morgan (SBM) Intelligence, more than 100 cult groups are responsible for the growing violence in Rivers state, which has led to the loss of hundreds of lives. The report is based on four sources, including the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, (ACLED), the Council for Foreign Relations’ Nigeria Security Tracker, public newspapers, and SBM Intel’s own countrywide network of researchers.
The report traced the origin of cult groups in Rivers State alone to the formation of the Supreme Vikings Confraternity (SVC) also known as the Adventurers or the De Norsemen Club of Nigeria at the University of Port Harcourt in 1984. It said cult groups have since expanded to different parts of the state, causing both destruction to lives and the environment. According to Morgan, three sources of revenue for the cult-crime groups include oil-bunkering, kidnapping for ransom, and political- party patronage.
Muslim Militant leader in Rivers state accused of recruiting cultists for terrorism
Mujahid Dokubo-Asari dropped out of the University of Calabar in 1988 and converted to Islam so that he could train with terrorists in Libya, according to reports from Nigeria’s former minister of Mines and Power, Prof. David-West
In January, 2022, the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, in a statement by its spokesman, Emma Powerful, accused Dokubo of “colluding with the Federal Government and some corrupt politicians to recruit cultists and criminals to kill Biafran agitators.” Powerful alleged that Dokubo and the government recruited Ijaw youths to carry out attacks on Biafran agitators while blaming it on members of the Eastern Security Network, ESN.
In October, 2023, Asari Dokubo was shown in a video brandishing an AK47 and issuing threats against Christian Igbos of Southeastern Nigeria. In the viral video posted on YouTube, Mr Dokubo, wearing a T-shirt with ‘American Eagle’, taunted Igbos in a hate speech that shocked many.
—Ebere Inyama is an Imo State-based conflict reporter for TruthNigeria
