By Sam Ojerobo
From Ex-Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s Agbero-cultism driven 8-year tenure to Ex-Governor Godwin Obaseki’s cults-controlled 8-year of slewing sleaze to current Governor Monday Okpebholo’s entrenched political-cultist, the state has arrived at the menacing epoch of bloodbath
Benin City, Edo State, BLOOD-soaked Southern State of Nigeria of Edo State is witnessing renewed wave of cult killings. The appointment of Mr. Eribo Ewanta, an active member of Neo Black Movement of Africa, also known as Axemen or Blackaxe, Mr. John Adewale, an active member of Maphite Green Circuit Association International (MGCAI), and Mr. Noah Aimeolemen Idemudia, an active member of Aviary Club of Nigeria, also known as Supreme Aiye Confraternity, has spiked killings in unprecedented scale across the state.
The English language challenged Governor Monday Okpebholo’s administration is facing challenges in tackling the menace, prompting suggestions that a neutral arbiter could help break the impasse.
The cult-related killings and violence have claimed several lives, with many more injured or displaced. The situation has created tensions among residents, with some businesses closing down, while others are relocating to other areas, at the same time avoiding gatherings within the city centres.
Critics argue that the state’s efforts to combat cultism have been hindered by perceptions of bias and ineffectiveness. A neutral arbiter, unconnected to the state’s politics or cult issues, could bring a much-needed objective perspective to the table.
Eribo, Adewale, and Idemudia As Accomplices
Sources in Benin City told Standarddailypress.com correspondent that the Three Musketeers who were instrumental to Governor Monday Okpebholo’s electoral victory have bases within Benin City they used in playing host to their individual cult groups, where the governor visited before the election.
“Governor Okpebholo and his handlers have refused to seal or demolish hotels and guest houses within the Government Reservation Area (GRA), one off Jemide and another in Ugbor, where the leaders of these cult groups converge daily before carrying out gruesome killings,” sources said.
Security Agencies’ Involvement
The citizens of the state have raised the alarm of most security agencies’ involvement in cult group membership as one of the reasons cult-related violence has refused to abate in Edo State.
“Most of the personnel of security agencies in the state belong to one violent cult group or the other and have repeatedly sabotaged the government and the police top hierarchy’s efforts to flush cultism which is interconnected with kidnapping, drug running, human trafficking, ritual killings, and other violent crimes in Edo State.
“There are countless reports of police officers in the anti-cultism department at the state’s headquarters alerting violent cult members of planned raids, allowing them to escape before the team arrives. There are reported cases where notorious cultists bribed police officers with several millions of naira to escape prosecution,” Joe Akpe said.
Politics and Cultism: A Historical Marriage
Giving historical background on how cultism and politics are intertwined in the state, a former aide to ex-Governor Godwin Obaseki revealed thus:
“Ex-Governor Godwin Obaseki’s administration relied heavily on cult groups to win his second term election after falling out with his godfather, Adams Oshiomhole, who is in control of the major cult groups.
“During his first term in office, I personally advised him to commit all his political appointees to sign anti-cultism forms and those who are members of secret cults to renounce their membership, but Governor Obaseki refused because without them, he wouldn’t be Governor of the state, alongside his Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu.”
He continued, “I just want to save your life, otherwise I would have given you the names of the cultists and the groups they belong to in the state and their previous and current political positions in today’s government.
“All I have to tell you is that there’s no person in Edo political space that is not a cultist, from the first to the last, except you’re not interested in political growth”, an appointee of Governor Monday Okpebholo, who didn’t want his name in print, told our correspondent in Benin City.
Ugly Scenes In Edo
The violent killings in Edo State are said to be fuelled by a series of retaliatory attacks between the Aye and Maphite cult groups.
It was learnt that Aye cultists allegedly gunned down three individuals, including a mentally unstable Maphite member and two civilians, Maurice and Iyamu.
Eyewitnesses confirmed that one Maurice and Alex Iyamu, who is a Senior Account Officer at the Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital Benin (FNPH), is alleged to have ties with one of the cult groups.
Mr. Iyamu was ambushed just seconds after driving out of his office in broad daylight. He was shot multiple times a few meters away from the premises. It is alleged by some of his colleagues that two unnumbered SUVs trailed him from inside the hospital premises.
These staff, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated that his assailants took away his flash drive, leading many at the hospital to suspect an internal conspiracy involving staff from rival confraternities.
Mr. Iyamu’s colleagues referenced a petition by the immediate past Solicitor General of Edo State to the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, in July 2024, where the name of some prominent politicians and one Mr. Efe Stewart, a staff of the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Benin, was mentioned as among those fuelling violence in Edo State.
They also pointed to previous acts of violence allegedly orchestrated under Mr. Stewart’s instructions. That some Edo State Government appointees are known cultists is no longer news.
What is instructive, however, is for Governor Okpebholo and his team to study how an earlier attempt to confront cultism—by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in May 2015—failed. Though the then Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, intervened and a crack FEDSARS team arrested ten political appointees and civil servants, the matter was squashed when Edo’s Attorney General filed a Nolle Prosequi. This fuelled speculation that Oshiomhole and his then deputy, Philip Shaibu, may be patrons of confraternities.
Many Edo citizens now demand a renewed, neutral intervention. Officers known to be cultists should be transferred. Politicians and civil servants who refuse to renounce their cult memberships should be prosecuted. Cult group armouries must be located and disarmed. Traditional rulers and the judiciary must also be actively involved.
