Offiong says that the members' motto, "'Aye Axemen'" appears on their letterhead (ibid., 49-50), while a circular attributed to the Black Axe and addressed to the University of Ilorin administration was signed the "'Landlords'" ( This Day 16 Nov. Its insignia is an upright axe with a wide blade fixed to a short handle, and its motto is "'Ayei! Axemen'" (ibid.).
Offiong supplemented his early research with enough additional data gathered through informal interviews and newspaper articles in the summers of 1999, 2000, and 2001 to produce his book, which offers a description of the Black Axe and its modus operandi (ibid., viii).Īccording to Offiong, the Black Axe, which is also known as the Neo Black Movement, originated at the University of Benin in the late 1970s and can be found at the University of Calabar and other campuses (ibid., 69). Published in 2003, the study was originally commissioned by the University of Calabar, in Nigeria, in 1992 following the rise of campus fraternities that had threatened and terrorized fellow students, faculty, and staff in the 1980s and early 1990s (Offiong 2003, vii). But Daniel Offiong, a professor of sociology at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia, recently shed some light on the subject of cults, their origins, and operations in Secret Cults in Nigerian Tertiary Institutions. 2005).ĭaily Champion reporter Chuma Ifedi observes that not much is known about campus cults since they operate in secret ( Daily Champion 3 Sept. 2004) and fighting between the Vikings and the Black Axe leading to the deaths of two or three people at Ambrose Alli University in Ekpoma, Edo State, in January 2005 ( Vanguard 27 Jan. 2004) clashes between the Black Axe, the Vikings, and Black Beret at Enugu State University of Science and Technology, also in August 2004, resulting in the deaths of at least 18 people ( Vanguard 17 Aug. Media reports include a confrontation believed to have taken place between the Eiye and the Black Axe confraternities at the Polytechnic, Ibadan, Oyo State in September 2004, during which four students died ( PM News 13 Sept.
2005 This Day 12 July 2004 Vanguard 27 Jan. 2004), the Black Axe has been linked with bloody inter-confraternity fighting for several years (ibid. Beginning with the killing of a student at Obafemi Awolow University in Ile-Ife that prompted former president Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999 to give the vice-chancellor six months to wipe out cult groups ( This Day 12 July 2004 Daily Champion 3 Sept.
#AYE AXEMEN JOLLY SERIES#
Recent Nigerian newspapers, reporting on a series of killings and shootings allegedly carried out by the Black Axe, explain the notoriety of the confraternity ( Daily Champion 3 Sept. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, CanadaĬanada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Nigeria: The Black Axe Confraternity, also known as the Neo-Black Movement of Africa their treatment of anti-cultists their forced recruitment of individuals opposed to cults their initiation rituals and oaths of secrecy their use of symbols or particular signs, 15 February 2005, NGA43277.E, available at: Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
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