Aug 27, 2014

Cult Crisis At Yaba College Of Tech: Expelled Members Say Principal Officers Pay Cult Gangs

August 25, 2013
Sahara Reporters

Some of the expelled members, who spoke in this interview, said their own expulsions were out of a conspiracy to favor other groups which principal officers of the college belong.

In a new interview granted to SaharaReporters, two members of different cult fraternities on the campus of Yaba College of Technology, Lagos State, have disclosed that the college's management is deeply involved in their activities.

Their confessions in this interview corroborated an earlier statement by a female student, Ms. Fatimo Salau, who stated that the Rector, Mrs. Kudirat Ladipo, is playing "mother" to the cult gangs and would not be in good position to stop their violence on the campus.

Saharareporters learned from other students that management of the college victimized Ms. Salau for making such disclosure by excluding her from students' mobilization for the National Youth Service even though she was due for it. 

Although Ms. Salau has declined to comment on the issue, our correspondent learned that her demobilization for the National Youth Service was due to the interview she granted on SaharaTV while serving as Public Relations Officer of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).

The interview, in which where she revealed that vicious activities of cult groups on the campus were not outside the knowledge of the college's management can be found here.




Following protests by students recently, who demanded expulsion of cult members on the campus, the management has published some faces and names.

But some of the expelled members who spoke in this interview said their own expulsions were out of a conspiracy to favor other groups which principal officers of the college belong.


Excerpts from the interviews:


INTERVIEW ONE: AN EX-STUDENT WHO STILL BELONGS TO A CULT GROUP ON CAMPUS 



SR: Let’s start by asking when, and what led you join cultism?
Member (one): I joined cultism in year 2001 and I’m still a member. But now I only I play advisory roles, not only in Yaba Tech but all over the world. I didn't join because I was threatened, I joined because of the orientation I had from people that being a cult member does not necessarily make one a violent being but to protect one’s life.

SR: To which cult fraternity do you belong?
Member (one): Eiye Confraternity.

SR: What did you regret most, being a cult member since you joined in 2001?
Member (one): I have never regretted being a cult member.

SR: You finished your ND in Yaba Tech and proceeded for the HND in same college but you were eventually expelled. What led to that?
Member (one): I was robbed, because I stood against a partial role played by the management in the area of remuneration. Some of the cult groups were not paid their monthly salaries which I reacted against. That was during the time of former Rector Mr. Owosho.

SR: When you were in school, was Eiye confraternity not in the payroll of the management?
Member (one): We were on the payroll.

SR: So, why were you robbed?
Member (one): Well, their belief was that the bigwigs among us had to be eradicated so that the coming ones who lacked knowledge about the monthly payment to us would not serve as threat to them. That provoked some of us that were being paid to act.

SR: Do you know any of the confraternities that were not paid then?
Member (one): Those that were not paid then were the Pirates,  Vikings, and the Mafias, while the recognized and paid ones were the Axe men, Aloras, and the Eiye confraternity.

SR: How many fraternities are there in Yaba Tech?
Member (one): We have about eight of them.

SR: Who pays?
Member (one): The Management.

SR: Does the Rector have knowledge of this?
Member (one): The rector knows. Infact, the entire management is involved. From the Rector down to the Bursar, we have eight principal officers. The first among them is the Rector.

SR: The current Rector, Mrs. Ladipo, did she maintain payment to cult gangs?
Member (one): Of course.

SR: How much is each cult faction or confraternity paid?
Member (one): That depends on their yearly bill. Each may ask for N100,000 monthly, but some of the principal officers cut their own and at the end of the day it might not be more than N20,000 left for each. The money comes from the Rector to the Bursar, then it moves to the Dean, down to the SUG and finally to the owners. At the end of the day the money would not go round and that is where problem starts. Another problem is that some of the management officers who belong to other factions benefit their own to get more and that causes crisis by other cult groups.

SR: Do you know some of the Principal Officers who are involved in cult activities?
Member (one): I don’t know about the Rector, but the Bursar belongs to the Alora, the Dean also an Alora, the former CSO was an Axe man but the current CSO is of the Alora too.

SR: If you don't know whether the Rector belongs to the cult, how where you sure she is responsible for paying your bills?
Member (one): The little I can say on that is that the people under her present an agreed proposal for us and she signs it [for disbursement].

SR: Are you saying that the Rector did not really know that she pays cult gangs?
Member (one): She knows quite well only she doesn't know how it is being shared.

SR: That means she perhaps does not know the cult members physically?
Member (one): Yes, presently the PA to the Rector, his name is Mr. Dada, he is the one that structures the payment and is the intermediary between the cult groups and the Rector.

SR: Is Mr. Dada a cult member?
Member (one): Yes, Alora.

SR: Was there any clash recorded in the past among those cult groups regarding superiority and payment?
Member (one): No, have not seen them fight over money.

SR: What did they fight over?
Member (one): They don’t fight about achievement or superiority what they fight on is because Alora has more members among the Principal Officers which opens more opportunities for them from the Management and this at times leads to crisis.

SR: Aside from the campus, was there anything the management used the cult members to do?
Member (one): The former CSO did use the Axe men for outside packages. Also, the former Bursar did use the Aloras as thugs to claim properties outside school.

SR: What year were you expelled?
Member (one): 2007. But I still go there, just as others still go in freely.

SR: During your days as students, did you notice whether the cults infiltrated the Students’ Union body and became the SUG leaders?
Member (one): Yes, before I became a student, in 2001 the Welfare Officer of the SUG was the Number 2 [second in command] of the Eiye confraternity. In 2004 the SUG’s president was the butcher for the Axe men, and I can still remember that in 2005 the SUG’s speaker was one of the Black Angels to mention but a few.

SR: Have you also butchered or killed before?
Member (one): No…at all, at all…

SR: Did you know any of your members that has done that?
Member (one): No…at all, at all…

SR: That means Eiye confraternity does not in engage in killing?
Member (one): Yes, we don’t fight people.

SR: So what do you do in your own cult group if you don’t kill or fight?
Member (one): We don’t kill, we only protect ourselves.

SR: You protect yourselves against who or what?
Member (one): Against any evil coming our ways.

SR: Ok. Thank you for talking to us.
Member (one): You are welcome.
  
INTERVIEW TWO: A CULT MEMBER WHO HAS JUST BEEN EXPELLED THIS PAST WEEK AND WAS PUBLISHED AMONG FACES ON EXPULSION LIST BY THE COLLEGE

SR: What level are you in the College?
Member (two): Am doing my HND now.

SR: When did you join?
Member (two): Some of us joined even before school. The thing is, about 30% of the students are cult members and they joined before gaining admission. See, even most gained admission because they are Aaye from the streets. You know, guys that run the streets of Shomolu, Bariga and these areas of Yaba. Management officers slot them in so they can be more.

SR: You should know there is a certain allegation about the current Rector, that her husband is a politician and she helps her husband to recruit cult members for thuggery during election. Are you aware of that?
Member (two): No, I’m not aware of that. I am not that close to the management.

SR: Have you ever benefited from the payment management disburses to cult gangs?
Member (two): No, I have not.

SR: To which confraternity do you belong?
Member (two): Aaye [the Axe-men].

SR: Have you ever participated in any demonstration on campus?
Member (two): No, but I go outside.

SR: Away match?
Member (two): Yes, I have not been caught doing anything wrong in Yaba Tech.

SR: But you were expelled, why were you expelled?
Member (two): Eeh… is because of cultism. But I don’t think what they alleged against me should amount to this because I don’t think I know anything about the allegation. It is a setup which I don’t understand up till now. I was alleged of kidnapping, raping, and all sort of bad names which I don’t expect.

SR: So you never struck in Yaba Tech before?
Member (two): Yes, my own is outside. Have never assaulted anybody inside the campus before.

SR: In some of your outside demonstrations have you ever lynched or wounded somebody before because it is bound to happen?
Member (two): No, that was before.

SR: How many years now?
Member (two): Like three years back.

SR: Like you killed or somebody died during the course of strike?
Member (two): No, just to make peace in other schools.

SR: Let’s make a clarification here, there is this lady, Fatima Salau, who claims the management is paying cult gangs. Are you saying now that what the lady said was true, that the management pays cult gangs?
Member (two): Yes, the school management pays cult gangs.

SR: Have you ever been provoked that your own confraternity was not paid?
Member (two): They paid them at times but I’m not the one that collects the money.

SR: So you have never benefited from it?
Member (two): Yes, because the money is too small for me. I even pay my members at times and donate to the cult because I’m working.

SR: Do you know whether Rector belongs to any cult group?
Member (two): No, I don't.

SR: Do you know any Principal Officers of the college that are members?
Member (two): Yes, the P.A. of the Rector, Mr. Dada, is a member, an Alora. The Dean, Mr. Raheem, is a member of Alora. The CSO, Mr. Clement, is also a member of Alora. These are the people that give them [other striking groups] backbone, that is the reason why they misbehave.

SR: Do you still wish to continue schooling in Yaba College or seek that your expulsion be reversed?
Member (two): No, I don’t want to continue there.

SR: What is the population of cult members in Yaba College?
Member (two): Over sixty percent of the students are members. So you cannot flush everybody out and be pasting names and their photographs. It won't solve the problem.

SR: If cultism is to be eradicated on the Campus, who will be implicated?
Member (two): It will affect Principal Officers from the Rector to the Bursar becauseit is the Rector that approves the payment and they still pay them.

SR: Where do the cult gangs hold meetings on Campus?
Member (two): Everywhere. SUG building is the headquarters. Go there this Saturday by evening. You will see things. Also, the staff quarters. Even outside, like V-ginis Event Center opposite the Campus. The Dean holds open parties with his Alora group. He is a strong member along with the Rector's P.A, Mr. Dada.

http://saharareporters.com/2014/08/25/cult-crisis-yaba-college-tech-expelled-members-say-principal-officers-pay-cult-gangs