Aye Confraternity: The Bloodiest Mafia In Nigeria

"When they say they’re coming they’re coming— these are people who love killing”

New recruits undergo what’s known as “test of manhood” which involve being stripped naked, kicked, flogged, and brutally beaten. Few succumb to the injuries. The ones who survive are then taken to the main initiation site where they take an oath of secrecy while standing close to a bon fire.

They’re then given fraternity robes, a new name, and a scroll on which they’ll sign with their thumbs, dipped in their blood. All of this takes place deep in the forest or in cemeteries amidst singing, dancing, raping of women as a show of power, drinking human blood, drug taking. [information from the US state department of Justice following a response to information request]

These are only a small fraction of the despicable and horrific activities that characterize the dreaded confraternity. But before we continue, let’s back up a bit and learn a thing or two about their history.

Origins

Aye confraternity, otherwise known as black axe is a fragment of the neo black movement which originated in 1977. It was founded in the University of Benin.

9 students led by a man named Nicolas Idemudia decided to start a movement to further the pan African struggle and clap back at colonialism. The main factor behind the movement was meant to be “intellectual radicalism.”

Soon the group began to appeal to more people and as it expanded, so did the crime and violence. In 1994, the members then decided to form an alliance with the Neo Black Movement which was already established in many other universities.

Different publications might paint the two groups as synonymous but they are distant. In fact, the NBM eventually came out to publicly repudiate the Aye confraternity.

It’s long become global and has been mentioned in several criminal activities including kidnapping, raping, human trafficking, ritual killings, assassinations, and online fraud. Their most notable crime is the Obafemi Awolowo University Massacre. More of that in a bit.

If you’re walking along the streets of Benin city and spot a few persons in white shirts, black trousers or shorts, and yellow beret or a head gear with yellow ribbon, chances are you’re looking at a couple of members. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in that order but their trademark colors are white, black and yellow.

The white is meant to represent purity. Black is meant to represent how sympathetic they are towards their race, and the yellow color reflects the intelligence of their members.

Their hierarchy

The confraternity isn’t rowdy and disorganized at all. They actually boast of a well defined structure that keeps the movement going.

The group, which has over a thousand members, is made up of:

• The head; which is of course the leader and is responsible for the day to day operations

• The chief priest; basically the second in command

• The chairman

• The eyes; which is meant to be on the lookout for the police during initiation ceremonies

• The criers; responsible for the media aspect of the confraternity as well as any other form of announcement

• Butchers; responsible for keeping the members in line.

The Obafemi Awolowo University Massacre

On the night of 9th July, 1999; members of the kegites club and various other students gathered together to have a party at one of the hostels. The party stretched deep into the night and while some called it a night and retired to their bedrooms, others stayed up all night partying.

At about 3:30 am, a group of cultists (thought to have been between 20 to 40 men) arrived the scene in search of prominent members of the student union. There were allegations that the attack was sponsored by the then vice chancellor of the university, but whether or not the allegations were true is, till this day, anyone’s guess.

The cultists were stated by witnesses to have driven through the main gate to the car park, and then taken a bush path to the scene of the party.

The men arrived with axes, machetes, semi automatic rifles and locally made guns.

During the attacks, the cultists could be heard shouting for the students’ union president to come out of hiding but fortunately for him, he was able to see them from afar and jump through the balcony to make a quick escape.

Another student, popularly referred to as “Afrika” heard the commotion and went into his room to hide. The men approached the room, bursted in and shot him in the head. They then decided to split open his skull to make sure he was dead. His body was then mercilessly butchered.

Afrika wasn’t even the first person who was killed. When the cultists got into the block, they first of all shot and killed Efe Ekede, a 2nd yr student of psychology. They then proceeded to the next room where they shot and killed Yemi, a 2nd yr religious studies student through the skull before they found Afrika’s room.

The Aye cultists soon found the room of the person they were actually looking for— “Legacy”, the students’ union president. However, he had already fled after hearing the gunshots.

The thugs proceeded on foot to try and get him while his trail was still smoking and in the process, they stumbled upon a random medical student and shot him. I’m led to believe the killing was for good measure because he certainly had nothing to do with being a student union member.

In total: 4 people were killed, one person was shot as well but survived, and 25 people were injured from the stampede that occurred when witnesses were trying to escape.

The perpetrators were eventually arrested and made to stand before a judge. To judge would then uphold a “no case” submission by the defense on the 5th of November, 2002. The perpetrators were soon acquitted and discharged, subsequently disappearing from the public eye.

Till this day, the relatives of the victims are crying out for justice.

The initiation ceremony

I briefly mentioned some of the things that go on during initiation but those are only a tip of the iceberg. As a matter of fact, those are the more general activities that take place. I’m going to give you two firsthand accounts of what actually happens from black axe members.

The first one involves a young man named John.

John had heard about the evils of the black axe but didn’t think it was all that bad. He knew he was going to get some levels of protection and connections by being a member so he decided to join.

In his second year of college, he decided to join the confraternity and on the day of his initiation, he was required to buy candles, insecticide, kola nut, razor blades, and pay a membership fee of $30.

He was made to carry them all to the top of a hill and wait till nightfall. Once it was night, the members made him and other initiates lie in the mud on their bellies, pressed shoulder to shoulders.

The Axemen began hurling slurs and expletives at them while lashing them with sticks. While this was going on, the other axemen began to walk all over the initiates, pressing them down with the full weight of their bodies.

An axeman sprayed the insecticide, set the fizzing substance on fire, and ran the flames across their exposed bodies.

After the spray became exhausted, the initiates formed lines and started crawling forward. As John crawled with his eyes shut, probably already regretting his life’s choices, the priest said a few words and slapped him. This was meant to symbolize his purification.

The priest put an axe on him and gave him a new name. He was named after Patrice Lumumba, a Congolese politician who was murdered more than half a century ago. Others were given different names as well.

They then rose to their feet, after which the axemen exclaimed:

a cry for one is a cry for all, to which they replied “Aiye”

The men who participated in the initiation then hugged John and gave him something pungent to drink. He was officially an Axeman.

But what about the drinking of blood, the raping, the beating? Good question; you see the initiations could actually vary depending on the branch the initiation took place.

For the most part the initiations involve everything I mentioned initially, but this story is just one of the lightest version of initiations. This is absolutely nothing compared to how horrific and bone chilling this second account of an initiation ceremony is, by a member.

“I immediately started crying and thought of running back home but I had to face the consequences of what I started. I was in the middle of nowhere, if I had died, my family would have never known my whereabouts”

This account involves another member named, let’s just call him, James.

James sat for hours waiting for his friend who was going to take him to the initiation site. He soon got a call from his friend to buy white shirt and shorts. He then got a call a few days later to meet at a popular bar.

James got there and met different men staring angrily at him. One of them snapped at him

“Who be this man??!”

His friend rushed over and told the men he was his guy. James was then ordered to buy drinks for everyone, including himself. While he was drinking, one of the men leaned towards him and said

“Don’t worry, all of us pass through this process, we no die so you no go die”

He was then instructed to get moving to the site of the initiation. James walked with his friend to a quiet and lonely bush path. They both met a man who was basically the “eye.” His job was to look out for the police.

They then got to an open field where they met some men facing the bush. They were about 40 in number. James was asked to take off his clothes and join them. The initiation was about to commence.

The men, including James, were asked to move in a straight line putting their hands on each other’s shoulders. As they moved, the cult members chanted “Jew Jew Jew” (it’s a nickname for anyone who’s not a cultist. It has nothing to do with antisemitism or even actual Jews; not like they’d care or anything). The initiates chanted “sir sir sir”

James was following the line diligently until he raised his head to get some more look. He immediately received a painful lashing on his back for that.

They were asked to stop briefly for someone to take down their names and departments of study (they were all college students). Shortly after, they entered an open field and were instructed to lie down.

The axemen began flogging the initiates on their bare bottoms. They were specifically instructed not to flog anywhere else. James explained that for close to 5hrs, he kept receiving lashes on almost the same spot on his ass.

The pain was extremely intense, one of the initiates soiled himself as a result but they didn’t care. As a matter of fact, the axemen suspected he was pretending to be sick and dragged him to a separate spot where they continued flogging his body, covered in feces.

“This Jew don leggo. He no dey move again” exclaimed one of the axemen to the guy who soiled himself. One of the cultists then walked to where he laid unresponsive and emptied his shotgun into his brain. His corpse was immediately carried into the bush for disposal.

“You dey c d man wey die? If Jew misbehave he go join that man!” exclaimed an axeman in black robes.

The flogging then continued for more hours until James and the other initiates start crying and begging but nobody could hear them from the outside.

James’ friend pranced into the camp and called out. He met him on the floor and laughed at him

“Don’t worry, all of us passed through this”

He touched James’ ass which was already badly swollen, about to burst open. A few minutes later, a butcher (also in charge of beating up new recruits) ordered every non initiate to exit the field.

James explained that immediately, he received another terrible lashing on his buttocks. This time, it ruptured and blood started gushing out. He suffered a mental breakdown and began laughing.

“Who dey laugh?!” exclaimed the butcher

James continued laughing until he heard a gunshot. The butcher had fired his gun close to his head as a warning shot.

He still didn’t stop laughing so the butcher instructed him to open his mouth, which he did. He brought out his penis and was about to urinate directly into James’ mouth until his friend rushed in and confronted him.

Order eventually came from above for the flogging to stop while they got ready for the procession. Some men held candles and insecticides with the intention of spraying them directly into the candle flames.

“After the procession, we were instructed to crawl through a narrow path. We crawled in twos and we got to a place where we saw the man wearing a black regalia standing and he opened his legs wide.

We were to pass through the legs individually and as we passed through, we where flogged with stems and all kind of materials. The man putting on the black regalia is known as the chairman black axxe. Let me list the office holders and their functions,

AXE HEAD( Red regalia).......THE FIGURE HEAD OF THE TEMPLE AND HE HAS THE FINAL SAY.

He is also responsible for the most important initiation process

Chief Priest( White regalia )..............He is the spiritual father of the Temple. He is in charge of spiritual consultations. Before initiations, he goes to a particular point and places a charm there, if the charm is effective, then police can never and will never locate the initiation ground.

Chairman ( Black regalia) ....He is very important and has two votes in electing office holders. The chairman makes sure the AXE head is in place and does its function properlly. But the AXE head is the most important and still wields more power than the chairman black axxe.

Chief Butcher: He is in charge of all butchers in the Temple and also a key figure during HIT ( Fight with another cult group). He is very important.”

He also instills discipline in the other members. Here’s a clip of a butcher keeping a rogue in line:

“Chief Ihaza: Financial keeper of the Temple.

Chief eye: In charge of mapping other cult members.. He has a list of notable and key figures in other cult group and also thier location. He is very active in Temple ( School ) Environment and very important to the success of a particular HIT.

Chief crier: He notifies all members of the black axxe when there is an important information to pass round. He notifies them to take cover or leave campus during HIT...

The AXE head pronounces the HIT before it starts and very important and he can also dissolve the office of the chairman in case of misconduct that might and can lead to rebelling.

Elders: They are usually former office holders of the temple whose tenure has expired and their presence is required as they see them as men of wisdom or can also make contibutions to the Temple.

The path we crawled through before going through the legs of the chairman black axxe is known as DEVILS PASSAGE. The chairmans leg opening is known as the HEAVENS GATE..

Immediately I passed through the heavens gate, I saw 7 candles arranged in circles and crawled into the circle. others did same and we all assembled at the center of the circle with standing and surrounding us. I noticed something important, i noticed we where not even up to 40. We were more than 40 at the ju camp receiving mending but we became few in the circle.

WE knelt down at the centre of the circle and the AXXE head came with his red regalia and held an axe. He opened the initiation ground with a song and then the chief priest poured out the kokoma in a calabash and gave us to drink.

Our right thumb was also sliced with a blade and the blood was dropped in the calabash. We drank from the calabash containing the kokoma. After that we then took the oat of allegiance.

IF I BE USED AS AN AGENT OF OPRESSION,KIDNAPPING,STEALING, MURDER, MAY KOKOMA SQUEEZE LIFE OUT OF ME" [sic]

“We then received our last slap and we were advised that if anybody slapped us after today, we should kill the person and nobody should slap you as an axxe man.

The axe head then placed his metal on each of our heads and gave us our strong name. I was known as IDRIS ALOMA.. the initiation ceremony closed and i followed the man that took me down for initiation home.

The man that took me for the initiation is known as my LM ( Links Man ). I got home with pains all over my body. He taught me how to identify myself to other cult members.” [Sic]

—Narrated by James, who, according to him, is now in the department of state security.

Post initiation

New members go through an orientation process where they’re taught the names of different aye temples across the country. They’re also taught how to greet their fellow members as well as their special handshake.

The number 7 is shaped like an axe so they’re taught to see the number 7 as a symbol of freedom and power.

“Forgiveness is a sin, and he who prices us must pay”

They were taught to see the Eiye confraternity as a big rival and to never spare anyone from such cult. Kill them at every opportunity because they will be ruthless if it were up to them. Here’s a graphic example of how an aye member brutalized an eiye member and was pouring acid on him while he was still alive

The temple had skulls and pictures of corpses of rival cultists who fell to the axe (power of 7).

Lastly, they were trained on the best and most effective way to carry out a kill with their signature weapon, the ace. The key, they explained, is to never look into the eyes of whoever they were killing so as to not grow a conscience.

After the teaching, they were instructed to take their first assignment. A small show of what their “assignment” entails.

He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword.