Clash And Killings Amongst Remo Youths

Clash And Killings Amongst Remo Youths

Good evening all, thank you for finding time to attend this presentation from your busy schedules, your presence and attention is appreciated. For you to be a member of this group is a positive affirmation that you are interested in the emancipation of our people and concerned about our community development.

I am Tunde Oluomo, an I.T Consultant based in Dublin and I have a major interest in what is going on in my home town Shagamu – Shagamu/Remo is my retirement plan and 90% of my family and childhood friends live across Remo, so I am very concerned about anything affecting them all.

We must admit that we are all connected one way or the other – let me conclude that we are all cousins and we must be in agreement that we are in a deep trouble, a menace that could have been aborted and avoided has spiralled out of hands to be a threat to lives and properties across Remoland.

Please forgive me if I hit any nerves in the process of delivering this presentation but it is essential to call a spade a spade in order to pass my message across and collectively reach a working solution.

Origin of the Menace - In general, a confraternity is when a group of people come together with a common belief, this belief could be philosophical, religious, spiritual or social, oath of allegiance is always required as a member - It is essential to go back to the origin of cultism which unfortunately is the platform for all these clashes and killings in our communities.  This ugly menace started in the year 1952, Prof. Wole Soyinka and a handful of his friends formed a secret society with the sole aim of combatting the ills on campus and in the society, then the membership were limited to students and mostly promising ones, it is on this note that many applicants were denied membership back then because the selection process was rigorous. 

Those who started the confraternity moved on with their lives but they left behind a major footprint and something that I am sure they are all now in regret of as it later gave birth to various offshoots that remained uncontrollable and deadly across all our institutions and sadly our communities.

The difference in the social class of students was the origin of cultism.

I was in the University in the 90s and I have a first class experience how the transformation from a mild situation started migrating to a stage of chaos, during this period cultism was already beyond federal and popular institutions but out there in state Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges but with limited members whose sole desire is to have fame and respect. Guys are everywhere; it was all about driving clean cars, dressing clean and wearing designers, dating beautiful girls and being hailed and respected whenever they arrive at shows or parties.

Back then – confraternities were really living up to their name as it was indeed a secret society, brothers were just having fun and protecting each other, every clean men back then are automatically suspected to be a cultist, he is wearing a karl-kani jeans, a Fubu top and Timberland boots (thanks to bend down select in Yaba, Aswani and Katangowa markets in Lagos) – drives a Volkswagen Golf, which shows he is one of them definitely! Not usually true but that was life then. 

You could be a flat mate to Michael and not have a clue until after graduation to find out he was a cultist.

People were using the platform to build a network and connection then; most people got connected to better jobs and opportunities later in life through their association to a confraternity – it was a “be your brother’s keeper kind of era”.

The beginning of Trouble - No doubt there were down times when fracas occurred in the 90’s and that was born out of jealousy, power tussle and supremacy – popularity became a contest, unionism got hijacked by cultist (this is the beginning of getting involved in outside politics). To outshine each other on campus, money was needed, good looking young men with swag were required so the new jambites became a target, and different groups were going after good looking and naive young men and mostly those from a rich home.

The rich kids started enjoying their new found environment, freedom and caucus (They called it protection), these kids had access to extra money (mostly stolen from parents or their businesses) the aim was always to come back to campus with a new ride, new clothes and throw parties, everyone was doing the same thing – it was a competition, it was all about money, power, fame, women and respect! 

Factors that started unending troubles and clashes:

- Competition, it was a norm to outshine each other, be it with dressing, women, money, cars or parties.

- Social Clubs, some of the posh boys were too cool for cultism, they started their own platform with their own rules and mode operandi, which naturally screened out the less privileged men – bad blood established!

- Internal Politics, unionism was active, it was all about the interest of the students and their welfare, and then different groups on campus began to have interest in who is leading them. “Our man must be in charge” syndrome started here. Team A would install their man and Team B doesn’t want to be led by a member of the opposition – wahala don start!

- Encroaching, those who were in higher institution and woke with the knowledge of their immediate surrounding would understand that every confraternity has an origin and some sort of headquarter! In the 90’s, there was need for expansion of territories by these groups to other regions, which of course was met with a heavy resistance – till date, the resistance is still ongoing and the counter effect is evident in our communities.

- 1999 return of Democracy, this was the turnaround towards the land of no return, cultism was already everywhere, schools were being shut down due to strike, and students were free with access to “tools” and woke with campus politics! Desperate politicians required “help” to achieve their desire to clinch power! Cultism left the campus to the streets and our communities!

- Power of numbers, in order to be “successful” outside the campus and be feared and respected, each group require more hands, they were desperate to impress their sponsors (politicians), non-students and artisans started getting recruited and initiated into various “secret societies” with zero decorum or requirement! Just be a living being and you are initiated! A quick conversation in a beer parlour – you are now a member!

- Revenge, in the confraternity world, there is absolutely nothing like “Please forget it” or “Let it go”! Once you are intimidated by someone or harassed, you want to make a statement and prove to them you belong to somewhere and you are someone!

Apologies on this long epistle – to solve any problem, it’s important to identify the problem, trace the root cause of the problem, admit it’s a problem then suggest or provide a solution to the problem.

Welcome back to our community – Remo!

We wanted democracy but got demonstration of craziness, I have lost friends, associates and family members to this menace to society called CULTISM! It’s a shame that they lost their lives, they all had a promising future ahead of them but they were not smart enough to understand that they were playing lotto with their sole lives! They lost and life didn’t stop!

Various factors are responsible for this and they are unfortunately all connected;

Education/illiteracy – Majority of those involved in cultism are with limited or substandard education or illiterate, no apologies here – How do you explain someone who claimed to be educated picking up a gun or a machete to kill or hurt another human? How on earth is this explainable? Of course it’s okay and normal only in a jungle! I am sure none of us want our home town to be classed as a jungle but we are heading there unfortunately!

The fact that someone was awarded a degree doesn’t mean that they are educated as proven in our communities, many went through a school but the school didn’t go through them at all. Majority of those parading as cultist are drop outs or those who struggled through high school and being a cultist is a solace and a “comfortable “place for them. An educated being is a free being! Those with better education are with better dreams and aspiration!

Poverty - This is another major cause encouraging cultism, no matter how much we avoid admitting this - it is the truth, our people and community are being buried in poverty. Nigeria has just surpassed India as the home of the poorest people in the world! Remo is having its share of these people and it’s not a rocket science that cultists are being drafted from the people. A rich man is too busy avoiding poverty to engage in cultism, at least at a low-life level that includes harming the public.

Idleness – An average community should cater for activities for its people, there must be extra-curriculum activities for students, playground for kids, libraries, sport centres and various social activities to keep people busy, happy and active – all these are not available in the community. When people have nothing to do, those who need extra hands to support their devilish acts would find them accessible and ready. Idle hands, brain and mind are a devil’s workshop!

Unemployment – Those who are in power now had it so good during their days, all you had to do is go and get your degree, jobs, house and access to car loan for a beetle or Peugeot car  were waiting for them , they took all that away from this generation. These days, people only go to higher institution for the title, they knew they won’t be working with the degrees – I personally have aunties and uncles that got one degree or the other and never got any job till date.

The bedrock of any society or Nation are the youths and its workforce, our youths are without jobs or any meaningful source of income - is it not shameful to see a 35yr old still living at home and being fed by his parent? Please tell me if such person won’t get desperate to change his story? The system has failed our youths, those who want to work can’t find the work and those who are lucky to find something that has zero correlation to their training or course of study are either being paid a peanut or being owed almost a years’ salary! 

Population and Family Planning – Currently Nigeria as a Nation is about 180million and we are growing rapidly, we have been projected to hit about 230million by the year 2030! That is staggering! We as a Nation do not have the facilities or amenities to cater for the population. Our healthcare is a mess, education is nothing to talk about, Security doesn’t exist, and Transportation is in shambles. 

An average family is about 6 to 7 in our communities with zero plan on the care and grooming – the result of that upbringing is what you are seeing in our society, a society where kids have to learn things on their own, where there are no role models, where you have to be responsible for yourself at a very early age – the community and family failed most of us as a child and we had to become an adult physically even though we are still a child mentally.

Good parental upbringing is extremely important and in all honesty, our communities are lacking behind in this, parents are busy with their businesses and they hardly have time to spend with their children neither do they have the time to monitor their activities. Many parents don’t even see their children for days, they are out by 5am and back by 10pm – this is not uncommon in an average home.

A child that grew up under a good guidance won’t imbibe bad characters or embrace bad attitudes or encourage violence

Politicians Influence – In any community where you find poverty, unemployment, large population and zero government presence – you are bound to find greedy, egocentric and users as leaders with the sole aim of abusing gullible, ignorant and vulnerable people for their own benefit.

Since the return of democracy in 1999, politicians have turned our communities into battle grounds, they have turned our brothers against each other, and they have been busy using and abusing them mentally and morally. I don’t know anyone that they have been able to successfully bring out of poverty despite their loyalty, with all these youth’s sacrifices and risks, all they got in return is a community full of burial grounds and obituary posters everywhere.

We all have lost cousins, brothers, friends and neighbours but these politicians have lost zero but gained it all – those you are fighting for or against are friends and members of the same social clubs, they will meet in Dubai and London, have lunch together and laugh at your gullibility, their children are safe in the west, getting the best of education and healthcare, despite all the money they have stolen – they established small time businesses to employ you as waiters, cleaners and guards, pay you enough to live until the next election when your actual service would be needed! To go and harm your own brother!

All these leaders are citizens of other Nations, their family are far away in a safe land, any little unrest – they are off to the airport, you on the other hand – this is your only home! Are you with me? So why exactly are we destroying our homes? Why are we killing our brothers to protect nothing or people that don’t care about us! These “leaders” will never provide you a lifeline opportunity. No matter how loyal you are to them, they will never consider you for a role at the Central Bank or Foreign mission; you are not fit for purpose here! 

The truth is – if you kill for any politician, you would be killed by proxy to protect that secret and avoid any future blackmail; many have gone down as a result of their stupidity and worthless reasons! All those leaders you killed for in 1999 and later or killed someone from their camp are now together as friends and allies in the same party and living “La vida loca” – so how market?

I was born in the 70’s and grew up in Shagamu through the 80’s and 90’s – I didn’t appreciate what we had until I left and we lost it all, as a young man growing in Sagamu, I had friends from all over Nigeria, I didn’t have to go to Kano to understand Hausa language or eat Tuwo shinkafa, I didn’t have to go to Okigwe or Nnewi to understand the culture and language of the Igbos. I had friends, neighbours and classmates from Lokoja, Agbor, Akure, Offa, Yola etc. 

Remo was home to various Nigerians from anywhere and everywhere, we had the largest kolanuts supply in Nigeria, NNPC in mosimi was booming, WAPCO along Sotubo was like Mecca daily – people were coming to Remo to make a living, I knew a number of people from up North that were speaking Ijebu fluently and eating our ebiripo effortlessly.

My grandmother’s house then was like United Nations along Kara, we had the whole Country represented in that massive building, you will hear Igala from the back of the building and Tiv speaking in the front while a Berom man would be shouting from the top floor, without leaving out the Ijesha from the ground floor – all we had in common was peace and love!

Then the peace decided to leave our community in the year 1999, it was mid-July and the usual Oro festival was on, a Hausa lady was killed during Oro festival and there was a clash between the Yorubas and the Hausas over this, many lives were lost during this clash, about 16 people were reported dead, some claimed the number could be higher on both sides – Many non-indigenes left to the home towns and villages, they never returned!

I lost friends on both sides but all the weapons circulated during this period never left! The weapons remained and in the wrong hands – Schools went on strike and fine boys came into town! Idle young men + available weapons = a disaster! 

Remo never knew peace from then, it’s no longer about Oro or Hausa vs Yoruba, but an internal war like a curse! Men began to drop each other over flimsy issues, the body count kept growing – this has never stopped since then unfortunately and many have gone! May their soul rest in peace.

The peace of the 80’s and 90’s are in no way compared to what we have from 1999 till date – it’s like a case of white and black. It was fun growing in Remo in the 80’s; I could walk from Sabo to Isale oko without fear. We used to be by Terminus and Starlight in Sabo till late morning without fear, drink fura de nunu by the MTD and eating suya till 2am without fear, it was our town and our home; we were the Lord Mayor of our streets. 

The story is different now, people will come into town by 2pm to see their family and leave by 5pm to Lagos to avoid unnecessary “Why you dey look me” gunshot! I cannot even go to Oja Awolowo to buy myself agbalumo now without looking over my shoulders.

There was a town!  A once peaceful town!

Solutions;

Reorientation and rehabilitation - This is not only applicable to those who are already caught in the unfortunate web of cultism but those who have lost someone and our parents. A lot of factors comes into raising a child, money is not enough, attention, care and mentorship are what many of us missed growing up and many of us struggle later in life to render or give it, you can't give what you don’t have unfortunately; parents must be supported and encouraged to see where they are going wrong with raising their children. 

The society must do more in readmitting a renounced cultist back into the society, everyone deserves a second chance in life, they made a wrong turn in life – now that they have realised their mistake, we must encourage and support them to be a better person.

Many parents who lost their children to one fracas or the other are about living but dead, they are not getting adequate care or attention, such parents are vulnerable and could be used for a reprisal attack in order to comfort them for their loss.

Awareness and Campaign- There must be awareness in the community, especially in the schools (Secondary) – we must catch their minds young and let them know the consequences of being a cultist, many young lads only know their street uncles as role models and unfortunately, they are being led towards a wrong route, they will recruit them young and nurture them to be used as a shield when the inevitable happens.

Sadly, we cannot count on the government to do this – they have left us to GOD!

We must embark on a rigorous and aggressive campaign against this menace, many young people have no clue that what they are engaging in is wrong, they have no idea how much trouble they are into, we must educate the young and the old on the negative effects of cultism and long term mental and physical effect.

I believe we can still save more souls – humans are designed to naturally perceive danger when they have been warned beforehand, we must let them know what to expect when they become a cultist.

Employment – Remo is lucky and gifted with a high number of youths who are not only success driven but willing to do about anything to be a success story but where is the aid or support for them? They are struggling to make ends meet but nothing seems to be working. We have waited on the government to do something but unfortunately not much they can do. 

We as a community must design a path to greatness and help each other out, we must go back into the community and establish businesses and factories, we must focus on production and not trading of finished products, no community or economy grow by trading on such but by producing. 

Take a scenario where 10 sons and daughters of the soil come back into the community to employ an average of 50 to 100 youths in various capacities, before we say jack – we now have a working and busy workforce, we now have a community where the younger generation now know what ethics is, where they can now point to their role model without a shame, a community where people are too busy to respond to “I am in my house come and beat me “!

This is not impossible provided we are determined, one man can’t make a community, it takes a whole community to make a community work – Unity is the key here. But, are we that united?

Detachment from Politicians – By now, the youths must have realised that these politicians have nothing to offer beyond a plate of pepper soup and few bottles of beer, between 1999 and now, we must have had hundreds or thousands of leaders produced in Remo, my dear brothers and sisters – how many of you are better off? Is there much difference? Sure there are differences! You have lost more brothers and friends on your streets than in an actual war! Your leaders have built hotels but no roads, they have taken all their families abroad but no electricity, they have become overnight millionaires and billionaires but there is no water or jobs!

They have used and dumped you repeatedly – only a handful of them remain in your midst, the rest only show up at election period, pay you to kill and destroy your communities and they run back to Lekki or Magodo!

Please wake up and stop being used for the dirty jobs while their kith and kin are living large far away from our communities! Dear politicians, please and please stop arming our youths and instigating violence in the communities, we don’t own houses in Lekki or Banana Island but we deserve peace in our little Island.

Self-worth – We are all from the same communities and cultists are not aliens, they are from us, they are part of us, we eat with them, we live with them and ride with them. We must take it upon ourselves to let them see the truth, being a cultist – there is only one way in and only one way out, help them realise they can do better, let them see their potentials. I personally know someone that could have been one of the best surgeons in this country that was wasted away over “You dey mad” – dude is not only late but forgotten!

Punishment and Consequences – I think it is high time the government steps in and promulgate a law to bind this as illegal, not only that but let the consequences be known to the public. Imagine a community where it is established with examples that if you kill, you shall be killed in return – zero tolerance to killing! Nigeria is hard but who want to die? People will adjust!

But we live in a country where those who have been killing are still walking free! Such severe punishments in place would serve as a deterrent to others not to ever think of such! 

In Remo as we speak, people in the communities knows who killed lagbaja or Tamedu but the system is too weak, there is no law in place to protect whistle-blowers either, who is ready to die for a country that doesn’t even care about a soldier in the frontline of duty! 

Such law would be a super jet to clean up the mess and send a sit tight and upright warning to the camp of evil – If I am found to be a menace to the society, please kill me too.

Success stories in the society – Those who survived the system should be encouraged to visit the community and schools to address young people and students, at the moment – those that are role models in the society are ex-cultist that made it into power or affluence by sheer luck or those politicians who are using not just the people but the whole society for their own gain. 

We do not have proper grass to grace story to tell, those who made it are staying away and leaving the people and the community at the mercy of the hyenas and jackals to feed on.

Collective Wealth Creation – Wherever you find no government, the people must be their own government in a way! As it is, we are already providing our own water, electricity (via power generator), and security and banking (Thrift and cooperative society)! We must mirror the same system a black community in the US is operating. 

What they have done and still doing is – they realised that the Chinese and the Koreans are penetrating their projects (Ghettos); they own all the restaurants, corner shops, nail shops, salon, hotels, taxi companies and the boutiques, etc.! These people had the black community on a lock down economically. The truth is whoever is controlling the economy and the financial sector owns the town!

The smart local ones gathered and they started a campaign to reach out to wealthy blacks in the cities and they tabled their findings and the multiplying effects – ideas bought and the wealthy ones formed a consortium to claim their community back.

Just like us – they had an epidemic, most of their towns were suffering from drug abuse and prostitution, the first stage was awareness and provision of rehabilitation, luckily they have a government to respond to their yearning but they needed to make the move to help their town.

They started buying up and rehabilitating dilapidated properties and run down businesses (The consortium), they started establishing black businesses and employing blacks in order to keep the money in the community, and they encouraged black sport stars and artistes to visit and promote their town and give hope to their people. 

Other towns have copied their blueprint and it’s spreading across other black communities as the way to go. 

Below is what the community did for others to emulate and it is applicable to us in Remo;

-They identified and accepted their problem

-They united and formed an alliance

-They sought for help, no man is an island

-They prioritised their community over personal interest

-They had a plan, what do we need? How do we get it? Who and who do we need to get it done? How much time do we need to get it done? What do we do if things don’t work out? Fall back plan! We need money! We need people! We need each other!

I wish there is enough time to go on and on - I must thank you for your time and the patience to read this far. I am not a Christian or a Muslim, I am aware that nearly 80% if not more of our community are either a Christian or a Muslim and surprisingly none of these religion preach killing each other. Therefore, it is a sin in the eyes of the Lord to kill another being under any circumstance!

We must learn how to live in peace and co-exist with love and harmony.

Rome was built by the Romans and not God!

Jerusalem as you see it wasn’t built by God but by Israelites!

Saudi Arabia wasn’t built by Allah but by Saudis!

We Remonians must build Remo for us and by us.

“I don’t know what the future may hold, but I know who holds the future” – Ralph Abernathy.

Yours Faithfully

Tunde Oluomo

Republic Of Ireland