Dissecting Ezeoke’s Death and the Crisis of Cultism In Awka

… Ezeoke’s gruesome death, by means of alleged ‘cult killing’, marks the harvest of deaths in Awka and highlights an urgent need to arresting the trend

By Stella Nzekwe, ATM reporter with Chudi Okoye and Ndu Chris Nwannah, ATM Guest Writer

Smarting from his long arduous work that fateful day of 11 December 2019, Mr. Christopher Nzekwe was ready to hunker down with his wife when he got home that evening. Mr. Nzekwe, popularly called Ezeoke, was admired for his work as a community vigilante in Awka and had been decorated as the best vigilante operative for two consecutive years in Anambra State. As he settled down to a delicious dinner dished out by his wife, Ezeoke hoped to stretch out afterwards for a good rest, to be ready for another stint starting early the next day. But soon, his domestic tranquility was shattered by the peel of his cellphone. There was trouble outside in the streets, it seemed, and the caller demanded the attention of the trouble shooter, Ezeoke. Ever ready to hop to the job, the top-shot vigilante, still sporting his official garb, grabbed light paraphernalia, apologized to his adorable wife, and made his way out hoping to solve the turbulence outside. If Ezeoke’s wife had had an inkling of the fatal trap that had been set to ensnare her husband, she wouldn’t have let him step out again. Nor might he himself have re-emerged in the streets without his full battle gear.

Even as Ezeoke got ready to return to the street, he kept receiving impatient calls from different sources concerning alleged cult shootings that evening not far from his vicinity. Whatever reluctance he had about venturing into dusky night evaporated with the incessant calls. Ezeoke’s commitment to service was unflinching, and it propelled him, unawares, to the raging storm waiting to consume him. A few minutes later, he was most gruesomely, defenselessly and helplessly mowed down in the streets.

A Gruesome ‘Cult Killing’

The death of Ezeoke figures among many of late which seem to have resulted from cult-related activities in Awka. Details of his killing pieced together through Awka Times investigation suggest that he had been  slain not long after emerging to investigate the killing of a keke (taxi tricycle) driver related to him in the numerous calls that he had received from familiar sources. Information reaching Awka Times indicates that the keke driver had been shot in the vicinity of St Faith’s Cathedral, Awka, the capital of Anambra State, around 7pm that December 11, while Ezeoke himself was shot not far off at Ezi Ogbudanam, Umubelle Village Awka, a few minutes afterwards. Witnesses told Awka Times that the perpetrators were suspected gang members. They alleged seeing cult paraphernalia on the perpetrators, although Awka Times has not independently validated such description. 

Contacts claimed that Ezeoke was felled for his run-ins with cult members and as reprisal for his alleged collaboration with the police, seemingly feeding information to police authorities and helping them to hunt down the cultists. Awka Times learned that Ezeoke’s standoff with the cults had been building up over time, resulting at some point in a fatal confrontation with cult members in a tertiary institution.

Accounts suggest that the killing of the tricycle driver might have been used as a bait to lure Ezeoke. The theory related to Awka Times suggests that the tip-off he had received on the fateful evening about the tricyclist’s shooting was a calculated lure, assured by the expectation that the dutiful vigilante would rush out to the call of duty, as was his wont, to investigate the matter. He had earlier stopped by at a convenience store in his neighbourhood on Nnadozie Street in Umuike Village, and swung past it on his way out to the trouble spot.

Eyewitness accounts suggest that as Ezeoke approached the site where the tricyclist had been shot, along Ezi Ogbudanam Street, shots were suddenly fired at his vehicle forcing him to swerve towards a nearby gate. His assailants then reportedly accosted him and were overheard by nearby observers shouting cult slogan and dare, reportedly saying to him: “Ezeoke, I ga agbunwukwe egwu ndi (cult name withheld),” meaning  “Ezeoke, can you dance to the [cult name’s] tunes?” Accounts also indicate that his assailants asked him in Nigerian pidgin English: “You think say na only you sabi do charm, you don see charm wey pass yours now!,” in an apparent dare to his spiritual potency. They shot him several times in the chest as they reportedly shouted cult chants, killing him on the spot. His phone was reportedly taken away by those who murdered him.

▲ The late Ezeoke lying in the street after being shot on Dec 11, 2019

As the shots rang out, people took to their heels, running helter-skelter, as the killers zoomed off, allegedly taking the Umuike route. Within about 10 minutes of the shooting, sources said, policeman from Central Police Station (CPS) arrived and carted off Ezeoke’s corpse which had been lying on the ground. They eventually deposited the corpse at the Odumegwu Ojukwu Teaching Hospital, Awka (formerly Amaku General Hospital).

There was chaos throughout that night in Awka as news of Ezeoke’s assassination spread, with contingents of security police marshalled in huge numbers in key areas, especially in Umuogbu Village, apparently trying to hunt down the perpetrators. Awka Times learnt that investigation is still going on, although some of the alleged perpetrators have reportedly been apprehended by the police.

Cult Problem In Awka

The murder of Mr. Christopher Nzekwe brings again to the fore the festering problem of cultism in Awka town. One of the cults named by sources is believed to have evolved from the first cult in Nigeria, the Pyrates Confraternity, which was originally established to help maintain peace and discipline in Nigerian tertiary institutions. One of the founders of the Pyrates Confraternity in Nigeria is the literary giant and Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka. The founders initially called themselves the ‘Magnificent Seven’, to reflect their number as a septuple.

Several other cults have emerged since the founding of the Pyrates Confraternity, with far different operating norms. Some of the newer cults are renowned for their brutal code and philosophy, for instance swearing an oath not to betray or condemn fellow members, and to severely punish any deviance. Cult brutality has had a deleterious effect in society as a whole, Awka included, but also arguably in the lives of cult members who suffer untimely death, cruel massacres, truncated education, unrealized life ambitions, spiritual disorder, behavioural disorder, moral disorientation, mental illness due to drug and substance addiction, loneliness, poor parenting, peer pressure and a host of other harmful effects.

Recently, in the same week that Ezeoke was buried, it was reported that cult boys went to steal new laptops from Community Secondary School (CSS) in Umuike Village, Agulu Awka. They also reportedly stole other items from the school’s laboratory. This pillage happened a few days after gangs reportedly robbed National Youth Service Corps teachers serving in the same school, as they made their way home after the close of work. There were also reports of daytime robbery at Obu Ofuu Umuike which occurred not long before.

As Awka has become more urbanized, there appears has been a marked growth in the incidence of blue-collar crimes in the state capital, most involving bands of young men. These bands rampage the streets at night and even in daytime, robbing local shops, stealing phones and other valuables. The neighbourhood convenience store which Ezeoke had patronized on the day he was murdered had itself been robbed several times, according to reports. A rash of such assaults leaves the Awka community increasingly fretful. An elderly source told Awka Times, ruefully, that “the once quiet and peaceful neighbourhoods of Awka have now become a den of hungry lions.”

It is not clear if the various criminal reports are all gang-related, but people who spoke to Awka Times on condition of anonymity said that such outrages would not have happened had Ezeoke been alive. The rise in street crime does appear to coincide with a surge in the spate of reported gang atrocities which often result in fatal reprisals, according to sources, as gangs apparently fight for street supremacy. Ezeoke had been at the forefront of combating this rising trend and has paid the ultimate price for it. Sources told Awka Times that his brazen assassination was not random but a well-planned mission to take out one man who worked to eradicate the menace.

Awka Times learned that so rife had been the outrages even with heightened vigilance from conventional policing that last year Awka community sought an alternative solution: It sought a “traditional” remedy to arrest the incessant killings in Awka by performing traditional rituals invoking the Awka deity and other imported deities, asking the deities to strike any Awka person who kills or tries to impede the progress of his compatriots. The oath supposedly asks the deities to eliminate not only the culprits but accomplices as well. Whether this will make a difference to communal security remains to be seen.

Government Intervention Needed

The spike in cult- and gang-related incidences in Awka, according to sources, is an indication that the government is not doing enough despite frequent claims of improvement in security in the state capital. Sources also complained in chats with Awka Times that the leadership crises in Awka could not be helping the situation, what with contested claims to the Awka kingship stool and with factional fights within Awka Development Union Nigeria (ADUN). The state government itself acknowledges the nexus between Awka leadership crises and the increased insecurity. A statement by the Secretary to the Anambra State Government (SSG), Prof Solo Chukwulobelu, put out on 23 December 2019, shortly after Ezeoke’s assassination, claimed that the kingship tussle in Awka was linked to the recent upsurge in cult-related violence in the state capital. According to the government, “the undercurrents of this tussle had manifested in several negative manners over the last few months and is reasonably suspected to be one of the factors behind the incessant cult clashes and killings in the town.” With a divided and vitiated local leadership, there is little wonder why the menace of gang-related robberies, kidnappings and assassinations have seen an upsurge in Awka despite the best efforts of law enforcement agencies.

The onus lies on all stakeholders in the society to help in stemming the tide of cult related killings. The family, religious groups, academic institutions, cultural groups/institutions and age grades, among others, need to be in the forefront of the fight to eradicate the monster.

The security agencies have a great role to play in this regard. They must be proactive. Government for its part must put measures in place to strengthen the workings of both the conventional security agencies and the vigilante groups for optimal results. Also of paramount importance is the need to apply effective laws that will take care of cult related cases in the nation’s legal system.