By: Chioma Madonna Ndukwu
Sympathy Changed Schools But Could Not Escape Cultism
For many students, changing schools means meeting new people, finding new friends and getting another chance to concentrate on the future.
For Sympathy, popularly known as Chime, the move from the Federal Polytechnic Nekede to Imo State University was reportedly meant to be a fresh start. It did not end that way.
Sympathy had reportedly been associated with the Black Axe confraternity while studying Banking and Finance at Nekede.
An account published by ConfraternitiesInNigeria alleged that he identified a member of the Vikings who visited the institution and was later killed.
As hostility between rival groups increased, Sympathy reportedly left Nekede for IMSU.
There, he was said to have become quieter and more withdrawn from the confraternity activities associated with his past.
He appeared to have chosen education over the life he once knew.
But leaving a campus did not necessarily mean leaving the conflict behind.
According to the account, Sympathy was attending a lecture at IMSU when members of a rival group reportedly recognised him.
The account claimed that some men waited around the university gate while he remained inside the lecture hall.
When the lecture ended, Sympathy reportedly noticed them and ran towards the student market opposite the school gate.
He was allegedly intercepted there before those pursuing him arrived, and was subsequently shot dead.
The circumstances surrounding the killing have not been independently confirmed by major news organisations, and the allegations about Sympathy’s previous activities remain allegations.
But whether every detail of the account is eventually established or not, the story opens a much larger conversation about cultism in Nigerian tertiary institutions.
Why do students join these groups in the first place?
For some young people, it begins with the desire to belong. Others are attracted by promises of protection, influence, friendship or respect, and even better job opportunities, when they graduate.
There are also students who are introduced through friends and gradually become involved before they fully understand what they have entered.
What begins as a search for acceptance can quickly become an obligation to a group. Rival groups create another layer of danger.
A disagreement between individuals can become a fight between groups, and a fight between groups can produce retaliation long after the original incident has been forgotten.
That is where cultism becomes particularly dangerous. The person who joins may think he is gaining protection, while the group may be creating enemies on his behalf.
Miss Lilian Anele, a student from Nekede, criticised the violence associated with campus cultism.
“It is painful that people go to school to build their future and end up losing their lives because of cultism,” Anele told Orbits News.
She said students should not allow pressure from friends or the desire to appear strong to determine decisions that could affect the rest of their lives.
Her position reflects the simple purpose of tertiary education.
Students enter universities and polytechnics to acquire knowledge, develop skills and prepare themselves for adulthood. Cultism can derail all three.
Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
For a student caught in cult violence, however, education can become secondary to survival.
Pastor Paul Igam, a Pentecostal pastor from Ebonyi State, urged young people to be more careful about the groups they join.
“Do not join a fraternity because you want protection, friendship or respect,” Igam told Orbits News.
“You may think you are joining a group today, but you may be joining a problem that can follow you for the rest of your life.”
That warning deserves attention because cultism does not only threaten the person who joins.
It affects parents who invest their savings in their children’s education, lecturers who work in unsafe environments and students who simply want to attend classes without fear.
It can also turn ordinary disagreements into matters of loyalty, revenge and retaliation.
Martin Luther King Jr. once observed that “violence begets violence.”
That cycle is one of the reasons cultism remains difficult to contain.
One group retaliates against another, another attack follows, names are remembered and old grievances are carried forward, keeping the cycle of violence alive. Old grievances are carried forward.
Young people who were not involved in the original dispute can eventually become its victims.
Sympathy’s story, as reported, is a painful example of where that cycle can lead. He reportedly changed institutions in search of a different life.
But the past he was trying to leave behind was allegedly known to people who eventually recognised him. No student should have to live that way.
A campus should be a place where a young person can change, grow and make mistakes without becoming permanently defined by them. Cultism takes that possibility away.
For students considering joining, the question should not only be what they stand to gain, but what they could lose. It could be their education, their freedom or, in the worst case, their lives.
Editor’s Note:
This article discusses allegations surrounding Sympathy’s reported involvement in confraternity activities and his subsequent death. The allegations have been attributed to the source account and should not be treated as established facts unless independently verified.
