See, cultism leads you nowhere. It can’t fill the void inside you. It can’t give you the fulfillment you long for. It’s like a cul de sac that leads nowhere. You will kill and may be killed. Your potential simply wasted and dreams cut short. Abruptly.
I recall an incident. I was the President of the Students Union that year. A show held that night at the Main Lecture Theatre. One thing led to another and a fight broke out. Cult boys versus a bouncer. Someone broke a bottle on the bouncer’s head. The bouncer, in retaliation, broke a bottle and stabbed one of them on the stomach. Bedlam.
I’m going to be a bit graphic. His intestines came out. He used his hands to carry them. Blood was everywhere. His guys poured alcohol on him to stop the bleeding. He was rushed to a hospital.
I was asleep in my hall when I got the news. I dressed up and rushed out. I knew those cult boys would be looking for that bouncer. He was dead man walking especially since he came from another university. I located him with the help of my excos. He was bleeding all over. We changed his clothes and gave him a makeover. He wore a turban like a mallam and we put him on a bus going out of town.
I faced the hospital where the cult boss had been taken into surgery. Time was around 1am thereabout. The surgery was successful but the guy was extremely weak and when I got to his bedside, his boys surrounded him. Many of them were in tears. I spoke to them about the vanity of their pursuits and the emptiness that comes with chasing shadows. I asked all of them to join their hands together while I prayed. I’d not heard louder amens in my life.
Later, after the cult boss became okay, I invited him for a discussion. I wanted him to leave cultism. He told me that was the second near-death experience he has had. The other time, a rival cult lord met him in an isolated place and pulled a gun on him but it jammed and he got away. I told him not to take the mercy of God for granted.
I pleaded with him to renounce cultism. Then, he dropped the bombshell. It’s difficult though he knows it is wrong and he’s tired. But his uncle was a cultist. And his dad is a cultist also.
I’ve never forgotten this actual incident. If we must put out the fire of cultism on our campuses, it will take a multidimensional approach. Parents have to be involved. The government has a role to play. Enforce the laws and make a public example of offenders. The Universities also have to be more concerned and look within its ranks for enablers.
Cultism does not pay. It’s senseless.
(Thank you pastor Bayo Adeyinka.)
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I’m done, I’m gone, I’m ghost!