Published 15th Dec, 2021

By Yakubu Mohammed

Amid conversations around cultism in Nigeria following an investigation by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), FIJ revisits the unresolved murder of five students of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, by members of the Black Axe cult on July 10, 1999.

The bloodsucking cultists, clad in black attires and masks, and numbering about 40, besieged the university’s Awolowo Hall around 4:30 am, killing targeted student union leaders.

A HINDSIGHT INTO THE CARNAGE

July 7 is widely recognised for the anniversary of Black Axe members. OAU student leaders, under the aegis of different associations, significantly the Student Union Government (SUG), organised parties between July 7 and 9.

Lanre Adeleke, the then SUG president, fondly called Legacy, told The Punch that members of Kegites Club held their annual gyration programme on the night of July 9, purposely to honour George Iwilade, AKA Afrika, the then SUG general secretary. They wanted to make him their member. Unfortunately, that was the last time Afrika would breathe.

Members of the Black Axe cult had been active in OAU. Professor Roger Makanjuola, in his book titled ‘Water Must Flow Uphill (Adventures in University Administration)’ captured some of the moments:

On Saturday, 7 March 1999, a group of Black Axe members held a meeting in Ife town. After the meeting, they drove back to the campus. On the main road, Road 1, leading into the campus, they were overtaken by some students in another car.

For whatever reason, they were enraged and gave chase to the students. The students, seeing them in pursuit, raced hastily to the car park outside Angola Hall and ran into the adjacent Awolowo Hall for safety. The Students’ Union, which had also received information that secret cult members were gathering in a house in the senior staff quarters, mobilised in response to the incident.

Led by George Iwilade, the Secretary-General, a group of them drove to the house officially occupied by Mr F.M. Mekoma and forced their way into the boys’ quarters. They found nine individuals inside, eight of the students of the university, with a submachine gun, a locally manufactured gun, an axe, a bayonet and the black clothing and regalia of the Black Axe cult.

The university authorities were informed, and the members of the secret cult were handed over to the police. They were held in police custody and taken to the chief magistrate’s court where two weeks later they were granted bail.

THE MINDLESS CARNAGE AND THE ANTICS OF OAU MANAGEMENT

In the wee hours of July 10, 1999, the axe-wielding members of Black Axe, opened fire on innocent students of OAU. The attack was aimed at extinguishing vibrant student leaders advocating for students’ rights.

During the attack, the cultists screamed the names of various student leaders, including Legacy. Others, as captured by Prof. Roger, include Dexter, the kegites’ chief, and Afrika.

Six of those murderous cultists were from OAU, four from the University of Ibadan, four from the University of Lagos, eight from the University of Calabar and others from the University of Benin.

Legacy, in his interview with The Punch, remarked that Nigeria, at the time, was stepping out of military rule and cultism was spreading across institutions in the country.

“We had a union in Ife that was quite radical and didn’t allow the influence of cultists to take root on the campus,” he said. He also said the union was battling Wale Omole, the then vice-chancellor of the school, known to be a loyalist of the military honchos.

The union resisted several violations of students’ rights under the leadership of Omole.

“The resistance was about basic things: fighting for welfarism, rights of students to unite, talk and express themselves, demand for whatever they needed, accountability, and against obnoxious school fees and the likes,” Legacy said.

While the union led by Legacy prevented the infiltration of OAU by cults, Wale Omole’s management team created an atmosphere favourable to them. Threading Prof. Roger’s story lines, Legacy gave an incisive revelation of the management’s role in the massacre.

He said: “Since a senior staff member was implicated, we reported the case to the school management so that they could clarify some things.”

Students were expecting the accused staff member to deny his ties with the cultists, “but unfortunately, the school management hurriedly closed down the school and sent students packing, which showed that something was fishy”.

Legacy also stated that revelation by the arrested cult members indicted the school management. The cultists revealed that they received monetary support from the university’s bursary department.

During the attack, OAU’s security officers were ineffective. Legacy said there were functional walkie-talkies used by the school’s security officers, but they said he gadgets’ did not have good batteries.

It was also learned that the school, at the time, closed its gates by midnight and opened them by 6:00 am. Legacy wondered how cultists could have possibly invaded the school around 4:30 am and escaped through the gates without being apprehended.

Following reports that the members of the Black Axe who killed OAU students were likely sponsored by Omole, students called for his arrest. Though he denied the allegation that he sponsored the killings, he was relieved of his position based on the recommendation of a panel of enquiry led by Professor Tunde Adeniran, the then Minister of Education.

HOW FIVE STUDENTS WERE MURDERED

George Iwilade (Africa), a law student was one of the prime targets killed. The other four murdered students were Charles Ita, a 200-level law student; Efe Ekede, a 200-level psychology student; Tunde Oke, a 100-level student of philosophy; and a medical student, Eviano Ekelemo.

Prof. Roger, who later emerged as the school’s vice-chancellor, vividly painted the order of the incident:

They first entered Room 184, where they shot and killed Efe Ekede, a Part II Psychology student. In Room 230, they shot Charles Ita, a Part II Law student. A group of the attackers then shot Yemi Ajiteru, a Part II Religious Study student, through the head in the corridor outside the kegites’ headquarters.

In Room 273, they found George Iwilade (Afrika), the secretary-general of the student union and law student, and shot him through the head, along with another occupant, Tunde Oke, a Part 1 student of Philosophy, who was shot in the abdomen. When the attackers got to Room 271, the room allocated to the suspended student union president, Lanre Adeleke (Legacy), they found that he had escaped. Legacy was in his room when he heard the first gunshots.

The band of thugs proceeded to Fajuyi Hall on foot, where they shot and killed one more student. That individual, Eviano Ekelemo, a medical student, was certainly not a student activist, but they shot him anyway.

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