One Killer, Too Many Deaths: Unmasking the Secret Cult Surge from Osun to Nigeria

Before the August 15 governorship election in Osun State, there was a sudden surge in the engagement of armed mercenaries using sticks and groundnuts across the state. This led to several casualties, leaving many dead and others with varying degrees of injuries. What could have caused such a sudden spike in deadly violence?

​When the root cause is understood, the cost of the solution becomes minimal. However, the public has chosen self-deception by attributing the crisis entirely to alleged cooperation between the Nigeria Police Force and a specific political party in the race.

​More than a month after the governorship election was concluded, the crisis—which many deceptively blamed on election politics and police negligence—has not subsided. Instead, it has grown more severe, turning Osogbo, the Osun State capital, into a banana republic: a state without a sheriff.

​During the electioneering campaigns, whenever an attack occurred, the public rushed to accuse the police of taking sides and even firing shots. There were frequent calls for the removal of the then Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Gotan. One pattern was obvious: every violent incident was politicized by the public, while police accounts consistently linked the attacks to cultism.

​Readers may wonder what efforts were made by the police to curb this menace or whether law enforcement simply looked on helplessly. In truth, the police did their best. Without the heavy presence of police and security personnel deployed to Osun State during the election, the campaign period would have been recorded as one of the bloodiest eras in the state's history.

​The duty of the police was undermined by public insincerity. The state government was of little help, as the police were expected to target only those perceived to be in opposition. Meanwhile, any law enforcement action against suspected individuals aligned with the government was immediately labeled by the public as intimidation. Today, we are living with the harsh reality we all knew existed but chose to ignore.

​A look at the records shows that the recent rise in cultic attacks is not isolated to Osun; it mirrors a broader trend across Nigeria and abroad. The public in Osun failed society by ignoring how the volatile electioneering period was exploited by rivalry-plagued cult groups to settle old scores. Furthermore, these groups gained greater access to tools of destruction—sticks and groundnuts—allegedly supplied by politicians across party lines to bolster their political muscle.

​Contrary to popular belief, similar attacks were occurring elsewhere without anyone attributing them to whether or not the perpetrators supported the state government.

​What the public failed to realize was that the Osun State governorship election coincided with the internal election cycles of many of these occultic groups across various levels. This overlap created intense internal friction within specific cult families while existing inter-group rivalries remained active.

​For instance, consider what happened on September 2 in South Africa. A local chapter of a cult group held its election in August 2026. A winner emerged, but a rival candidate rejected the outcome, declared a splinter group, and claimed leadership of the organization in South Africa. That leadership crisis remains unresolved, fracturing the group from top to bottom.

​Furthermore, dynamic police logs across Nigeria reveal that attacks by members of the same cult family were actually more frequent than inter-cult clashes, with hitmen and group leaders being the primary targets. Leadership disputes inherently bring violence, and Osun State was simply unfortunate to have its election fall around the exact same period.

​Was everyone killed a cultist? No—assuming so would be a grave mistake. Innocent citizens have been caught in the crossfire. Consider the tragic case of Aiza Nwozu of Okija in Anambra State on August 30. Nwozu was killed by a cult group, but he was not their target. The attackers were after his son, Chinedu, who was being tracked over an issue linked to his uncle. Unable to locate Chinedu, they murdered his innocent father instead.

​It is critical to understand that these groups deploy their hitting services for various reasons. While a political gathering for a Senatorial candidate in Cross River State triggered a violent clash between two cult groups in Ikom on September 6, other incidents had non-political motives. On that same day, a man named Elvis was attacked and killed in Lagos by a rival cult group during a robbery operation. Meanwhile, a cult clash on Presidential Road in Enugu on September 2 was linked to a drug debt between members of opposing groups. These groups have multiple triggers for violence, yet the public insists on attributing everything to political conflicts rather than the underlying menace: cultism.

​Look also at the events around September 7 in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, where almost the entire executive council of a cult group fractured, leading to open warfare, betrayals, and targeted hits among members.

​Just a few days ago, another group held its national elections under disputed circumstances. A winner emerged and immediately appointed a full seven-member executive council, displacing rival factions who claimed the process was rigged. Such moves trigger national chain reactions—from Kano to Maiduguri, Gusau to Lagos, Owerri to Abuja, and Ibadan to Port Harcourt—igniting internal purges while perennial inter-group wars continue.

​These facts are highlighted to broaden the perspective of the good people of Osun so they can see this threat destroying their society beyond the lens of partisan politics. Citizens are naively enabling an insincere narrative that is costing the lives of their own family members. Self-serving politicians encourage people to view every tragedy through a political lens rather than addressing the real issue head-on.

​Cultism is the single underlying cause of the many deaths reported on the streets of Osogbo recently. The state government must wake up to its primary responsibility: protecting the lives and property of its people above political relationships.

​If the state government cannot rely solely on the stick to curb this menace, it must deploy the carrot strategy. Authorities should reach out to current members of these groups, educate them, and offer pathways to peace over violence. Empowering these youths with meaningful opportunities will prevent them from being used as instruments of destruction.

​Once the Osun State Government acknowledges cultism as the root cause of these deaths, the path toward restoring a peaceful and prosperous Osun will be within reach.