Sometime in August 2013, the Kwara State Police Command announced the arrest of 30 suspected cultists along Eiyenkorin, a suburb of Ilorin, the state capital. It was one arrest that shocked many residents and opinion leaders in the ancient community. Their consternation stemmed from the profiles of the suspected cultists as majority of them were not students of higher institutions as has always been the case..

Among them were young boys in the neighbourhoods of Ilorin metropolis, who were not yet enrolled in any school. Though some of them were later granted bail, it was not after they spent days behind bars.

Though cultism has become a hydra-headed monster in Nigeria's tertiary institutions, the menace has become so deep-seated in the society to the extent that youths and young children now get initiated into the fold. The resultant effect of this, according to analysts, could be seen from the disturbance and the havoc they wreak on the people through cases of rape, kidnapping, armed robbery, among other vices .

The menace of cultism has become a source of concern to stakeholders in Kwara State, especially Ilorin, going by the rising tide of students and young lads joining one cult group or the other - the dominant being Eiye and Aiye confraternity groups. From time to time, it is either a member of Aiye been killed or it is the other rival group that suffered depletion in membership. More rampant is also the unceasing rivalry between the two groups leading to destruction of lives and property when they strike .

Officers and men of the state police command seem to be having sleepless nights in their onslaught against the menace. They are not resting on their oars in their efforts to reduce the crime to the barest minimum. This could be seen from the number of arrests made in recent times. There was no time the command would parade suspects that at least three of them would not be suspected cultists.

Some of them, who were said to have been arrested at Oke-Oyi in Ilorin while trying to forcefully initiate new members, were paraded last Thursday. However, the police confirmed that the menace has taken a more worrisome dimension given the rate at which suspected cultists are apprehended. The state Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Okasanmi Ajayi, in an interview with Daily Trust, said the more the cultists were arrested, the more the problem was worsening. But he said the command would not relax until a total success was achieved in the current drive to eradicate cultism in the state. .

According to him, the command had devised a multifaceted approach in tackling the issue on the order of the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase. This approach, he explained, involves going to primary and secondary schools as well as tertiary institutions to enlighten students on the danger of joining cultism.

He said: "So we were mandated and directed to move round schools, both primary, secondary schools, we have students involved in cultism, to go and disabuse the minds of these children, who might want to join.

"We made them understand that there is nothing to gain other than death and incapacitation. We have police and students' relations committee where we meet often to discuss about the progress made. And coupled with the arrest we are making, mopping up of arms and the rests, we are making progress.

"So, we are trying to confront it from every angle - both from the angle of soliciting for support from the community, enlightening the children about the evils involved and telling them that whether they are there quietly or not, it is an offence to belong to a cult group. "So, if after all these, they still find themselves there, they would be arrested and jailed.

"And we have started seeing results, the communities are now more alive to their responsibility by providing us information. Those we paraded last week were as a result of the information we got from the community and we arrested them when they were trying to forcefully initiate new members and we are going further to rehabilitate them, advise them to repent. We also tell them that it is better not to join cultism at all than going there and wanting to come out," he added.

Closely related to this issue of cultism is the rising wave of drug abuse within the community. But the security agencies in the state have intensified effort through the continuous raids of hemp smokers' hideouts to round them up. It was learnt that over 60 hemp smokers were arrested in the last two weeks when the operation, which was suspended during the just concluded Ramadan fast, resumed.

Commenting on the problem of cultism and drug abuse that have become rampant in the state, an Ilorin Emirate community leader, Alhaji Abdulhamid Adi, also said the cultists have been terrorising the community. Adi, who is the National President of Ilorin Emirate Descendants' Progressive Union (IEDPU), urged the security agencies to be proactive in addressing the menace.

He said traditional rulers in the state are being encouraged to always volunteer information that would lead to the arrest of the boys even as he advised parents to be more alive to their responsibilities by keeping watch on their children and wards.