Today on #ThrowbackWednesday, we're giving a brief insight to the defunct Bakassi Boys group of the South East.
The group 'Bakassi Boys' was created in 1998 by traders in the commercial city of Aba.
The aim of the group was to protect themselves from armed robbers, hoodlums, ritualists, kidnappers, and even the practice of dark magic itself as was observed in the case of Eddy Nawgu, an alleged false prophet and occultist whom they killed and beheaded.
The aim of the group was to protect themselves from armed robbers, hoodlums, ritualists, kidnappers, and even the practice of dark magic itself as was observed in the case of Eddy Nawgu, an alleged false prophet and occultist whom they killed and beheaded.
As a "vigilante group" they successfully reduced crime in Aba. Their services were now in high demand and their activities spread to other Eastern Nigeria cities of Owerri and Onitsha with the same Modus operandi.
Founding members (who joined voluntarily) were primarily young able-bodied men in their twenties or thirties of Igbo ethnicity. New members received two months of training on the rules prior to participating in the group's operations.
From having about 500 members, the boys increased to approximately 3,500 members.
From having about 500 members, the boys increased to approximately 3,500 members.
The boys are usually armed with machetes and guns also believed to have black magic artifacts "juju" powers worn around their body which make them invincible "odeshi" and "immune to gun shot, wounds, hence even when shot multiple times at close range or from any range at all by anyone they wouldn’t flinch nor sustain or suffer any form of injuries". The manner in which they determined the guilt of a suspect was by the use of dark magic in which they placed a magical silver colored machete on the chest of any suspicious person and in the case the machete’s color changed from silver to bloody red it meant the person had committed a heinous crime at some point in time of their life and invariably such a person would be killed immediately.
They were powerful, achieved so much and was described as a "highly structured organisation with a defined chain of command". The boys had a national chairman who also doubled as the Abia State Head.
There were several Reports of the boys carrying out extra-judicial killings, arbitrary arrests, torture of suspected criminals, sometimes killed suspected criminals rather than handing them over to police, detaining suspected criminals in an "illegal & poorly ventilated cell which led to some deaths due to suffocation".
They were also reportedly been used by politicians to "target perceived political opponents" & their involvement in civil matters raised different opinions and a move by federal govt to prohibit vigilante groups reduced their activities significantly.
In 2002, the Boys were allegedly disbanded by federal government. However, state governments continued to condone their existence, carry on their operations in a rebranded way with salaries as well as offices, uniforms and vehicles as Anambra, Imo, Abia Vigilante Services.
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