GROWING UP IN THE DEN OF CULTISTS; MY TRUE LIFE STORY

By Ugwuagbo Emmanuel Chizoba (Zoba De Great)

Those who lived around the University town of Nsukka will understand what comes to mind when someone mentions Igada Villa, Odenigwe.

It’s an area mostly populated by students due to its proximity to the University and the late 90s and early 2000s, the place was a no go area. Things softened up after Prof. Chinedu Nebo became the Vice Chancellor of UNN and even more, after Sullivan Chime became the Governor of the state and cultists not only lost sponsors but were hunted down as well.

This was the place where I was born in the late 90s. It seemed that my parents discovered the effect such an environment would have on myself and my siblings, they relocated us to the other end of the town, where we would later find out was not the den of cultists like Odenigwe but the den of the leaders of cultists.

This area, though still close to school, was not really a ghetto like Igada Villa, but it did attract a different kind of students. Such students were students who were well to do, had cars bikes and could afford a luxurious lifestyle. It was that area where operations were discussed before execution and then where they returned to celebrate successful operations.

This was where I grew up. It was in this area that I got to know what is marijuana before the age of five. It was there that I experienced being an internally displaced person before getting to hear the phrase. And it was here I understood that you could see one today and not see him tomorrow.

I was still in either Primary 1 or 2 when I started to assist these guys to move their marijuana and other related drugs around from one hand to the other. All they had to do was call “Chy boy" and I will appear, then I will be handed some substance to go and deliver to so so and so person. Because I ran these errands with precision, it made them to always look for me, giving me the opportunity to always be in their midst.

Because I am not a BBC protected Journalist, I am not going to give out anybody’s name, neither am I going to mention any particular operation. However, always finding themselves in their midst made me know when they were in for an operation. Certain kinds of operations required painting one of their cars with an easily washable paint.

Finding myself in the midst these uncles that had real guns, carried weights, planned operations etc, endeared me to action movie characters. I won’t deny, as a boy who wasn’t upto 8 years, I admired them and believed being successful meant being like them. Especially when I spotted one of them as one the closest men in the entourage of the then Governor, as he stood like Schwarzenegger in the movie, Commando.

Their influence and the smartness and toughness of Ofia Afulu Agu Mbaka, in the movie, OKOCHI starring Nkem Owoh, made me to adopt the nickname, Deri Nwamama.

Agbaaa ya egbe na odaeshi

Egbuo ya mma na Odaeshi

Awuo ya acid oburu pure water

O bu Deri Nwamama! Denne!!!

With that nickname, I was known throughout the street. Many still know me with that till now whenever I go there.

Ndi Igbo siri na Oke aha na egbu nwa nkita. Because of my nickname, I started training in martial arts, teaching my fellow children and raking up a gang of my own.

In school, it wasn’t different. I didn’t look for trouble but I didn’t wait for anyone who looked for my trouble to explain himself before descending on him. I was Deri Nwamama, and no one should mess up with Deri. I picked my own gang there too. A gang at home and a gang in school.

In school, we planned to have something that was well organised. We formed the “KINGS CLUB”. That was done with the knowledge that I am from a Royal Family. That was a less than 10 year old Zoba. I had my boys and in school, at Mama Uwa’s place, we bought things together, shared them together as a brotherhood. An injury to one was an injury to one was an injury to all. If you had any problem with any of our members, we will beat you up. We were learning martial arts and perfecting it. The school was Model Primary School 2 Nsukka anyways.

It continued that way until it was the end of a second term. I was called up to the Assembly ground as one of the students who performed very well. I got my result and because I did very well (note: I was also the class prefect), I didn’t wait for my Dad to rest before I gave him the result.

I was surprised to see him frown instead of praising me, I mean, everyone in the compound already praised me. I didn’t know that in the section written “teacher’s comment", my aunty didn’t comment the usual “very excellent result, keep it up". She wrote instead, “he fights always in the class”. So, with his thunderous voice, my Dad asked whom I fought with. Truly, I only fought with one person, the rest, I beat them up and was reported to the headmistress a lot of times.

I was about answering when I discovered that the earth was without form and void and darkness hovered over the face of the deep. Heaven beareth witness, the next thing I could recall was that I was already lying down at the passage and the belts were hitting me repeatedly, such that I didn’t know how many belts in total. All I knew was that the voice that should have come to my rescue was the one advising him to use a good cane instead.

It was a baptism of fire, and as one who is of the AA genotype, I became sick for the following few days. When I eventually resumed, the Kings Club was no longer a topical issue. The gang became group of friends.

Them my mom took time to weed out all my friends. Anyone she identified as as not being of good character, she will instruct me to cut him off, and if I didn’t, she will give me a fresh baptism of fire. Notable amongst them were one called Okereke Christian and Atani Ikenna.

Back home, my movements were restricted, my playtime greatly reduced. It was during this time that I became highly politically conscious because I was mostly indoors while Daddy had series of political meetings with his visitors. It was the periods leading to the 2007 elections. This period was very critical amongst the cultists in the area. Over 5 different cult wars broke out successively.

To tell you the kind of area we lived. The cultists in our area didn’t run, rather, their men moved in and secured the entire area, heavily armed. For several weeks, we all were on the run. We stayed with our relation in Agba-ugwu lane, another cult haven, though with low ranking ones.

At that time, the life of being internally displaced became normal with us. Once the wars started, everybody will vacate. People will be talking about how so so and died, without knowing that it’s the person you live in the same compound with.

This period was followed by a period of general arrests. The ones who were not arrested were killed. One of them that lived in our compound ran away without his properties, till today he has not crossed Enugu State. Many later got their freedoms and returned.

Within this period, I had dedicated my time to Blockrosary and I wasn’t their favourite anymore. They see me only gathering my new gang; the Blockrosary Children, either for centre prayers or for Congress. By 2011/2012, I was a totally different breed before we eventually moved out of the area.

In whatever guise they come, cultism stands condemned and always remember that the environment your child grows up in will contribute greatly to their future.