We have NBM. We have The Buccaneers. We have the Norsemen/SVC. We have the SEC. We have the Maph, KK, 22, etc. The motto of - NBM: Social Justice and Equality (Fight against oppression). SVC: Service to Humanity. SEC: Correction from wrong to right (NF/NF). MAPH: Justice and Protection. Etc....... These associations have ground men who are ready to open the gate of hell at any time of day. If you visit NAIJA CONFRA’S PAGE, you will see that they open that gate of hell every day... But not to our evil politicians and their children. Not to terrorists and bandits. They open it for each other and to each other. Now, go back and read the mottos again. History has shown that organised brotherhoods do not have to exist only for themselves. In Italy, the Carbonari fraternity challenged absolute rule and pushed for constitutional government. In Germany, the Burschenschaften, which were actual student fraternities, became associated with demands for liberty, national reform and constitutional government, to the point that the political establishment tried to suppress them. There have been fraternities and brotherhoods whose members looked beyond internal rivalry and directed their organisation towards confronting the political conditions affecting ordinary people. So what exactly prevents the Nigerian versions from using their networks, numbers, influence, and discipline for building each other rather than fighting one another? With the sophisticated network these associations have, if they focus even 5% of their energy, organisation and ruggedness on helping the country regain sanity and putting serious civic pressure on the corridors of political power, they would actually be practising what their mottos preach. But instead, some of them have become tools in the hands of the same political class they should be questioning. Some of the politicians, governors, ministers and senators we complain about are themselves not strangers to these systems. Some are old metals, old ships, old birds in the game. Social Justice and Equality. Yet injustice surrounds us. Service to Humanity. Yet Nigerians are being killed and tormented by their politicians. Correction from Wrong to Right. Yet the wrong people continue to rule without serious resistance from these supposedly powerful networks. Justice and Protection. Yet ordinary people keep asking: justice for who, and protection from what? You all need to go back to the drawing board if you have any... Because if your brotherhood claims to stand for justice, humanity, equality, and correction of wrong, then the biggest test of that creed should not be another confraternity. It should be the condition of the society you live in. I remember one confraternity clash I witnessed back then in DELSU. It started over something almost ridiculous. Mr A looked at Mr B in a way Mr B didn’t like. Mr B confronted him and told him that if he wasn’t careful, he would “die like a chicken.” That one statement became the spark. Before long, it turned into a full-blown bloody clash that spread from DELSU down to Asaba. I was at Naira & Kobo that night, having pepper soup with my lodge mates, and Mr B was also at Naira & Kobo. Mr A arrived with his squad. And just like that, the gate of hell opened. You know why I referenced that experience? Because it showed me that men who can mobilise that quickly, & organise that fiercely with that level of intensity clearly have enormous collective power. The tragedy is where that power is often directed. Imagine if a fraction of that same coordination, courage and brotherhood were redirected toward resisting injustice and demanding accountability from leaders. That is the contradiction I am talking about. Your motto says justice. Your motto says humanity. Your motto says correction. Your motto says protection. So why is so much of the fire reserved for one another? 100% of NIGERIA’s problem? It is a people problem. OUR IDEOLOGY.