A police officer identified as Corporal Matthew Isaac, attached to the Ebonyi State Police command was seen in a viral video singing and dancing to a secret cult’s gyration song and brandishing his rifles in praise and adoration of a particular secret cult, and also displaying signs and gestures known to identify with a particular secret society in Nigeria.
This act of the police officer identifying with a secret confraternity is not just in conflict with the provisions of the First Schedule to Regulation 370 of the Police Regulations which prohibits a police officer from being a member or being identified with a secret cult but this act is also in breach of section 62(2) of the Criminal Code Act which by its provisions prohibit a citizen of Nigerian joining, becoming a member or identifying with an unlawful society such as a confraternity and thereby criminalizes it.
Anybody who has identified as a member of a confraternity or in the association of a confraternity has committed a felony punishable with atleast three years imprisonment term.
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These are the provisions of Section 64 of the criminal code act and it state thus:
Section 64: Members of unlawful society: persons permitting an unlawful society to meet on their premises
Any person who?
(a) is a member of an unlawful society; or
(b) knowingly allows a meeting of an unlawful society, or of members of an unlawful society, to be held in any house, building, or place belonging to, or occupied by, him or
over which he has control,
is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for three years.
Due to the high rise of cultism in Nigeria, even penetrating secondary and primary schools, Some state legislatures are aggressively making laws to increase the punishment of secret cult membership to 21 years jail term in order to deter membership.
Lagos state is one of those states championing this course and its anti cultism Bill proposes a 21 years jail term as a punishment for members of a secret cult.
It should never be seen or heard of that a police officer is seen in a video singing and dancing and publicly identifying with a confraternity and the general public hope that he will be squarely disciplined.