I Refused to Join Secret Cult in 300 Level , The Night They Came for Me Still Haunts Me

This was 2019, Ibadan, University of Ibadan. I was 21, a quiet guy from a poor home in Ogbomoso. My only sin was that I was good at Chemistry and people respected me for it.

Second semester of 300 level, my closest friends started changing. They would disappear at night, come back with bruises and money. One day, my boy Segun told me straight: "The boys want you. You have to come tonight." I knew what he meant. I said no.

That night, they came to my room in Zik Hall. Six of them. They said if I don't join, I will not graduate. They said I will be a target. I looked at Segun , he was not the same person. His eyes were cold. I told them: "I'd rather repeat this class than sell my soul."

Omo, the beatings started the next week. They poured water on my mattress. They reported me to the department that I was stealing. I lost three friends that year. I ate alone for months. But I finished my degree , second class upper.

Today, Segun is a dropout. Two of the other boys are dead from cult clashes. Me? I am doing my master's in the same department. The same lecturers who heard their lies now respect me. The cost of saying no was high, but the cost of saying yes would have been my life. I still believe I made the right choice. If you are on that fence right now, run the other way.