They are criminal groups referring to some forms of occultist and esoteric practices. They were established decades ago in Nigeria as student confraternities. The first was the Pyrates founded at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, in 1952.

Originally set up as student self-help associations, the gradual criminal transformation of Nigerian confraternities occurred during Eighties and Nineties when the dictatorship provided them with weapons and money to fight the National Association of Nigerian Students. From 1999, when the country returned to democracy, confraternities become a violent weapon to be used by the political parties in power against political oppositions, while the advantage for cults members was managing criminal activities with substantial impunity before the law.

Secret cults are now so widespread in Nigeria that no university is free from them. Among the 98 cults banned under the Secret Cult and Similar Activities Prohibition Law approved by Nigeria in 2004, a few are operating in Italy; Black Axe, Eiye, Vikings and Maphite.