The Buccaneers | Principals & Principalities Podcast

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In 1972, at the University of Ibadan, a man named Bolaji Carew was expelled from The Pyrates Confraternity — the fraternity founded by Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka. His former brothers didn't just expel him. They declared him dead. They renamed him "Late Ahoy Rica Ricardo." In Pyrate culture, Bolaji Carew ceased to exist.In the real world, he was just getting started.In this episode of Principals & Principalities, host Ayomide Odubonojo-Kinoshi tells the full story of the Buccaneers Association of Nigeria — the confraternity Bolaji Carew built in the wake of his expulsion, and the violence it set loose on Nigerian campuses for the next five decades. This week we trace the Buccaneers from their founding at "Modaship," the University of Ibadan, through forest initiations that beat blindfolded first-years until sunrise, to the 1994 near-fatal attack on a 23-year-old student union president named Omoyele Sowore — who would go on to found Sahara Reporters and run for President of Nigeria.We examine the deity they call Grand Pa, their acknowledgment of Mami Wata, their founding slogan "Let the devil that leads you, guide you," and the documented trail connecting the Buccaneers to the Vikings Confraternity, the Icelanders, and ultimately the Niger Delta militant Ateke Tom. We look at the sons of police officers arrested in Buccaneer colors, the N3-10 million per group paid to confraternities to deliver election results in Rivers State and Anambra State, and the split that sent Wole Soyinka's Pyrates off Nigerian campuses entirely in 1980. In Nigeria, is crime ever just crime?Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on social media for behind-the-scenes research, upcoming cases, and episode drops.Follow us On⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow us on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Us on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Twitter ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠(x)