Bakassi Boys

The Bakassi Boys are a group of Nigerian youth vigilantes in the south-eastern region of Nigeria. Activities of the vigilante group include targeting perpetrators of robberies, ritual killings, kidnapping, such as in the case of Eddy Nawgu, an alleged prophet and occultist whom they killed and beheaded.

The Bakassi Boys are usually armed with machetes and guns, and wear an array of black magic artifacts and Juju around their body. They operate in the Igbo areas of Nigeria and have been accused of extrajudicial killings of suspected petty thieves, armed robbers, ritual killers, murderers, corrupt persons, and generally anyone they considered evil. The manner in which they determined if one was evil or not was allegedly by the use of dark magic, in which they placed a silver-colored machete on the chest of any suspicious person, and if the machete's color changed from silver to blood red it meant the person had committed a heinous crime at some point in their life, and such a person would be killed immediately.

In the south-eastern part of Nigeria, especially Anambra State, they still enjoy popular support in the areas where they operate because certain problems in the region have greatly decreased since the inception of the vigilante group in 1998. According to publications by various Nigerian media houses, they had an alleged magical immunity to gunshots - even when shot multiple times at close range, they allegedly wouldn't flinch nor sustain any injuries. This metaphysical power was referred to as Odeshi amongst the Igbo people of Nigeria. Odeshi is an Igbo word that means "It does not leak" or "it would not leak", which meant if anyone shot them with a gun it wouldn't pierce their skins, hence their blood would not leak.

The Bakassi Boys have now rebranded and are now Anambra Vigilante Services and have reduced their activities significantly.