I'm from Nigeria and these "cults" are a menace in our universities, especially those run by the government. The irony is that they were originally formed as political organizations to institute change, including by one of our rare Nobel Prize winners [1].
The Axe Men are just a primitive form of government (generally associated with the early bronze age). Government stems from people seeking protection under strong-men and cultists. Everything we have as far as government on this planet started the exact same way.
Only when the public organize against them do you see that glimmer of representative democracy and due process (stability).
Maybe they had democracy theatre, it was not working.
The axe men are filling a void that exists because the current formal government was/is ineffective at securing peace and stability.
People join gangs because, for them, that is the only logical thing to do at the time.
If we get ravaged by a pandemic and the government throws up its hands, for example, the first thing you are going to do is join a local gang, and end up at war with another gang (and be busy helping your gang co-opt the former government if it proves advantageous). I give it a few days before your fellow gang members are raping and pillaging on the side...and a few weeks before it becomes the widespread norm.
I echo your sentiment that this is a less evolved form of government. The next steps will be to reduce the violence, segment the criminality to the youth, and the former leaders of the movement will move to government and business ventures. There is not going to be public organization against these groups. They’ll clean up their image as they secure stability.
[1] - https://toktok9ja.com/meet-the-magnificent-7-the-first-cult-...