SIR: Mahatma Ghandi during his days said; “Behaviour is the mirror in which we can display our image”. Today, cybercrime and drug peddling is now an automatic indictment of both the average Nigerian and Nigeria’s character, just as our comatose international image lies critically at the selective mercy of western propaganda.
Nigeria, a country where a retired Deputy Inspector General of Police, Nuhu Aliyu of the blessed memory, a one-time senator from Niger State once stood in the senate chambers and proclaimed: “There are armed robbers in this chamber.” He pointedly said that there are many senators that have no business sitting in the hallowed chamber.
A country where a man who was dismissed from the police service for gross misconduct later emerged to become a governor of state; where a man standing trial for the gruesome assassination of the same country’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General, won a seat in the senate from prison. I can go on and on.
This could be attributed to the collapse of values in the Nigerian society, and generally, to the effect of poverty and how that pushes the people to desperate ends. Materialism and consumerism must be checked.
A one-time Nigerian social media ‘celebrity’, Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, popularly known as Hushpuppi, was arrested in Dubai in June 2020 on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity.
Husspuppi’s international crime was later linked to many people by the American FBI, including Abba Kyari. To date, we haven’t heard anything on DCP Abba Kyari who was indicted by the FBI on some allegations of money laundering, bribery and wire fraud, vis-a-vis receiving funds from Hushpuppi.
How a high ranking police officer, an award winning super cop and intelligence officer for that matter, could be associated with an alleged criminal like Hushpuppi and openly fraternising with characters like Cubana for whatever reason, even if it is for tailoring services or social engagement as DCP Kyari claimed still leaves me bewildered.
Abba Kyari’s allegation is similar to that of Obi Iyiegbu, popularly called Obi Cubana, who the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) interrogated last week over the payment of three different tranches of money by drug pushers convicted in New Delhi, India; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Lagos, into his various bank accounts.
Before July 2021, the 46-year-old nightlife entrepreneur remained blurred from the radar of the public until the carnival-like funeral of his mother on July 16, 2021.
The moment Obi Cubana over-exposed himself, it’s no brainer even for a layman to know it was only a matter of time before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) starts digging into his finances. As a matter of fact, he was detained on November 1, 2021 over allegations of money laundering and tax fraud.
After watching American series like ‘Power’ and ‘Ozark’, one would realize that most ‘successful’ club businesses are actually fronts for laundering ‘dirty’ money from ill-gotten wealth. I am not saying he is guilty of anything, but if he is, he won’t be the first; the likes of Quilox are sitting on that table as well.
Suffice to say that no iota of success or failure of the Nigerian is without the asterisk of potential criminality, rooted in a culture where many young people see fraud as the only way to make money. On deeper reflection, it epitomises the present spirit of Nigeria’s younger generation.
The crazy way millions of Nigerian youths idolise get-rich-quick celebrities has fuelled crimes such as Yahoo-Yahoo, ritualism, kidnapping, drug peddling, armed robbery etc.
The get-rich-quick syndrome has become a deified, noticeable trend mostly exhibited, to varying degrees, across social media platforms. Exotic cars are flaunted, designer wears rocked, glittering accessories are customary looks across verified pages and profiles, as if to separate those that have “made it” from those trying to stay as legitimate and clean as the strength of their manhood and the integrity of their professional crafts entail.
Fundamentally, it is time for us to interrogate our value system. It is time for us to look at some issues deeply, including materialism and consumerism; and change to productive nation. It is time to stop de-marketing our youths and face the real issue which is our value system.
To do this, is to re-examine the erroneous one-way-street perception of criminal acts, which is to call out the failures of both the leaders and the led. To do this, is to admit the failed Nigerian socio-economic and political systems, and to rebuild them on the foundations of integrity, transparency, truth, and justice.
Richard Odusanya,
<odusanyagold@gmail.com>