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Things have a
quirky way of becoming the vogue in Nigeria. And once entrenched,
unlike fads that come and go, these do not easily fade away. Think of
the funny emails often written in all capital letters and in very bad
language. They make many people laugh. But they also trap many others
who are as greedy as the fabricators of those mails. I cannot say if
such 419 soliciting started in Nigeria or if our compatriots simply
caught up with it and took over the trade. Whatever is the case, upper
case e-mail scams now have the reputation of being mainly a Nigerian
phenomenon.

Nigerians did not
invent the business of kidnapping. However, once it left the realms of
tales and took concrete foothold in the Niger Delta, it became a
Nigerian nightmare. In places like Aba, financial institutions had to
close for sometime because of the spate of kidnappings and general
insecurity. You would think that only the rich got targeted. No. Being
rich or poor makes no difference to the predators beyond the size of
the cash they could extort from the related families, associates,
corporations or government. Politicians, oil workers, journalists,
business people, the clergy, school children and just about anyone
became fair game.

When we examine the
trend closely it does appear that the manifestation of the levels of
primitive violence on our shores can be linked to fraud. In other
words, what we may well be witnessing is a manifestation of fraud in
its most crude form. And fraud appears to be very lucrative here
because even when caught, the punishment is a slap on the wrist.

When kidnapping
kingpins saw that taking oil company workers hostage was a quick way of
latching on the national looting train, they dug in and extended their
networks. When others saw that they could get their parents or
relatives to part with cash, they arranged to get “kidnapped” and by
that broke through to their supposedly selfish folks. Relatives
entrusted with the care of children suddenly became kidnappers and
others sent to pick up children from school suddenly developed wings
and orchestrated the now well-worn trade. Who would say that this is
not a manifestation of the 419 bent? If corporations, governments, and
security agents had refused to play ball right from the onset of this
phenomenon would it had grown to the current proportions?

The current fad is
to drop bombs with intent to wreak havoc on life and property. The
origin of this sort of violence is not Nigerian. There are certain
countries and regions that have been wrecked by this sort of senseless
destruction for decades now. Today, Nigeria risks becoming one of such
nations. Here, festive seasons have become preferred times to kill
people physically, and also to unleash social violence in the resultant
ripples. And so we witnessed the bombings in Abuja on national
Independence Day. While the military brass band struck matching notes,
the harbingers of death triggered their bombs. And on Christmas Eve,
bombs went off in Jos claiming innocent lives. The incidents in the
Maiduguri area is almost becoming routine. On New Year’s Eve, while
other nations ushered in the second decade of the millennium with
artistically engineered fireworks, the agents of destruction set off
bombs in a military barrack in Abuja.

Poverty fuels violence

The violence is
promoted by certain factors. One is the entrenched poverty. This
poverty has both financial and mental dimensions. Mental poverty
promotes votes rigging and other forms of electoral fraud. Politicians
who are used to getting into office or positions through fraudulent
processes use violence as a vital tool for achieving their aims. An
example is the mindless killings in Ibadan during a local government
congress of the People’s Democratic Party. The same can be said of the
bombings at a political rally in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. In Akwa Ibom
State there has been a trend where a declaration of intention to run
for certain political offices has meant an invitation to violent
reactions on such individuals or their next of kin.

What will happen as
party primaries begin and as the election days arrive? Will it be safe
to drop a ballot in the box without the box exploding beneath our
hands? It is sad that at a time like this, a politician like Atiku
Abubakar would misapply a well known political statement that now
positions him as a supporter of violent change.

Is there a chance
that a nation exposed to this level of primordial violence can get out
of it without long-term scars? It will amount to wishful thinking for
anyone to assume that the violence in the land would not have lasting
effects on our national psyche. The violence has pushed the notion that
it is dangerous to engage in honest labours and that you need to be a
purveyor of violence before you can be a factor to be reckoned with in
the political scheme of things.

It is a known fact
that environmental factors such as entrenched pollution, as well as
drastic social events, affect not just the generations who witness such
events but also those that follow. These shock waves impact the genetic
information passed on to future generations at all levels. When major
shifts occur in quick successions, the disorienting effect can be
massive. Just imagine a cultural shift occurring within a generation.
We are experiencing this in Nigeria although some may claim this to be
a global phenomenon.

Doing the right thing has suddenly become obnoxious. Fraud is
celebrated and rewarded and often times with chieftaincy titles. Where
did all these start and where would they end? Bob Marley’s suggestion
(in his song, Real Situation) that total destruction may be the only
solution is anarchistic and we do not recommend that. But will we
continue to accept fraud and violence as the norm or shall we get angry
enough to trigger organised resistance?