THE IMPARTIAL OBSERVER

Midweek Special

“I Go Chop Your Dollar”: Free speech v. abetting criminality

HANK ESO

Wednesday 26 April 2006

“Parodies and caricatures are most penetrating of all criticisms.”

Ever so often, we are confronted with controversies that, on the face of it, is unwarranted, but which in truth raises fundamental questions about public conducts that amount to double standards and public conducts that amount to fighting words.

One such instance is the made in a Nigeria music video and in the main track to a DVD movie titled, “The Master,” which was directed by Uzodinma Okpechi, one of the budding stars of “Nollywood” -- the Nigerian movie industry. While some might see the video and its subject matter as an artistic exercise that falls well within the rights of freedom of expression, others, especially those who might have fallen victim to related 419 scams, would surely see it bluntly as promoting or abetting criminality.

But which is it: free speech or sanctioning criminality by extolling it?

Although “The Master” was made in 2005, it was only recently that I watched music video clip of “I Go Chop Your Dollar” by the Nigerian artist and one of the nation’s most popular comedic actors, who goes by the famous moniker “Osuofia” (real name Nkem Owoh). In the video, he lampoons those, especially white people (Oyibo), who out of greed falls for 419 scams by trying to reap where they did not sow. In the video, while singing the song’s provocative lyrics, Osuofia, with an obvious mischievous smirk on his face, calls the “419” scam “a game” in which the scammer is “the master” and the scammed, “the loser.” This interpretation is an audacious, in-your-face diatribe and certainly an affront, but there maybe a noteworthy point being made here.

There is a clear parallel between this video and its contents and rap songs and music videos that make outrageous pronouncements that are not in tandem with societal values. Songs or related videos that seem to tout criminality, violence, and sexual perversion are generally not very well liked or tolerated, but they are hardly censored or banned in the United States or Europe. Some even promote hate philosophies.

Doubtlessly, the line separating propriety and unacceptable behavior in this context is like day and night. But the constitutional guarantee of free speech in Nigeria, as it would be in the US or the UK, ensures that those who engage in such artistic endeavors are not hounded off the streets or jailed for conveying views that are anti-society or anti-establishment. While products that belong to this genre are acceptably offensive and not-by-any-means mainstream, to muzzle their originators is to muzzle creativity. My making this point should not be misconstrued as my implicitly or explicitly endorsing any form of scam.

In Nigeria, in particular, where the military has held sway for long, musicians tend to become social critics and readily lampoon societal foibles even at the risk of incessant harassment, arrest, and even being exiled. It is well known that the Afrobeat king, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, for instance, lampooned every government to the extent of even using the real names of Nigerian leaders and their cohorts, most of whom he castigated for theit highhandedness, malfeasance, and profligacy. His song “ITT – International Thief-Thief” is a case in point.

In this context, the international brouhaha created by “I Go Chop Your Dollar” is surprising. It would be stretching absurdity to its fullest scope to begin to suggest as some bloggers have done, that this video is the “smoking gun” that proves that 419 is entirely Nigerian and is state-sanctioned. At best, this music video is about the virtual reality of art imitating life – criminal life, I might add. But what it is really is a parody. The video has certainly garnered many critics and also the attending public attention. But such slanted and condescending “criticism is not a question of taste, but whose taste.”

As a Nigerian, I know that variants of the 419 scam are pervasive. I get solicitations daily by fax, by email, and by phone and both at home and at work. My response: simply ignore them. I also know that most of the solicitations I get no longer come out of Nigeria or from Nigerians. In the present-day, electronic scams, like the email and the Internet itself, are a global phenomenon. Variants of electronic scams represent the shoddy downside of globalization. They prey on both the living and the dead. Indeed, anything that might seem to suggest the possibility of money being made off the demise of any high-ranking African politician, is readily a recipe for scammers. Those who fall for such scams, regardless of the criminality that it is, which must continue to be publicly denounced, are themselves guilty of attempted complicity and being an accessory to a crime.

No scam is fool proof. The more real or genuine it seems, the more suspicious one should be. For any American, the first reaction and escape route from a scam solicitation should be to apply America’s time-honored rule of the road, which states that “there is nothing like free lunch.” To aim to capitalize or to reap a reward of any sort, short of a sweepstake or lotto, is to be foolhardy. Even, the sweepstake and lotto call for a certain degree of investment, be it the pittance of a lone dollar or more. But, then also, the odds being stacked against the investor is a well-known fact of life for any speculator.

But all said, anyone familiar with the lyrics of the song “I Go Chop Your Dollar” ought to grasp that more than anything else does, it is aimed at forewarning potential scam victims. Indeed, the song may in the end turn out to be the best public service campaign against 419 scams. As it notes:

419 no be thief, it's just a game

Everybody dey play am

if anybody fall mugu,

ha! my brother I go chop am

National Airport na me get am

National Stadium na me build am

President na my sister brother

You be the mugu, I be the master

The gist of the top stanza, is that 419 is not thievery, but a game, in which only a fool (“mugu”) will be entrapped and in that case, will be taken to the cleaners. The dead give away, however, is the second stanza and the chorus, in which the artist avers to being the owner of the “national airport,” the “national stadium,” and a relative of the president. If a Nigerian scam artist can con anyone out of money in a country where almost all public infrastructures are state-owned, then I should be able to claim ownership of Manhattan! With such credence, I could also sell the entire island to the highest bidder, just because I feel that I am entitled to a share of the Big Apple. Likewise, anyone should be able to sell the Big Ben along with the Tower of London, just because they are English or come from a colonial outpost and their mother’s name is Elizabeth, and she goes by the moniker “Queen” in their homestead.

As is customary with issues such as these, it is frequently not farfetched for some to attempt to criminalize an entire nation. That has been the fate of Nigeria. We can hardly ever forget how General Collin Powell, in a bid to deride General Sani Abacha, branded the every Nigerian a scammer by stating that Nigeria was “a nation of scammers.” Indeed, it is such innate sentiment that causes many potential victims to become preys; they set out believing that every Nigerian is a scammer and that the country is so corrupt that there is ready and easy money to be made. They become so blinded that the overlook the inherent risks and pitfalls they face of losing even the shirts on their backs. It would be willfully wrong to call every Italian “a Mafioso” because Mafia characters in the movies speak Italian and have Italian names and accents, or to call Americans cannibals, just because Jeffrey Dahmer was a cannibal serial killer. Similarly, it would also be wrong to consign Nigerians to the realm of being a scam nation on the same account or to call every German a Nazi.

Screaming “fire” in a movie theater still constitutes a fighting word, for which one may be liable for the resultant injuries and deaths, if it was a hoax. But parodying those who willfully play “suckers” and allow themselves to be duped, does not amount to fighting words. It may be conscientiously offensive, but not necessarily criminally offensive. I’m inclined to believe and accept in the context of free speech and artistic license, that the “I Go Chop Your Dollar” music video should be seen for what it is: an art and a capitalist venture that seizes on a popular or notorious social issue for profit. There might be an analogy here: Comics have made bundles from “Bushisms” and the Iraq War. But none of them have been accused of making money off jokes about a war in which thousands are dying or, indeed, about a war that most Americans are increasingly coming to accept as “a war of choice,” if not an “illegal war.” One of my favorite TV personalities, Bill Maher, has surely made a fortune by doing and saying all the “Politically Incorrect” things.

“I Go Chop Your Dollar” is tongue-in-cheek, facetious, and funny for its comical content. The music is good and the acting passable. It does, however, attempt to address a serious matter that needs to be tackled by governments and individuals alike. I have at a different time on this very column advocated how best to curb the 419 scam (see Curbing 419). It is a two-way street, in which the scammer and those who abet them should share equal responsibility. After all, being in possession of a stolen property is still a crime, just as the act of collusion and racketeering to defraud a person, company or nation is also a crime.

“I Go Chop Your Dollar” has an assured nuisance value, which should be appreciated. While it may offend, it also informs. I recognize that some Americans are extremely vexed by the song. But so too are Nigerians, who have seen their nation’s wealth looted by some of their compatriots with the help of foreigners. Hence, such foreigners should see the song as a criticism of their less-than-honorable role and duplicity, for as Aldous Huxley said: “Parodies and caricatures are most penetrating of criticisms.”

But to be forewarned is to be forearmed. For those who wish to be wise, I recommend that they do as one blogger has suggested. When next they get a 419-scam solicitation email, they should promptly shoot back a one-liner, which will also be in response to this distasteful but intuitive song. Just reply: “Sorry. You no go chop my dollar”! (Sorry, you’re not chopping my dollars.") That would suffice, even if only on a lighter side.

With neither anger nor partiality, until next time, keep the law, stay impartial, and observe closely.

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Hank Eso, is a columnist for Kwenu.com. His commentaries on Nigerian politics and global issues have appeared in The New Times (Lagos), African Profile International (New York), The Nigerian And Africa Abroad, (New York), African Market News (New Jersey) and in Gamji.com.

Email: hankeso@aol.com