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Why “victims” of 419 should not be pitied
Okoh Emeka
Sunday, September 9, 2007
I have read so many articles written on this very issue of Advance Fee Fraud or "419," as locally known; however, this particular one by Sonola Olumhense “Wanted: A 419 Czar” compelled me to punch my keyboard. I understand that this particular piece was published in the Guardian of 28th July and probably someone somewhere might have reacted or written a rejoinder to it; however, like the Igbo will say, “mgbe onye foro chi bu ututu ya” (whenever you wake up, that is your own morning). Someone who read it when it was published made mention of it in one of the many forums where Nigerians bare their minds on the net. I decided to google it and, finally, there it was lying bare on my computer.
The piece made an interesting reading, even though I quite frankly did not agree with some of its positions. The author started with one innocent question “What is Nigeria best known for?” After completely exhausting what in his opinion a country could be known for, he then stated with some visible authority that startled me: Nigeria is synonymous to Advance Fee Fraud, period. That is to say that Nigeria is simply a country of criminals, fraudsters, etc. I suggest that Sonoala takes out time to watch the U17 World Cup in Korea; he may likely notice another thing that Nigeria is best known for, though he sounded like someone that had long made up his mind. Maybe the Western orchestrated flawed media campaign against Nigeria has virtually succeeded in shaping public opinion not to our favour; however, it’s more pathetic when we as Nigerians fall for these tricks.
Bias coverage has become one indispensable feature associated with Western mass media, therefore one should not be surprised at the one sided coverage that the issue of 419 is receiving in the western media, for some time now, scams carried out by few Nigerians have been receiving serious media coverage in the west, starting from America to Australia. While CNN ran a full documentary on a purported scam by Nigerians based in the USA, Australia also carried a seemingly similar programme based on their own journalistic “investigations”, I also learnt that the so called Nigerian Scam has also become an issue in the most revered shows in the world run by Oprah Winfrey, these and many others undoubtedly fall into the grand image tarnishing campaign that most of these media stations who claim independent, free and impartial have carefully orchestrated and they seem ready to carry it out with a force comparable to that of tsunami.
There is no denying the fact that 419 scam is a thorn in the flesh of Nigeria as a nation, and the struggle to exterminate it should be an all encompassing fight that not just the anti crime bodies should champion but me and you as individual citizens.
The west cannot waste any opportunity to tell the world that Nigeria is the most corrupt, most dangerous, most everything bad, they have virtually succeeded in instigating hate against Nigerians even in our own back yards, pathetically, our citizens and even government have practically fallen prey of this new form of colonization, colonization aimed at dehumanizing us, aimed at reducing us to mere criminals, the type whose focal point is coding the mind set of the world to view every Nigerian in bad sight. That they are making a real progress is not in doubt, thanks largely to the negative publicity that the media is championing, every Tom, Dick and Harry will whole heartedly want to contribute in the tongue lashing of Nigeria even when such a fool cannot even point out the location of Nigeria in a map.
Jeffrey Archer in his work The Fourth Estate made this observation: "In May 1789, Louis XVI summoned to Versailles a full meeting of the 'Estate General'. The First Estate consisted of three hundred clergy. The Second Estate, three hundred nobles. The Third Estate, six hundred commoners. Some years later, after the French Revolution, Edmund Burke, looking up at the Press Gallery of the House of Commons, said, 'Yonder sits the Fourth Estate, and they are more important than them all. It is not a figure of speech, or a witty saying; it is a literal fact,--very momentous to us in these times. Literature is our Parliament too. Whoever can speak, speaking now to the whole nation, becomes a power, a branch of government, with inalienable weight in law-making, in all acts of authority. It matters not, what rank he has, what revenues or garnitures. The requisite thing is that he has a tongue which others will listen to; this and nothing more is requisite”. Were Edmund Burke to be alive today to witness the unimaginable effect of TV, Internet and Radio to the way people think, he sure, certainly would have placed mass media as the first Estate.
Like I said, the issue of Advance Fee Fraud or 419 is a problem, yes, a serious problem which should be tackled with all seriousness. I receive tens of scam mails every day in my box, the story line is usually practically the same, if those people that fall prey to this scam mail receive the same type of mail that I receive, if the contents are relatively the same, then I stand strongly by the title of this article that a “victim” should not be pitied.
There is a common feature that is quickly visible in all the mails I have seen – there are in most cases offering an Illegal Deal, with a promise of brain tearing gains. If you receive an offer to participate in an illegal deal, transfer or whatever and you joyfully accept it; tell me please, who are you? Won’t I be right to describe you as a scammer? Are you not a crook? Are you not corrupt? Are you not dubious? Are you not a fraudster? If you agree with this line of judgment then tell me, why should one party in the deal be termed scammer and or fraudster and the second party a victim? Can someone perceive fairness around that? Personally I can’t.
Before I started this article, I decided to reply one of the many mails that I get almost on daily bases, he requested my help to transfer millions of dollars to hide in my country after which I get a huge share, I accepted, the show went on and on till when it was time for me to send him money to clear this and that (he was so stupid, he claimed to be a manager in one of the banks in Nigeria but requested that I send the money via Western Union) I however obliged his request, of course I never did, but he called me and I gave him a number, he quickly rushed to the bank, then called back, I decided to waste his money a little bit on phone so I kept him on hold while I pretended to be cross checking the number I gave him, however, after he insisted that I scan and send him the receipt of transfer only then I decide to ask him with a deep Nigerian accent “Na which of us be the real mumu now” I told him to look at his back that EFCC is waiting for him, the phone immediately went dead, I sat there imagining how the poor boy melted away from wherever he was standing.
Am convinced that most people that enter into these deals know for sure that they are embarking on an illegal venture, but stupidity and GREED doesn’t always dwell with sanity. After trying to understand the psychology of people that could probably fall for these tricks, I came up with this hypothesis - because they themselves can easily pass as crooks, consequently they most likely nurse intentions like receiving the millions and disappearing with them, strongly convinced that their “victims” (in this case the original initiator) will never see or hear from them again, but then, when the whole show backfires and becomes a real boomerang the media will be flooded with stories of how Nigerians duped Mr. A and Mrs. B. It will be turned into a political tool to tarnish our image around the world.
Recently Britain asked Russia to change its constitution to enable Russia extradite its (Russian) citizen to face “justice” in London in connection with Litveneko saga since the Russian constitution clearly forbids extraditing a citizen to a foreign power, president Putin who evidently (and rightly too) felt insulted, blatantly told Britain that they should rather change their brains, because obviously they are still shackled by colonial rudiments. I think its high time our government start taking bold steps to defend her citizens, Obasanjo once said that he is too big to be put inside a pocket, as usual with our leaders, the message was directed to the wrong audience, they should let them know that Nigeria is too big to me put inside pocket, educate them that today countries are mutually dependent, we need them as well as they need us, our government should understand that the so called developed countries do a thorough calculation and analysis of every action they embark on, they will never embark on any venture that will not fetch them long or shot term gains even when such actions are masked with humanitarian this humanitarian that.
In matters of world politics and international affairs he who has the power often has the right, and he who is weak can only with difficulty keep from being wrong in the opinion of majority of the world. And who forms the opinion of majority of the world? The media. That is why we need to change strategy, that is why our diplomatic onslaught should be fierce; we need to be hostile in our counter attack. Nigeria should use any visible opportunity to tell the west that their citizens are greedy stricken, make it loud and clear at any given chance that only scammers and fraud minded and extremely greedy people fall for 419, our new foreign minister should let them know that falling for 419 is ridiculous and idiotic (Madukwe likes that word, 'idiotic'). The president should proclaim this even in the UN, yes, it will be a bit scandalous but that is exactly what we need to bring back the issue and allow people ponder it while we quietly work hard to solve the problem at home, even if it means creating a special agency that will handle it as suggested by Sonoala Olumhense.
Our government should clearly understand that we need a tool to enhance and consolidate our ability to survive in a highly competitive but most importantly hostile international environment that we presently face. Enough of taking all the guilt while our accomplice not only come out with clean bills but also shamelessly pretend to be “victims”.
***** Okoh Emeka is the President of Nigerian Students Union, Peoples Friendship University, Moscow, Russia.
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