By Jude Atupulazi
Everywhere you go, you behold them. They no more hide themselves but are glorying in the adulation they get from many who want to be like them. They thrive in a society which no longer asks questions but has joined in partaking of the tainted fruits growing from the equally tainted trees of moral decadence as exemplified by those for whom this piece is meant: the modern day con men, variously known as Yahoo Boys, Yahoo-Plus and co.
They garishly display their ill-gotten wealth to the delight of many who no longer care about how their wealth was made so long as they will partake of the money thrown about. Many of these people are small boys whose ages range from 17 to 23. They cruise around in G-Wagons and other expensive cars.
They wear very costly clothes. In fact, someone was telling me last Tuesday that they are the reason the prices of clothes have gone up because they don’t haggle but just pay. He said they are also responsible for the soaring house rents because they easily pay upfront without batting an eyelid. How would they when the money was got through ojoro?
But you wonder whether these small boys don’t have parents; whether they don’t come from communities. Why is nobody asking questions anymore? All you hear now is that this or that boy don hit (a way of saying that the person concerned has made sudden money). Because they are adulated and no one asks questions, they flaunt their dirty business and dare anyone to stop them.
Rather than frown on that kind of life, society recognizes them, makes them chiefs and all that. They are hailed by peers and elders alike. They still marry from homes that should be asking questions.
There are also another category of young people. These are those who live by selling lands, often illegally. They do no other discernible job. They drive flashy vehicles and go from joint to joint to drink and smoke during the day. Everybody knows they are not into genuine business because no young man will loaf about every day in an expensive car without any discernible means of livelihood.
But the cash of such people comes in handy and nobody cares. These guys also colonize many hotels too. In fact some decent people have had to avoid many hotels because of the presence of these boys.
Some communities are known for producing large numbers of these despicable characters. It is like their trade has become the norm. Too bad. I only pity those who have no capacity in ignoring the allures of easy money.
But this generation is almost lost and only God knows what will become of our society in the next ten years. Really, mad dogs have been unleashed and their rabid bites on others are multiplying the madness. God save us.
Father, unto thy hands…
These days, it is an achievement to leave our homes and return in the evening; no thanks to the anarchic situation caused by insecurity in the country. I can’t stop talking about this because daily we are confronted by this monster called kidnapping for ransom and rituals.
Some might wonder why I added rituals. Yes, these days if a kidnapped person doesn’t have money to pay, they cut up their body parts and sell. That’s how bad and how low some of us have fallen.
We have many animals in human form who have sold their conscience to the devil. Just pray not to fall victim because pleading with them is like a deer pleading with a hungry boa constrictor to spare it.
These days any car that overtakes you on the road gets your heart racing. Every driver suspects the other. These are not days you curse or quarrel with any man behind the wheel for rough driving. For all you know, you may be dealing with a devil whose next action will be to shoot you and drive off.
Even if your car is hit from the back, especially in the back or in lonely places, just keep moving. Sometimes it is a ploy to have you stop and come down and the next thing, you’ll be herded into their vehicle and whisked away.
December is approaching fast, a month in which people should have been sharing love and togetherness but which has been turned on its head to become a month when desperadoes go to any length to make money in order to return home and ”shine”. No road in the country is safe now.
Very soon, many will be making their way to the East for Christmas. Those bad people along the roads in Kaduna, Kogi and Benin know how important the Christmas Season is to the people of the Southeast. For sure they will be waiting to pounce to kidnap and demand ransom. To avoid this, you have to go by air but how many can afford it?
So, what to do? Suspend travelling this season. Your life is more important than physically being with your loved ones. The mobile phone has made it easy to speak with them and see them while doing so. Yes, nothing can take the place of physically being with your people, but it’s better to speak with them on the phone than have them brought to you in coffins.
Those intent on coming home can come during the off season. It will be difficult to avoid being home for the yuletide but things adigo ka fag ga adi. The government has failed to protect its citizens. It is now each man for himself and only the lucky, no more the brave, survive. What a country! I would gladly have left this country but what am I going to do in Europe or America at this age? We are therefore sadly stuck in this hell hole. Father, unto thy hands we commit ourselves.
Eat or be eaten
Does anyone need to be told that there is hunger in the land? No one, except the dead. Time was when most people did subsistence farming. Almost every household in the village farmed cassava and at that time that staple food was in abundance. Few people could finish a plate of cassava foofoo, either at home or in a restaurant.
These days, some people can finish as many as nine wraps of foofoo. It is so because the cassava being sold in the market and at shops is less than the size of the human palm. It has come to this because people no longer farm and those that do so are harassed by Fulani herdsmen whose cows destroy their crops.
Yam, that king of all crops, are now out of reach. Those known for farming it have been hit hard by herdsmen. I am talking about the Benue State people. Many have abandoned their farms which have been taken over by the herdsmen. The few who still farm now sell at outrageous prices.
And I can tell you that some families have not eaten yams for more than two months, something they used to eat regularly. It is possible from the way things are going that very soon babies born during these times will not know what yams look like; just like many of this generation don’t know what farming or farmlands represent.
Are we to talk about rice? It has become the food of the very rich again, just like it used to be when we were growing up. Rice used to be what we called a Sunday-Sunday stuff and it was highly valued. Sadly, however, eating it on Sundays is becoming difficult. Perhaps, we have road side sellers to thank. One can still eat this delicacy for between N1000 and N1, 500.
Immediately after the Nigeria-Biafra conflict, many stole food and not money. They wanted to survive first. I remember the days in our yard in Enugu when thieves would sneak into the kitchens of people and help themselves to the contents of the pots. In the morning the owners would wake up and discover that the soups in their pots had vanished.
I am very sure that soon we shall be returning to that era. They may not just be coming to carry people’s pots, but they can raid shops, not in the night but in the day. All they will do is to raise their shirts and show the owners their guns and they will cart away food items.
Shop owners are thus advised to be very careful how they display their wares. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. The times are dire and everybody is struggling to survive. I pity those with large families where they still have many children to train in school. May god help them and us.
Like the fraudsters, the cost of food stuffs are chasing us like mad dogs.
