Living By Weeds And Wits

“And heaven itself doth frown upon the land … For the present time is so sick that present medicine must be ministered” – King John.
All narcotizing and psychotropic substances and drugs, including cannabis and cocaine, derive largely from weeds, as basic raw material. Similarly, all forms of fraudulent and criminal engagements are products of intellectual cleverness, wrongly applied. It may not be obvious to everybody that the present time is so sick that present medicine must be ministered, to restore sanity to the nation. If no one frowns upon the land in its present condition, certainly heaven does.
That a large number of Nigerians are currently living by weeds, particularly the younger generations, is demonstrated by a warning alert by psychiatrists recently that 85% of psychiatric cases occur among the youths. Crime statistics also show that fraud in various ramifications count as the most prevalent scourge in Nigeria. The menace of fraudsters has become so brazen that the Name of the Lord is not considered sacred enough that it should be excluded from their practices. Would it be false to say that there are “churches and prayer houses” that are dens of criminals?
Even politics and those who ply that trade can rightly be described as a business that thrives in weeds and wits. If principal actors are not the direct consumers of weeds or the conjurers of wits, they hire the adepts to serve them. So, they are in the business of living by weeds and wits. Are they not? As an addictive aphrodisiac, products of the weeds hold their users and patrons bound, to the extent that they remain enslaved to the illusion derived therefrom. The possibility of salvation from the scourge becomes remote as the illusory gains and glamour increase with the euphoria of successes.
While the merchants and patrons of the cult of weeds run the nation aground, their siblings of the wit cult leave trails of agonies, tears and poverty in the land. Members of the cult of weeds, great and small, can be described as brain cripples, in the sense that the effects of the products which they live on, disorganize their brain. That they live in a world of illusion, which would obviously not be recognized by them, plunges the nation into a state of disaster and retrogression through their activities. If some of their members hold strategic positions, they spread more harm and corrupt vulnerable people around them.
The siblings, namely, members of the wit cult are even more dangerous, because, they destroy confidence and mutual trust in society. Some of the victims of fraud not only lose confidence and faith in humanity but they can also lose hope in life and in God. Let the reader of this material do some investigation within his neighbourhood to find out what the sad experiences of victims of fraud are. There are many naïve and simple people who have lost millions of naira and property to fraudsters. For many years to come they keep paying back loans they took with the hope that they were dealing with honest business partners. It takes superior wit to be able to out-wit intelligent but honest people.
Smooth operators in the wit cult, popularly called “419” are not always riff raff, but highly placed and respected people in the society. Some of them are professionals in various disciplines. From the worlds of business, politics, religion, to the motor parks and slum zones, high priests as well as apprentices of the wit cult abound in large numbers. There are also consultants who can sell proposals on how to defraud the nation or banks, transfer and launder huge sums of money, which code-operating banks to hide loots anywhere in the world etc. They also advise on how to cover sharp practices and illegalities and get away without being apprehended by security agencies. Such consultants have international connections and sell their services for very high fees. They are consultants, not fraudsters!
Patrons and devotees of the cults of weeds and wit usually constitute what is known in crime terminology as “the family” or La Cosa Nostra. Don’t call them Mafia! Their militant wings who combine weeds and weapons can always deal with any audacious person or groups that would try to spoil the breakfast of the champions. Their tentacles and network span everywhere such that there is hardly any institution or organization that is not tainted. So, who is safe from weeds, wits and weapons!
Nigeria is in a really difficult condition. This is more so because there is hardly anyone to trust or run to for rescue. Perhaps salvation and rescue can come in ways and from quarters that no one can predict at the moment. Ronald Reagan once said: “Government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem”.
Dr. Amirize is a retired lecturer at the Rivers State University, PH.

Bright Amirize