When Blood Money Becomes The First Choice
A lot has changed in the last two decades
When I was leaving secondary school, what was in my mind was how to pass University Matriculation Exam or JAMB and make my first choice, the opportunity to study medicine or engineering. To some of my mates then who weren’t too educationally inclined their interests were to find where to learn the next lucrative skill or trade. Blood money wasn’t part of the bargain, at all, to even become the first choice.
Yea, we kind of heard things like that, once in a while; a scam was called 419 in Nigeria. How we heard of scams was when the culprits got caught and made a confession — it sounded like — “I have tried this business and that one. I have struggled and struggled without success. Frustration drove me into doing fraud”.
There’s no nation that doesn’t have fraudsters. But the type of scam I’m trying to describe here became more prominent in my country, Nigeria, in the last two decades.
We started hearing that scammers are now mixing their craft with blood money rituals — that for them to succeed in hoodwinking victims, occultic sacrifices have to back them up.
In fact, what made me really get concerned was when I realized it wasn’t really much about frustration or nothing better to do. Because there are so many young persons in the country doing well for themselves in various fields, making the country proud as well. I saw firsthand, a boy from a well-to-do home disown his parents to join a gang of “Yahoo Boys”. It was a matter of choice. The free lifestyle seemed to appeal to him more than anything else.
“Yahoo boy” is a “beautiful way” of tagging someone as an internet fraudster. The tag started during the days of cybercafes when the Yahoo website was very popular. Yahoo may no longer be as wildly used as before but the tag Yahoo boy has stuck. Now, something has been added even: Yahoo plus (mixing fraud with charm).
Does Money Ritual Really work?
One question I always thought about was if ritual really made them rich. And as a lifestyle writer, am still wondering or trying to understand the level of human perception that can warrant or give someone the 'liver' to slaughter an innocent life in pursuit of quick wealth.
A writer I once read was of the opinion that rituals didn’t work nor make people rich but the trade in human parts.
How am I to know if it worked or not. However, ritual making has always been a part of man’s history.
The growing soft spot for internet fraud
Even if ritual worked, even in the most ‘maligned zooish dark society’, should that be heard of 16-year-olds?
In recent times, the rumors of young people getting rich through fraud became more pronounced, especially with the explosion of the internet. And it has grown to become much more “empathically accepted” by the general public.
What I mean by empathically accepted was that society seemed no longer to really care. People have unconsciously accepted it as a norm. This means as long as EFCC, or other crime fighters did not catch you, “bring the money home let’s be chopping”.
Some have found a justification for it, I guess some ignorantly think there is a god on the internet that just vomits money to the Yahoo boys — forgetting that it’s someone that is being duped of years of labor.
So why did blood money become the first choice?
1. The famous rise of scammers: A society that celebrates riches without values and hard work may have hyped the idea that ritual or scam is the fastest way to wealth.
We heard of prominent people like Hushpuppi and Obinwanne Okeke who were influencers and celebrity billionaires until they were busted, though it’s not clear if the scam they did involved ritual, or whether it was just by mere intelligence they succeeded in the crime before being caught.
These are just a few out of the myriads of cases.
At a point, it became almost like you’re a failure if you’ve not come to the village with your own Benz. This is because Yahoo boys will intimidate you with their money spray and fleet of flashy cars. When they enter an occasion, a marriage ceremony or child dedication ceremony they shut it down by spraying hard currencies.
Elders who should know better will slip and fall struggling against younger ones to pick cash.
If you’re conversant with Nigerian culture, being a titled man is highly valued — It’s a thing of pride.
In the Igbo ethnic group which am more knowledgeable of, titles such as chief or Nze were given to people who have shown beyond doubt the quality of being honorable, strong, hardworking, and an achiever. Professor Chinua Achebe literally portrayed this in his award-winning novel, 'Things Fall Apart.
But now, a boy who became an overnight wonder by duping people can be given some of those, most esteemed titles. To every individual out there who has some sense of value, the title may not mean much. But it's always a polite way of telling struggling youths: see your mates; Can’t you do as they did?
When a fraudster receives such a title, what it means for the upcoming youths is: How you earn the money doesn’t matter, just make sure you have enough of it!
2. Lack of trust in the government:
Before I started this article, I wanted to get some feedback from people, so I put out a question on my timeline. Here is one that caught my attention:
Values have been eroded! Many are not thinking straight. The frame of measurement has shifted to money alone. The person who replied in the above clip actually said that the money ritual is the solution to Nigeria's economic crisis and so should be strengthened, and directed against the kids of politicians.
I know he may be dissatisfied with the government, I also hope he was joking and didn’t really mean it. But when people are willing to make this kind of joke, am worried. Because those really suffering it (bloodshed) are not kids of politicians but innocent children or girls whose sin was just getting involved with or living close to some of the Yahoo boys.
Note, this issue has nothing to do with boys alone. Girls have the one they do too to help them attract wealthy men or even to dupe people as well.
I started this article by writing about what I was thinking of as a 16-year-old. How come a sixteen-year-old who should still be making a choice of career is already doing a money ritual and cutting off the head of another human being? It must be, really, or somehow, that blood money is now the first choice for many people.
Scientists tell us people are products of their environment. Does it mean our environment inspires this? If that’s true then it means much more people are involved than we actually know, therefore it’s an emergency case.
What perceptions have contributed to making blood money the first choice?
- The notion that two wrongs should make a right: The truth is there are much more fraudsters out there than we read in the news. And as long as they have not been caught, people just embrace them, take money from them. I personally heard someone saying, “at least Yahoo Yahoo has reduced kidnapping because boys are using it to survive since the government is not doing anything for us.” People have used government failure to justify it.
- “I have suffered too much, I’m ready to do anything Now”: I heard someone making a joke and he said he has suffered too much and requested to be shown where to go and make sacrifices. He then concluded by saying, he didn’t care if he enjoyed the money for only 6 months. This means people know there are repercussions too. This brings me to the next point:
- Thinking on the short term: We seem to now have a generation that thinks more in the short term than in the long term. I can’t say this is a real fact but I heard of a guy who came from a struggling family and decided to do blood money. He was told the repercussions, one of which was that after three years he would die and leave the wealth behind. He agreed and they made him rich. He enjoyed his money for three years. The friend that told me this story was telling me just after the man’s burial for sure. The fellow called his family together and told them that he has tried for them by using himself as a sacrifice — He then gave them documents to his petrol station, houses, and properties. He died afterward. Was buried. I was arguing with the storyteller that the wealth will not last in the hands of the heirs and he said it was a lie. We argued until I let it rest. Two weeks after the man’s burial I was told by that same storyteller that the petrol station and the house he left behind has burnt down. Well, someone can still call it a coincidence. But everything has repercussions, really.
- Learned helplessness: I picked this word from a popular minister of the gospel who once posted on his Instagram feed, the pics belonging to the guy who has been barbing his hair for like 10 years, and wrote: my barber for ten years. When he did that, trolls of comments followed and someone commented and asked, why is the barber still barbing after having a connection to a big man like you. Why has the preacher not found a better job for the barber? The preacher first corrected the commenter by saying that the barber already runs chains of successful salons scattered in different locations. He then pointed out that because someone is successful doesn't mean he shouldn’t still work. Learned helplessness is a state where people think that before one can achieve success, they must know someone, or be connected in high places and be given a special position. It’s mental laziness. Instead of thinking of how to solve problems, provide value, do small things in big ways, and be rewarded for it, people are thinking of things like Yahoo plus, and other ways to cut corners.
What happens when blood money becomes the first choice?
When blood money becomes the first choice, it means nothing is safe anymore: children, schools, friends, neighbors.
The future is not safe if 16-year-olds are now hacking people into two. What will the unborn generation learn from fathers with a maligned perception of money?
Conclusion
Whatever made this idea popular, that scam and ritual making is a better way to make wealth, is a devil that needs to die a second death. I think this is the time that the manifestations of the true son of God are needed. Do not be a “Maga”, the jungle is hot now. Remember that safety is really of the Lord.
Let me know your opinion. Have you been duped before? Do you have experience with what I wrote? Or what do you think is the perception that contributes to blood money that I didn’t mention? Clap, comment, and engage in every way you can. Follow me to read more from me.
Your favorite lifestyle writer, Chukwuma Oleka,
