And so, we woke up last week to the unbelievable arrest for murder of a 21-year-old who wants to be a purveyor of information, Chidinma Ojukwu, a student of Mass Communication. I have looked at clips of the soft-spoken, innocent looking, rather random young lady whose many crimes and dispositions seem to be surfacing by the day and I am as befuddled as other parents have been since the story broke.
Booking apartments with a false foreign number, having a different name on a driver’s licence, ordering date rape drugs and calling the apartment after the murder and her departure to say they do not wish to be disturbed. Then withdrawing 380,000 naira from her victim’s account and dedicatedly wearing a face mask around the apartment and you know you are dealing with a con-artist and a criminal whose foray in crime is at once experienced and historical. Stories have also emerged about her attempting to move large sums of money from her victim’s account.
A lot of our youths are not only lost but are adventurous in the most bizarre and dangerous ways
I am in a state of some level of shock as we enter the stage of “sans innocence” that our young persons have descended into and as Chidinma’s story goes viral, we know in our hearts that this story is some sort of wake-up call. Because, behind the curtains there are bigger stories out there that will lead to bigger stories going forward. A lot of our youths are not only lost but are adventurous in the most bizarre and dangerous ways. Others who seem well behaved and doing well, are leading double lives like Chidinma and deceiving their parents.
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There is a major scam going on out there and its young people scamming their parents. The entire visage of Chidinma is a scam. Her innocent look is the veil for preying on unsuspecting men and women. Blessed with that look, she can take anyone to the cleaners and yes, she started smoking when she was eleven years old. Chidinma is the story that leads to the question, how much of your children do you know? And guess what? Today’s children do not want us to know who they are. Who they say they are is not who they are. Very Sad.
In my time, what you see is what you get. Today… Nah. There is a rebellion among the youth today towards their parents that suggests that there was a long-standing quarrel for centuries between them and their parents. Conversations are far and few between and what we have are agitations by the youth and anger and arguments. Most homes across the world see that. All you need to see America’s youth challenges is to watch my favourite TV show, Judge Judy. All you need for Nigeria is to read the papers, the crime pages and go on the internet and your heart will be broken. Very few families are lucky to escape the thieves at night and in broad daylight who steal our joy and turn our children against society and destroy them for good. Chidinma is the symbol of the result of these thieves and while they may be more than forty, we dwell today on the immediate ones to set the tone for the tragedy that becomes Chidinma and the forty thieves. We all know this will make a profound movie. I have registered the copyright.
Let us begin. The internet, Peer pressure, the Nigerian society’s need to go big or go home. We worship money and our children aspire. The big boys who are living large, runs girls who make money from filth and their bodies who turn it into Salons and lounges while laundering the money. Our kids think they worked hard in honest dealings and discover too late that its something else. Drugs, pretence, poor role modelling. Ostentatious living, big and insane parties and TV programmes that tell you its okay. Lost values, modernity, imported values, poor judgement, absentee parenting, fake churches and religious orientations.
Rich kids living on borrowed time who splash the money on inanities and attract the Chidinma’s of this world, thieves in suits whose only job is to party in Ghana and work in Nigeria, the yahoo life, poverty, poor educational systems, lack of time for the youth, broken down health systems and boredom. What about local government maladministration, poor leadership and no leadership in some instances, corruption and its many children, broken homes and broken children. Adding up we have rape, sadists, child traffickers, armed robbers who need the likes of Chidinma’s company, white-collar thieves, yahoo plus and inordinate ambition. 41 thieves and counting. Let us pray.
