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CNN apologized to the Nigerian Communities. On the revised episode, where Ambassador Victor Bosah was interviewed, Americans practitioners of the bank fraud were featured on how to Rob a Bank. What CNN did and still doing is a good public service to American citizens to be aware of the Fraudler, to keep eyes on their Bank accounts and their Credit Cards? The nauseating aspect of the airing of CNN episode on "How to rob a Bank" is its timing, to coincide with any program being organized by Nigerian Government or Nigerians Abroad. One of the unfortunate developments is that whenever anything ugly happened, in America for instance, the general believe is that the individual WOULD be a Nigerian. There was a case of a TB patient recently in Atlanta. Before his identification was exposed, the general believe in the communities was that, he was a Nigerian, including some media. While my wife was on Home Visit, the news was on Television, and the patient she was visiting told her that, the TB patient was a Nigerian. Who knows how many people would think that way? It turned out not to be a Nigerian, not even African-American, but a Caucasian. In the middle of June 2007, in Atlanta, some Nigerians were refused bond "because the judge said they posed a flight risk." They were detained for "using multiple names, addresses and credit cards to defraud the Home Shopping Network, QVC, and the Shop At Home Network for purchasing "hundreds of personal computers, digital cameras, and other electronic devices", which they believed have been sold and "shipped a lot of them to their home country of Nigeria". These men are: Moyo Akeen Kasim, 44, of Hampton, Abioye Kassim, 44, of Sharpsburg, Tunde Moshud, 35, of Doraville, Hameed Osiefa, 41, of Atlanta, Godwin Stephen, 35, of Atlanta, Babru Okoy, 25, of Atlanta, and Morimoh Ojikuta, 24, of Atlanta. The Police said two of the defendants are fugitives, Hope Smith, 31, and Moukarim Adegbayi, 41. Unfortunately, such a piece of bad behavior of some Nigerians above prevents Nigerians to defend their good names. The unfortunate aspect of this development is that Nigerians Abroad, especially their Organizations are not making extra efforts to clean up their acts and stop the ugly practice. Most Nigerians abroad are very much disturbed about this development. It is about time that Nigerians declare a total war on this ugly situation they found themselves for the sake of their Children. This is not Nigerian Government issue, but Nigerians Abroad's. The fact is that these people live, reside, dine, and socialize with their fellow Nigerians. They appear at Social events with their overflow agbadas, with bales of clean Dollar notes. The good news is that Nigeria Senate has passed a Bill that would give abusers of Naira notes in Nigeria a six-month jail or N50, 000.00 fines. That is the message from Nigeria to Nigerians Abroad. If people say that you have a big mouth, do something to make it smaller. Nigerians Abroad should be investing their monies on Nigerian Stock Market. Nigeria as of today (July 2007) has been credited as number one fast growing Stock Market business in Africa, if not in the World. Nigeria is the best place where stock market is growing very rapidly like a jet. The Fraudler hide under some dirty businesses that are not really making money for them. Craft some financial mayhem among families. They are very heartless, inhuman, and could be extremely dangerous. We might have observed some of these acts being demonstrated in some of Nigerian Organizations. The practice of importing known members of their organizations that would not attend any of their regular meetings just to come and vote, is fraud. After the elections were over, they disappeared to their comfort zones. If someone could practice such in civilized societies they live, it is most likely that such individuals are potentials for fraudulent practices in any national assignments. Unfortunately, their positions in their places of work, their Education, something they could not practice in their respective corporate and well established professional organizations, have no impact when they get to their local organizations, and used in the Nigerian Community Organizations. Is an average Nigerian fraudulent? Any group that elect their officials in a fraudulent way would possibly do greater things if given the opportunity in any national assignment. I sturdily believe that if you could cheat on the local organizations elections, you would possibly cheat in a higher responsibility. The saying that an egg turns into a big hen later would fit the individuals, as a child learns how to craw and walk, before running. We should be aware of these people in our communities. In all honesty I am befuddled and highly disillusioned in the actions of some of the NIDO Board members, some of who I highly respect in my community. It is depressing and regrettable. This is something they don't get paid for. If, and when money is involved in the equation, what would they do? They would kill like they do in Nigeria for elections. No wonder why someone mentioned at the inauguration of PDP, in 1999, that he was in the Party for contracts in Nigeria. What a shame, the countries where Nigerians Abroad are disenfranchised in exercising their voting rights. If he gets the contracts, is he going to execute them honestly as appropriate? I doubt it. Kudos to the twenty Nigerians, on behalf of 20 million Nigerians resident abroad, for instituting a class action against the Federal Government and Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, before a Federal high court sitting in Abuja over denial of their voting rights and disenfranchisement in the Nigeria April 2007 general elections. That is the good course that NIDO should pursue for all Nigerians Abroad, and not the display of their haughtiness under the bunting of godfathers. Should Nigerians Abroad continue with this deceptive practice, who else would revive Nigeria, for the future generation? Corruptions come in different shapes and forms. The dirty election practice among Nigerian Organizations is a pointer to how Nigerians Abroad could be too far away from making any positive contributions to the reform programs in Nigeria. They have to reform themselves first before thinking of reforming Nigeria. Who would blame the American media on airing "How to Rob a Bank" episode, over and over again. They have to protect their citizens. Nigerians, like any other Communities in America, were given the opportunity to make their life better, not to make life difficult for their fellow citizens in America or wherever they may reside. Nigerian Communities should clean up their acts SOONEST. Do not get me wrong, a social gathering, according to Adisa Adunbarin Lambe, is a way of slackening stress in the body. I met a friend at the Nigerian Women Association of Georgia, NWAG, and function this past Saturday, June 23, 2007. He was on the dancing floor all night long. After the event, he walked up to me and joked about his stylish dancing. His response was the dance was his day's exercise. That is good. All works and no play make Jack a dull boy, and if I may add, Janet a useless Girl as well. One of the good things about NWAG is that the dancing time in any of its events is about an hour. No crazy spraying. As a matter of fact, it was a fundraising event for its lofty programs of Scholarships for Nigerian Female College Students and Nigerian Youths in the State of Georgia, Medical Equipments to Nigeria, Orphanage homes in the country; and some other charitable programs for the needy. That is what I am talking about moderate social gathering. I am a party animal too. I love to dance; Jide George has been beating me lately. May be my bones are hardening up. No reasonable person would go out and lavishly spend his hard earned money, just to impress anyone at night parties. It is economically absurd for anyone to do that. When you see someone, not Medical Doctors or a 16-hour Nurses spending lavishly at social gatherings, even with them, it is unwise to spend naively, you might want to check out the legitimacy of the source of their money. If I organize any party, giving me a penny worth gift from your heart, is great. The bottom line is the spirit of giving, not what you give. Even attending my social party is an honor. The time you spent to come over to my gathering, your life that you risk in getting to my place are enough to be appreciated. Impressing me for your wealth, we better talk to Bill Gates and the rest of them for their charitable work they are doing in Africa. If people like that are helping Africa, and an African man is wasting his resources abroad, they better see Dr. Oyesiku for a thorough assessment of their brain. Nigerians should discourage their friends, partners in this fraudulent practice. Nigerians named their children after African names, teach them African/Nigerian culture, they encourage inter-marriage so that they would not get loss in the foreign lands, and Nigerians Abroad have to flush out those individuals that are ceaselessly messing up Nigeria and Nigerian names in their communities. Send them underground. This is a task that Nigerians Abroad MUST do. This brings me back again to the use of the Nigerians Associations to stop the menace of fraudulent practices. Nigerians could start from their local Organizations, Churches and Mosque, and the umbrella organizations, such as NIDO. I could be very skeptical about some of the religious organizations that could possibly fuel fake practices. I would not be surprised for a fraudulent Nigerian, with a lot of cash, to walk into a Church or Mosque for the religious leader to pray for him, especially when he or she is in trouble. Or to lean towards a Church member that brings much money to Church or Mosque each time. What these Pastors or Imams should be asking is what they do for a living. They should ask any stranger what he/she does for a living, when they show up for Pastors or Imams to deliver them from their 'enemies'. They should instill the fear of God in their minds whenever they request for any special prayers from the Pastors and Imams, so that his/her sins would not debar the progress of the Pastors, Imams, and Church and Mosque members'. The time is ripe for Nigerians Abroad to flush out the bad eggs among them in their communities. To the publishers on the internet, discussion group, print media, web televisions, Web radio at www.nigerianwebradio.com; Internet TV www.theblacktelevision.com, www.m2digitv.com, African Chat group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ChatAfriK, and a host of others, and pursue Nigerian fugitives on the run. Onyirimba should bring back the African Quest Newspaper, the paper that tells the story of Africans as you have not being told by any print media. The columnist across the globe should continue to chase after the fugitives, using their most powerful weapon in the whole world, send these bad eggs to obscurity, if they refused to change. There are better things they could do to make life pleasant for Nigerians and their children. Our respective Village, Town, State, Regional, Global Organizations have some work to do. Some professional Organizations should instill in their members the ethics of their profession. Leaders of Nigerian conglomerate organizations, full of different professionals, should be careful when they see an individual or a group of individuals, displaying their ignorance of the world, not humbling themselves, or trying to discredit the services of some honest members of the association. Iya Ijebu would say, 'Iro lei pa oun e je lei wa". I hope the Ijebus would forgive me on this. It is literally interpreted to mean, that they are all liars, they are looking for what they would gain from the Organization. NIDO has an enormous challenge ahead, since the Organization seems to be the one to revive a United Nigeria. It should discourage all the fugitives, criminals, selfish individuals, Fraudler, and kingpins from NIDO leadership. Part of what NIDO should be doing is correcting the poor impression about Nigeria and Nigerian, not adding an extra challenge for some obvious reasons known to some NIDO Board members. People of good faith should stop them COLD. Nigerians Abroad expect NIDO to be a leader if the NIDO Board could shelve their self-centeredness, debauchery, malevolence, vengeance, divide and rule, and most especially the ethnic card that is apparently surfacing on the NIDO Board composition. Divided we fall, united we stand, so the saying goes. A stitch in time saves nine, if I may add. Time and tide wait for no one. NIDO Board should not work against the wind, because prosperity would not forgive those that are bent on their ravenousness for power. Either Ola or Robert's led group that might make itself a stumbling block in getting Nigerians Abroad active involvement in the on going development in Nigeria would not be forgiven. The voice of the people is the voice of God. The NIDO general body is above NIDO Board. NIDO General Body would not allow anyone to steal as questioned by one NIDO member, if everything done in front of AGM is right, and supposing some one steals in front of AGM. The new immigration Bill in the United States failed because of the citizens' numerous phone calls, and e-mails to their respective Senators. Robert's led group should respect the general NIDO board decision, and ask God to direct him right, while the exit of Ola could be approached better and peacefully. Is NIDO collapsing, NEVER? Is it a survival, YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES. It takes a village to raise a child, so the saying goes in Africa. Do not kill NIDO. If I may borrow again from Jumoke's statement, "I am Nigeria, the changes start with me." God is watching!!!
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erpetual Media attacks on Nigerians Abroad are very strong signals to Nigerians Abroad that they have to clean up their acts in their respective communities. On a regular basis, especially whenever there is any major Nigerian events in any parts of the United States of America, CNN has decided to air the episode of "How to Rob a Bank". The episode is on the involvement of Nigerians living the city of Houston, Texas, in the acts of bank fraud, robbing the Bank without getting physically violence, using their brain faultily, using deceitful identifications to swindle banks. This practice has put so many innocent families into a life debt, unfortunately.