Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
- The Bible.

I went to the office of MTN Nigeria at Idi-Ape in Ibadan on the twenty-second of December, 2017. I did not know how to load air-time on my laptop, and therefore I would that their customer service do this for me. I was directed to a young man in his twenties, in seat number two (I didn't quite get his name). I gave him two scratch cards to load for me, each one worth a thousand naira. He loaded a thousand, and kept a thousand for himself. I did not find this out until I got home.

It was not until I got home and I sought to check the balance of air-time on my laptop that I found out that I had been duped. I called the MTN office - called the same chap that was supposed to have loaded the cards for me - and he had the audacity to tell me that one of the scratch cards I had handed over to him to load had already been used before being handed over. When I insisted that both cards had not been used before being handed over to him, he had the effrontery to ask me what I intended to do about it. I hung up on him.

When a lot of Nigerians (most especially the deluded Nigerian masses that refer to themselves in Yorubaland as "ara ilu" complain about the fraudulent excesses of their leaders, I always laugh at their hypocrisy. Jesus would have told such as they, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at your leaders." For which Nigerian leader rose out of a vacuum? Which Nigerian leader did not rise out of the same fraudulent excesses of a society that is now attempting to vilify him as a fraudulent leader?

The truth has to be told. The only reason Nigerian leaders are so corrupt is that the Nigerian society itself is very corrupt. The Nigerian system is corrupt, the Nigerian culture is corrupt, the Nigerian traditions are based on corruption. The country always blames its leaders, yet the entire society wallows in fraud and dishonesty. But why is this so?

Twenty-third of December, 2017; and hordes of supposedly Moslem adherents gathered round my neighbourhood in Bodija, in Ibadan (between the hours of five in the morning till about half-past six) to brag to the entire neighborhood through public address systems of how they had used the head of a certain Ikoro Iyineleda to learn the English Language. Just the morning of the day before then, during a Christian night vigil held in my compound, a Christian pastor had bragged affectionately of a fellow pastor that had done the same thing - used the head of Ikoro Iyineleda to learn the English Language. Those Moslems - stark-illiterates, mostly - were speaking the Queen's English with impeccably refined accents; and they had the gall to brag to the neighbourhood that this was as a consequence of their having fed on the mind of Ikoro Iyineleda. And that is why it is so. That is why the Nigerian system thrives on fraud and corruption. Laziness. For the average Nigerian is just too lazy to actually work hard to earn a living, attain success, and make his mark in the world. Rather, he is permanently looking for short-cuts to success. That is why the fraud. That is why the dishonesty. That is why the corruption.

Those Moslem scavengers pounding their chests in pride before Bodija, over their "achievement," could have gone to school to improve their English - but they didn't. Rather, they preferred to feed on a human being's mind. That young chap at MTN Nigeria could have decided to work hard for every kobo he spent. After all, doesn't MTN pay well? But, no! From defrauding MTN customers, he is obviously going to graduate to defrauding MTN itself; and, if given the opportunity, he will go on from there to becoming the President of the country so he can then embezzle billions. Yet, from the "suffering" masses to the privileged elite (from the Moslem cannibals and the Christian vulture to the dubious young fraudster at MTN) all Nigerians point accusing fingers at their leaders and gleefully scream, "Corrupt!"

"You hypocrite," saith Jesus unto them. "First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your leader's eye."

I personally find the hypocrisy so obnoxious it is almost amusing. I would not call Nigeria by the name "Frauduria" were only its leaders fraudulent and corrupt. But the average Nigerian has been too blinded by the log in his own eye to see this. The average Nigerian holds up its leaders as scapegoats to be pummelled for the crime of corruption that the entire nation wallows in. How appalling! How revolting!! How disgusting!!!

Laziness! That is why the fraud and corruption. Laziness!! That is why fraud and corruption is so deeply imbued in the Nigerian psyche. Laziness, like I have noted above. That is why the Yoruba man will say, "O o le da a je" - You cannot eat it alone. He would rather prefer to do nothing with his own hands and eat yours with you, than eat out of that which he sweated honestly for. That is why the lazy "ara ilu" cannot help but applaud and grovel before such as the Moslem scavengers, and lick the feet of such as the dishonest chap at MTN; that they may then receive a few tit-bits in return. Ever sycophants, all others apart from those that can grant them hand-outs are deemed lazy. And since "Easy come, easy go" is the major nature of money, only those that derived wealth from dishonesty can give such hand-outs out. And the lazy masses, ever hankering after the hand-outs that only the fraudulent and the dishonest can give them, will then call a genuinely hard-working man, "lazy" - because he is unable to grant them such hand-outs. That is the irony of life in Frauduria. A nation indeed ruled by the father of lies.

"You are of your father the Devil," saith The Christ unto them. "And your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, FOR HE IS A LIAR AND THE FATHER OF LIES."

That is Nigeria for you. That is Frauduria for you. A nation indeed ruled by the father of lies.

I was on an okada one day, in the year 2017 (just a few months or less ago) when one of the riff-raff nit-wits that are always monitoring my life in Ibadan (a town better known as Ikadan) passed by on another okada. As he was driven by, he said of me to no one in particular, "This one too wants to write a novel." And he shook his head in disdain.

I was walking along the street beside my house in New Bodija, in Ikadan, on Christmas Day of this year; when a car drove by, jam-packed with certain people. As it drove by, one of those in the car - a certain middle-aged woman - said derisively, laughing out loudly, obviously referring to me, "We too went to university oh." And the others in the car also joined in her derisive laughter.

Because I prefer to sit down at home and work on a novel than engage in their ambitionless irresponsibility, the lazy Nigerian "ara ilu" will say I am "lazy.". Because I prefer to face a Masters programme at the university than engage in fraud, the dishonest Nigerian elite will say I'm "not smart." But, of course, were I to have embezzled public funds just like James Ibori, were I to be a rich thug like Lamidi Adedibu, both the lazy buffoon on that bike and the lazy fools in that car would be amongst the first to gather in front of my house every morning with cries of "Baba rere, baba ke." I have even overheard some of them claiming they would be shouting, "Baba rere, baba ka." Others have said they would be screaming, "Baba rere, baba ro." That is Nigeria for you. That is Frauduria for you. A nation of lazy sycophants of the fraudulent and the corrupt. That is where its culture stems from. That is where its traditions rear out of. Laziness. Leading to fraud, corruption, crime, and a host of other ills.

I doubt whether I was ever a Nigerian. That I was ever a citizen of Frauduria? Frauduria, be damned! Listen to thy anthem.....

Frauduria, they hail thee;
their own dear corrupt land.
Though crime and con may differ,
in corruption they stand.
Fraudurians are proud to dupe
their own fraudulent land.

- Ikoro Iyineleda. December, 2017.