Olu (not real name) is from one of the south western states (real zone) and arrived at one of the universities in Utah last year to study at the BS level. I was a student of that university until recently. When Olu arrived, the small number of Nigerian students - Nigerians in America would agree that Utah is not where we like to go normally, but life is cheap there relative to most other American states- welcomed him. I was a sort of ''chief'', being the most senior (as in level of study) naija student at the uni then. We normally congregate at a cafe in town  when we have time to drink and banter about naija. I had a small car I was cruising around in; a car I bought 2 years after my arrival. A few other naija guys also owned cars and others did not. So when Olu arrived, he was getting free rides from some of us. After 4 weeks Olu, to our surprise, declared that he wanted to purchase a car. According to him, his mother was a PDP politician hobnobbing with the Gov. of his state, so he had some cool cash to roll with. He did not talk much about his father. We asked him to save his money for now as he may need it for more important things than buying a car. Olu refused to listen and went ahead to buy a very good, albeit second hand, Grand Cherokee Jeep. Who were we to continue objecting since he appeared to be floating in some cash? As for me, my parents are only average Aba-based business people with no free Abia state govt cash to burn for me, and so I worked my arse out to pay my bills (especially after a few years of receiving hand-outs from home) without waiting further for hand-outs from them. So Olu joined the ''elite'' Nigerian students cruising in one type of car or another on campus and making mincemeat of oyibo babes. I buried myself in my studies because I was getting close to graduating with my Master's degree. The labor my parents and I had put in was not about to be made futile by poor grades.

After about 6 months or so, Olu called me to inform me that his car was seized by the cops while he went into town. ''So what offense did you commit?'' I asked him. He replied that he did not have a driver's license (i), his Cherokee was not insured (ii) and therefore was not registered (iii), and he was carrying another Nigerian family with their 2 kids without child car seats (iiii) I was shocked beyond imagination that anyone could do these (i-iii) when they gave the impression that they have the money to buy (and, of course, maintain) a car in America. He drove so well you would believe he had a license. So basically, he was pulled over by the cops for not stopping completely at a stop sign; he claimed he did stop though. In the course of the interrogation by the cops, the rest of the offenses (no driver's license, no car registration, no insurance and no child car seats) were discovered. So his car was impounded for no registration and Olu was charged to court and fined and was asked to come and bail his car with a specified amount of money and to ensure to do the insurance and go to driving school and obtain a license before ever driving again. Meanwhile, the Nigerian family (from a popular south western State) whom he gave a ride that resulted in the no-car-seat offense simply abandoned him to his fate. According to Olu, they did not call him to ask how the case was going. I did not know if Olu expected them to assist him with the fines. Somehow, Olu managed to pay the fines imposed on him by the court but was unable to get his car back. As if misfortune decides to befall one single individual at a time, at about the same time, Olu's mom was diagnosed of bosom cancer and finances became tight because she could no longer play effective politics at the foot of her state governor and also needed money for her treatment. So Olu became broke, sort of. He could not pay his tuition and other fees, including his rent. Meanwhile, Olu informed us that he got an old friend from the internet who lives in Atlanta and that he had asked him to move over to Georgia to stay with him. We were shocked because this was a white male of about 65 years whom Olu had not met before; only online. We were worried that Olu might be harmed by the man in some ways. However, off to Atlanta Olu went, abandoning his studies. He called a few times from there and things seemed to be going well for him. After 3 months he informed us that the guy was asking him for sex (yes, sex with a fellow man) and that he was refusing and so the free money, food and accommodation was no longer guaranteed. Actually, a few weeks later Olu was back in Utah and by then his mother was so sick that Olu has no chance of getting a dime from her. Olu could not get his car back until the deadline and so it was auctioned.  America is not naija where you can drive a car without the necessary documents.

Now, for those who know Utah well, you would have known that it is a Mormon state as most of the residents are Mormons, with their imprint in the state govt and most institutions, including the state universities and some banks. However, they try their best to separate their religion from state affairs, even though everywhere still smells of Mormonism there. Olu, the ever smart guy decoded that Mormons will be interested in membership and he promptly joined their church in a bid to survive. Unlike years ago when Mormons discriminated against blacks, they welcome everyone these days. However you must conform to their basic norms which include among others no sex before marriage (1); going out frequently, well dressed, to preach the gospel of Mormonism (2), and compulsory church service dressed in suit or white shirt and tie and black pants (3). They welcomed Olu and offered to accommodate and give him a voucher to collect food and basic necessities from their church store. Somehow they got him reregistered in school but since he could not pay for university accommodation, he shared a room with a young Mormon guy from a Mormon family. So essentially, he was caged away from his normal naija life (you know what I mean). No babes again; D . Olu could bear everything except for the no-babe one. So, one Sunday, Olu had arranged with a black babe from naija to visit him while everyone had gone for service. The idea was to sneak out and enjoy some time with his babe and then sneak back to church before closing time. It is not clear - at least to me- if he had been doing this before the bubble burst. As (bad) luck would have it, Olu's roommate returned home unexpectedly and caught him with his babe in their room. He promptly reported to his parents and they sent him packing. Thus, Olu lost everything a second time including a promise the Mormon bishop had made to him to help him secure a part-time job so he could make his own money. He is still trying to find his feet again.

This year, as I hear, a number of naija students were admitted to the university, but the Mormons are now wary of us and our treachery. I learnt one guy from FUTO Owerri came and not having much money, opted to become a Mormon in order to be able to see himself through post graduate studies. But the conditions they gave were so strong that he could not cope.

The Mormon angle is really the disgraceful angle to the story since we lived in a small, highly religious community where you can count the number of blacks and where almost everyone else is a Mormon. So you walk by the street and people see you as one other untrustworthy and ungrateful black man who cannot keep his heart and joystick where his money is (so to speak).

Why am I not surprised?

he did not have a driver's license (i), his Cherokee was not insured (ii) and therefore was not registered (iii), and he was carrying another Nigerian family with their 2 kids without child car seats (iiii)

triple whammy.

So Olu joined the ''elite'' Nigerian students cruising in one type of car or another on campus and making mincemeat of oyibo babes.

Olu's roommate returned home unexpectedly and caught him with his black babe in their room. 

can you explain the discrepancy.

he dated white girls when he was rich and black girls when he wasnt?


or is there an element of fiction involved.

The story is typical tale of many out here. Our kids are always looking for the easy way around here. Not understanding that they need to make better decisions as humans the minute they step on these shores.

As much as we'd like to castigate Olu for his stupidity (and we all should, the guy is a slowpoke), this happens more generally here in the US even among Americans than you might imagine.

Still, people need to understand that when you move abroad, you are not only representing yourself, but an entire country. So you need to be extra well-behaved, not act like a fool.  

Dude is an embarrassment.

Mormons in particular are really good people; abuse of trust like this is just shameful.

DapoBear:

Mormons in particular are really good people; abuse of trust like this is just shameful.

Good point! I know we like to hate them but they are good in that they try to help their own. This guy, threw away a big chance just for a couple of minutes of what? And surprisingly, this happens often with Nigerian students out here. Most seem to have se-x and the easy life(even those with consequences) so high on their mind that they loose out on so many opportunities available to them out here.

tpia@:


triple whammy.






can you explain the discrepancy.

he dated white girls when he was rich and black girls when he wasnt?


or is there an element of fiction involved.

It was easier to convince the white Mormon family that the black naija babe is his sister from naija than convincing them about a white babe. This is what I think. I actually did not know that he was dating the girl in question, whom I also knew on campus.

Mormons are good but are as trenchantly religious as Jehovah's witnesses.

igbobuigbo:

It was easier to convince the white Mormon family that the black naija babe is his sister from naija than convincing them about a white babe. This is what I think. I actually did not know that he was dating the girl in question, whom I also knew on campus.

still conjecture.

i feel he'd eventually have been booted out anyway, over some other matter.


i'm not making excuses for the guy, but there are a lot of youths like him.

igbobuigbo:

Mormons are good but are as trenchantly religious as Jehovah's witnesses.

Nothing wrong with that. They do a lot of evangelism, but don't do any harm, imo.

I used to have very bad notions about Mormons. Their religion is clearly fake and crackpot. But as fake as their religion is, it produces results: hardworking, honest and sober people who are trustworthy and family-oriented. Can the same be said about Christians or Muslims?

Too many Christians cannot be trusted (and I say this as a Christian myself.) Too many Muslims have very primitive ideas in their heads and are lazy.

Perfect script for a nollywood film !

But seriously speaking Olu is like a lot of teenagers who just have to learn the hard way - from their own mistakes.

DapoBear:

Nothing wrong with that. They do a lot of evangelism, but don't do any harm, imo.

As far as the eyes can see, you are correct. However, except you belong, you do not know what happens inside the caucuses. Even Olu, as a new comer, was not privileged to enter some of their main temples. You have to mature to some level to have that privilege. But they have some of the best church buildings in the world.

See their Aba temple here http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/aba/gallery/

may olu learn his lesson and find his feet

bones1:

Perfect script for a nollywood film !

Make sure you acknowledge me before using this for your Nollywood movie. I would know if you do because I watch a lot of our movies. Ammo sue your ar-se out.

DapoBear:

Nothing wrong with that. They do a lot of evangelism, but don't do any harm, imo.
I used to have very bad notions about Mormons. Their religion is clearly fake and crackpot. But as fake as their religion is, it produces results: hardworking, honest and sober people who are trustworthy and family-oriented. Can the same be said about Christians or Muslims?
Too many Christians cannot be trusted (and I say this as a Christian myself.) Too many Muslims have very primitive ideas in their heads and are lazy.

With all due respect, I don't think you have the right to say something like that. It is an unfair, prejudicial characterization of a group of people. Some of the most hardworking people in Nigeria, and in fact, in the world, are people of the Islamic faith. You need not lampoon them to get your message across. We get it. You are a Christian and you've been brought up to look down on non-Christians, but haba with your education, you should know better. Laziness is not peculiar to any religious group. Neither is it a function of someone's race. It is a state of mind of the "lazy" individual. Islam does not in anyway condone laziness, just as how it is not tolerated in the Bible. And accusing them of having a primitive mind says a lot about how you have been brainwashed to thinking less of people of different religious beliefs. It saddens me that with your level of education and intellect, you, like most religious bigots, many of whom are illiterates, chose to remain close-minded when it comes to religion. I hope you realize how wrong your behavior is and atone for it before it is too late. However, more than that, I would advise you to be more objective in your characterization of people who are different from you. I know that old habits die hard, but I believe in you. You can make amends moving forward.

"Nigerians Who Disgrace Us Abroad"


Not so fast


What about

"Nigerians Who Disgrace US back Home".

Beta

interesting. Olu's story reminds me of that of my own brother, there was no trouble (no matter how small) the boy didnt get himself into. Olu was lucky, others would have spent at least a night in jail for driving with no license and/or insurance.

@poster, y una no tell am b4 him carry motor put for street?him think say na lastma dey here?
these boys think som1 without vision can survive here in US u will only spend most part of ur life wandering d streets frm exit 2 highways
make d guy join mormon make dem give am their bible
or make him go marry akata then file I-130  

fstranger:

With all due respect, I don't think you have the right to say something like that. It is an unfair, prejudicial characterization of a group of people. Some of the most hardworking people in Nigeria, and in fact, in the world, are people of the Islamic faith. You need not lampoon them to get your message across. We get it. You are a Christian and you've been brought up to look down on non-Christians, but haba with your education, you should know better.  Laziness is not peculiar to any religious group. Neither is it a function of someone's race. It is a state of mind of the "lazy" individual. Islam does not in anyway condone laziness, just as how it is not tolerated in the Bible.  And accusing them of having a primitive mind says a lot about how you have been brainwashed to thinking less of people of different religious beliefs. It saddens me that with your level of education and intellect, you, like most religious bigots, many of whom are illiterates, chose to remain close-minded when it comes to religion. I hope you realize how wrong your behavior is and atone for it before it is too late. However, more than that, I would advise you to be more objective in your characterization of people who are different from you. I know that old habits die hard, but I believe in you. You can make amends moving forward.

You are right, my comments were pretty ill-advised, and I apologize to you (and others here who I might have offended) for them. Especially the laziness comment.

However, to be completely honest. . . I grew up in a Christian home, but by no means am I the most religious of people. I'm not obsessed with religion one way or another. If you are Muslim/Christian/Hindu/atheist/Shango worshiper whatever, fine, I don't have a problem with it. But regardless of your religion, I want you to be a hard-working, contributing member of society. One who will hold onto views that are compatible with a modern democracy, one built on equality for all people (in particular, women and children.)

As much as it might be bigoted to say this, I don't think Islam as practiced in many countries is compatible with this vision I have. For many, their worldview is more of a throwback to earlier times, when women could not vote or hold political office, the constitution and laws of the land were defined by a religious book, etc. Again, this is not a criticism of Islam itself as a religion, just the way it is practiced.
Heck, Christianity in the 1200s and 1300s was extremely barbaric, just as bad if not worse than Islam today. But that in a nutshell is the problem. Christianity HAD its reformation, its religious revolutions. We've learned to keep religion as part of private life, rather than public. State and church are separated in almost every predominantly Christian country in the world. For Muslim countries, this is not generally true.

BTW, this is not to say this is true for ALL countries or all Muslim peoples. Turkey is for example a great counterexample showing that Islam and modern democracies are not incompatible. I also think that Yoruba Muslims (for example) are people you can build a healthy democracy and society with (or at least, I really, really, really pray that this is true. . . )

EDIT: And sorry to play the lame "my best friend is a" card, but truly in my (extended) family, there is lots of religious diversity. I have Muslim relatives, Jehovah's Witnesses, Protestants, Catholics, and even an aunt who became Mormon (my immediate family is all Christian, though.) I'm sure if I dug closely enough, I could find some cousins who worship the hill next to my town in Ekiti State

BTW, this is not to say this is true for ALL countries or all Muslim peoples. Turkey is for example a great counterexample showing that Islam and modern democracies are not incompatible. I also think that Yoruba Muslims (for example) are people you can build a healthy democracy and society with (or at least, I really, really, really pray that this is true. . . )

It is true, and we will continue to make it so.

Thank our Irunmoles for that. They neither hate nor care about your religion as long as you respect Orunmila.

Decent apology/clarifications BTW. . .

Olu (not real name) is from Osun state (real state)

I did not say anything o.
But you all know what I am a-thinking.

Blazay:

I did not say anything o.
But you all know what I am a-thinking.

Aboki, you again. just saying. Don't go looking for arms to cut, Olu is now in Utah. And BTW, Utah is in America. Your so called "country of infidels." Ode!

Just youthful exuberance, youthful exuberance!

I thought you were going to tell a story of Olu getting drunk, driving and raping girls or something or doing 419 to fund a lavish lifestyle.

The only crime I see here is that the guy was young and learning lessons in life. There is absolutely nothing wrong with buying a car in Utah. It sounds like you guys wanted him to depend on you for lifts to get here and there by convincing him not to buy one. Why? Utah ain't like NY or London where one can independently get around without the aid of a car.

Yes he made mistakes by driving without a license and insurance but at least it is a lesson learned now that he is younger and not when he was over 40. In short the guy appears to be a on a learning curve, trusting people i.e. the white man in Georgia. Let him live a learn

AngieFan:

I thought you were going to tell a story of Olu getting drunk, driving and despoiling girls or something or doing 419 to fund a lavish lifestyle.

The only crime I see here is that the guy was young and learning lessons in life. There is absolutely nothing wrong with buying a car in Utah. It sounds like you guys wanted him to depend on you for lifts to get here and there by convincing him not to buy one. Why? Utah ain't like NY or London where one can independently get around without the aid of a car.

Yes he made mistakes by driving without a license and insurance but at least it is a lesson learned now that he is younger and not when he was over 40. In short the guy appears to be a on a learning curve, trusting people i.e. the white man in Georgia. Let him live a learn

Agreed


OP
Where is the disgrace in your story? He disgraced no one and he certainly did not disgrace Nigeria. Are there no American youths who go out drinking and end up killing someone with their car. He took a risk and paid for it with his car. The other things (mother's cancer) that happened to him were just bad luck. Could have happened to anyone.

@OP.
you claim they all see you as their chief and u cant rally round and advise him when he couldnt pay rent when is mother was sick and made sure he never went to GA, even if it will mean living with one of you guys afterall u claim u all hang out together
do u know what i think about this story?
You were jelous when he bought his car and living large and you wew happy to see him fall(typical african), he made some mistakes this is normal the only wrong thing he did was not taking advantage of the chance the mormons gave him.

Anyone notice how the OP meant 4 this to be a tribalistic thread but the Yoruba's didn't fall for the trap.If it were the Igbo's they would have been throwing insults left and right, I am just saying.Spot the difference.OP is a major idiot.

Cool down guys,

There is no ethnic connotation in this story. It is precisely a synopsis of what things Olu went thru tryna survive in Utah. The full story might burst nairaland server. Olu was not a baby when he came. He had a Diploma already from a poly in his state or something like that and I guessed he must be about 21-22 then, making him older than myself when I first arrived. So he came with his mind and his being intact. We did advise him the best we could. Nobody was jealous of him, at least not me because I was very ok with my own self. I played all the game -womanizing and all that, that many of us played. Actually the family he was carrying that landed him in one of the problem were from his region and so I doubt if they were jealous of him either. Yes, Olu did crash in our various houses from time to time but he was such an independent minded guy that disuading him to do anything was practically impossible. There may be no disgrace in driving with illegal documents (if that suits your fancy) but there was a disgrace in the Mormon angle of the story. That disgrace you will not feel from cyberspace but needed to be visible to feel it, in such a community of few blacks been noted out for such betrayal of trust in a deeply religious society. Olu knew he was wrong and till date he regrets his action.

Βουκέφαλος:

@OP.
you claim they all see you as their chief,

I said I was a ''chief'' not a chief, something merely figurative. Please note the difference which I expect you to understand. Nobody can TRULY claim to be a chief to anybody in America. Na me carry am come USA wey I go come be him chief?

TewMuch:

Anyone notice how the OP meant 4 this to be a tribalistic thread but the Yoruba's didn't fall for the trap.If it were the Igbo's they would have been throwing insults left and right, I am just saying.Spot the difference.OP is a major .

A good observation about the responses of the Yoruba here. Notice nobody accusing anyone else of tribalism, witch hunt, racism, etc.

DapoBear:

A good observation about the responses of the Yoruba here. Notice nobody accusing anyone else of tribalism, witch hunt, racism, etc.

Now I see some of you guys are turning this innocent thread into a tribal war? First you nearly ignited a religious war by your unguarded remark about muslims being lazy. Now it is tribal war you are baying for. I hope you do not have to continue apologizing for your mis-steps?

cool down guy.

The guy has not done anything to disgrace his country . . all the accusations against him are just vices that most guys exhibit at one time or another.

I know of hundreds of guys who did worse things and have turned their lives around.

Advice him of the right things to do and encourage him . .not run him down like we all like to do.