₦airaland Forum

Like I stated, I'd quote back in 3 months when the topic/issue has been abandoned unresolved for trendier, fresher ones, with little or no Twitter mentions of it.

No law suit filed by the outraged mob holding Twitter spaces, or active steps to cushion the blow on his wife and son by his supposed close friends with hot takes on the issue now.

Trust by now you know I keep detailed records of such things and more, and never forget. Exactly 3 months from today, I'd quote.

We are all talk and posturing in this country. A few exceptions, but mostly conforming to it.

Melvyn11:
You are here on nairaland not doing anything to support the widow and her son or the boys family members yet you castigating others that are opening GoFundMe for them, helping the family with financial benefits and popularizing his music. You are the Angel while those ones are the devils. Some of you are ridiculous.

This might as well be a bar of guys exchanging in friendly/civil banter, albeit virtually.

None of the folks here are monetising his misfortune, leveraging on it to grow their social media pages, or negotiating deals with brands based off the garnered periodical impressions, or seeking to hug the front-page threads with the conspiracies.

If anything, they aren't claiming to have inside information asides ruminating on the tales being peddled by the larger internet, and trying to sieve logic from the takes.

Learn to align your comparisons properly.

Like I stated, these influencers and the opinionated folks holding Twitter spaces, and giving hot takes don't give a tuppence about you or Mohbad, or whatever misfortune you've faced.

The faux outrage's intention isn't for justice - attention is, and it's the currency being minted.

Here's SamKlef, who's been dishing hot takes and conspiracy theories about Mohbad's death riding on his misfortune to grow his social media pages.

I found this in less than 2 minutes of scrolling down his Twitter post history. Multiply by the tens of thousands of attention merchants like him.

OasisX:
....Davido aid? Not at all. Perhaps you need to get your evidence right. Influencers, most, were on the side on Marley then.

There were videos then that favored Marley side of story and were bought by majority of same Influencers farming like Benue people on X now with his death.

Where were the VNs, Videos that supported his side of story then? Why are we just seeing them now that he is dead?!

Wyse even used the opportunity to chase clout....LOL!

That's why I term it posturing. They are smart. They'd read the room well. If it's trendy to be on a particular side, they'd do it, they'd pick that side.

It's just like the South Africa-based LGBTQ+ activist who claims to be a pastor with questionable pronouncements, Charles Awuzie, on Facebook who suddenly positioned himself as a Peter Obi activist in May 2022 and laying claims to being the one who created the "Facebook fever and army for Obi".

He would analyse, dissect, and claim to have information about INEC servers, and hacks for inside information which always turn out to be concoctions of his own imaginations.

Man grew his Facebook page from the fringes to over a million and positioned further by taking on Reno Omokri when it was fashionable to do so. It was all posturing.

For most of the influencers (which more and more opinionated folks on Twitter and, recently, Facebook like to call themselves) it's nothing more than engagement as long as it's trendy to do so at the moment.

Do the rest of us have genuine reasons? Maybe. But we aren't as sanctimoniously vituperative as they are because we aren't seeking to ride on sentimentality for our selfish motives.

I expect one egghead to begin holding Twitter spaces for Mohbad in hours. That would happen soon.

Theflint1:
It's always a downward slope, no matter how much rage you have, this isn't John Wick or Taken, it's real life...if person wey off your loved one can't be touched, you can only cry so much, at some point you start to move on, however subtly, life always goes on.

No. Here's what the family (the real loved ones) of Bolanle Raheem have been doing in the last 9 months since their daughter was shot dead: https://www.channelstv.com/2023/05/31/bolanle-raheem-accused-police-officer-drambi-vandi-closes-defence/ .

They put in the actual work, after all the (faux) social media outrage gave way to trendier ones.

Maybe they'd get justice, maybe not. But they put in the work. They went beyond takes or timed syndicated releases to blogs for photo ops where the sister poses for pictures at Bolanle's grave then starts a diary about what led to the day and the coping mechanism. Yep! 70,000 followers soon enough.

They didn't commercialise her misfortune. That's what people who actually care do. Her life meant more than being surmised into content for impressions.

---

While SamClef, Osas, and VeryDarkMan have moved on to trendier, fresher scandals or controversies. All hail the activists who don't even take active steps!

liveLongNprospa:
It's the same in social media. And even real life.
The important people in your life that you've lost, over time you'll mention them less and less.
There are alot of people on social media who in that moment genuinely care about the stories of these dead people and lend their voice in calling for justice.

No, it's not. If your loved ones died under mysterious circumstances, you'd seek justice to the very end. And certainly you wouldn't try to profit off their misfortune by commercialising it as an influencer to increase your ratings and views, dropping "exclusives" with carefully selected keywords to increase your impressions.

On social media, the most vocal/visible and purveyors of "inside information exclusives" mostly have been revealed not to give a shît.

I can bet you SamClef has probably never spoken to Mohbad before his death, or they weren't that close. But I have seen blog postings of him claiming to have insider information in the last few hours.

Please confirm this: Go check SamClef's impressions on Twitter and Instagram, and the engagements before and during this saga. Notice the upsurge? He's a freaking entertainer so he's doing the numbers game.

Why do you think he claims to have "insider information" about every scandalous and controversial topical issue in the entertainment industry? SamClef is the same as the thousands of influencers, particularly on Twitter.

Your grief and misfortune are simply content to be monetized. Attention is a currency.

None of them (the most vocal mob and faux-outraged folks) would see this to the end. It's happened too times not to be predictable.

Of course others would jump on the trend for visibility too. Like those selling wigs and bags, and questionable real estate. Hashtags anybody?

I'd quote this comment in three months to remind you.

"All kinds of publicity is good publicity". No.

Real life issues do not equate to PR. And PR only works when lives aren't at stake.

Remember Bolanle Raheem? No? Actually, she's the lawyer who was gunned down in Lagos by the police just last December. I just checked on Twitter and there's been barely any mention of her this year. None in the last few months.

The last media posting about her was BBC on March 7.

Remember how it was the hottest topic on Twitter that week? Remember all the faux outrage? Where are all those activists today? Moved on to the next trending gists. We never see anything to the end.
---

Remember Tagbo of DMW who died under mysterious circumstances in 2017? Remember all the hot takes? What became of those activists? Moved on!
Is anyone mentioning Tagbo any longer? Do we know what happened to him?


"I'm so angry right now! I can't even eat! The culprits must be brought to book!" (Insert emojis)
Please!

---

Pray Nigeria's flimsy system of justice never happens to you else you'd become nothing more than a casual R.I.P. and content for Twitter influencers.

Twitter folks don't generally give a tuppence about you. Your misfortune is nothing more than momentary content to feed the adrenaline of bored followers. Cruel? Yes. But the harsh and hard truth.

OasisX:
..... one would think they genuinely love the boy. Most are using his death to gather impressions on paying apps like X and Tiktok.

Dem dey use am to farm impressions on X for good pay from Elon like never before. When the boy was spoken out, did they give same energy?

Samklef even did a photoshoot on top the matter, say he want fight justice wetin he talk sef.

When the boy was being maltreated, did they give him any support? Rather its Marley side of story they took.

Hypocrisy I am seeing everywhere on sm. They should allow the boy to rest in peace pls. They should respect his family too. They don't need all these noises at this moment of grieving.

The last place to take anyone serious on topical social issues is Twitter. The only thing they do is posturing, giving hot takes they know nothing about with tactfully selected keywords to increase visibility in trends.

The new payment for impressions has worsened that behaviour now.

They don't care about Mohbad or what really happened to him, or the lessons - if any - to be learnt therein. It's simply posturing.

In 4 or 5 days, when there's another hot trending 'gist', they'd abandon the issue, resolved or unresolved for the latest trend. Wasn't it just 5 days ago almost everyone on that platform had a hot take about Moyo Lawal's sextape? They've moved on.

I dare add I became impersonal about the EndSARS issue on Twitter immediately it became a free-for-all, with everyone trying to position themselves as the faces of the movement (if one could term it so).

Aisha Yesufu, Davido, ChemicalSista (a Twitter troll who hopped on the trend and positioned herself as the female face of the EndSARS while rebranding as SavvyRinu), and so many others.

Same way in the last 48 hours, Twitter folks have been positioning themselves as activists with access to inside information about what really happened to Mohbad, including those who'd never listened to his his songs or knew him beyond random spatial blog postings prior to his death (like myself, for example).

Twitter is mostly posturing that's why in the last few years I simply engage with only tech and venture capital tweets, and post mostly about such. Then it's ghost mode after that, not even engaging with other such hot takes even with 'likes'.

Most people on Twitter are actors. Almost every opinionated Nigerian Twitterati is an actor. Avoid ever engaging with the posts of those who refer to themselves as "influencers" especially.

During Akpabio's time as governor, he'd have hosted the Super Eagles to a dinner before and after the game, then promised certain amounts per goal scored at the Akwa Ibom Stadium, with the whole team going to redeem the promised gifts the day after the game, led by Akwa Ibom players like Victor Enyeama.

Calvin Bassey and William Troost-Ekong would have been the ones to lead the team to the government house tomorrow if he were still governor.

That man was something else as governor.

OasisX:


......Uyo pitch makes sense.

Godswill Akpabio as Akwa Ibom Governor paid Julius Berger to maintain the stadium. It's a 10-year contract. 2014 to 2024.

It's also the choice stadium CAF prefers for the CAF Champions League.

Always maintained and lit daily whether games are scheduled to be played in it or not. You should see the exterior - I dare add that it's better than the interior.

A001:
Make una keep ranting about Otem and A001. Most you no get brain before. Intelligent people that got the guy's book are busy using it to develop news physics to explain a range of natural phenomena.

I've work to do. Keep the wailing coming.

If there's ever a Disciple d'Or, you're first in line for it. Your belief in Otem's superiority to the rest of mankind has never wavered.

In 3045 when the Otemic faith finally reaches billions of people, history would remember you as his most faithful disciple.
----

By the way, when would Otem release Yahweh and Allah from prison? No bail conditions? No visitation and medical right? Just imprisonment without trial? Seems unfair.

It's the deceit I can't stand. It began when we let people get away with being called beautiful with photo filters. Next they got away with altered studio pictures. Now they've taken flight with AI pictures.

What's even worse is, as at this point, these AI-generated images of themselves are very easy to spot.
You'd see one below-average self-deceptive person post them with lengthy captions interjected with words such as "beautiful" and "hot", all the while cheered on by a horde of opportunistic folks hoping they'd score brownie points in the inbox with the undeserved adulations.

I read yesterday that these low self-esteemed folks were even paying monies to others to help them generate AI images of themselves.

But away from social media and the internet, when they look in the mirror or see reflections of themselves in passing, reality would hit hard.
You can't lie to your mirror when you wake up at dawn or before you retire for the night. That's the real you and a gazillion AI photos can't change your reality.


Cruel? Maybe; but people who do this need a reality check.

Like they say, when there's a gold rush, you can become rich quickly by selling shovels and picks.

Master Web Development in 7 days? You don't even master HTML in 7 days. Add HTML5 to it and it's prolonged.

But people love being sold fantasies so sell to them.

Obi had no case? I stated this in March.

It was also long before the issue of Senate Presidency was mentioned.

DissTroy:
Yet idiots came like bees seeking DissTróy when the results were announced. We've even confirmed there was violence in those places Akpabio gave Tinubu votes. Paid thugs brandishing matchetes from LGAs bordering Abia State.

I who saw many things told them the results were rigged and rewritten but they argued. We've checked INEC IReV and it's not adding up. Election result figures from my polling unit was cropped out but we have the real snapped result.

I just confirmed hours ago. Same issue. There were thousands of such cases. Whatever was retrieved from such a portal would be inconsistent and inaccurate.

ShaqFu:
how are you doing today, ma main man?

Very well, man. Just taking advantage of these extremely cheap dollar and petrol pump rates.

I hope the rates are favouring you too? Best thing to ever happen to this country.

airmark:
Yes, PDP were the chief architect of the destruction of Nigeria, and APC under Buhari put finishing touches.

Meanwhile, Peter Obi, allegedly perpetrated electoral malpractices in his guber election, and was subsequently called a failure in Anambra, until he was packaged for God-knows-why as the best thing since sliced bread, in 2023.

Nigeria is a failed state mostly led by scammers and Obi is one of them.

Go ahead.

And Airmark, this is your very comment from 4 years ago. The same skewed judiciary system your validation of Peter Obi to accepting stems from.

airmark:




Our corrupt judiciary deliberately dragged the case for over 15yrs until the patent owner died and things went awry.


Nigeria is a failed state.

airmark:
Why is Obi not present?

Mary Odili, Pastor Adefarasin, and the DSS already made it obvious and certain what the " verdict" is since Friday. Why should Obi be there? Or early even?

If anything, you should applaud Obi and the LP for putting up press releases urging his millions of supporters to stay calm. He's the reason the match would have set off complete anarchy hasn't been lit since March 19.

Different from your Buhari who threatened to soak our bloods and Tinubu who told us he was ready to go to war. Trump didn't say half as dangerous things to be indicted.

vanitybutiwanti:
logic and objectivity dictates that the price of fuel is hinged on subsidy removal. All the candidates promised to remove subsidy during the campaigns. Are you insinuating that if any of Atiku or obi wins, we'll go back to paying subsidies?

This argument has been had a thousand times on this thread and the conclusion has always been cushioning precautions. But it's not about what any of them could have done - it's about the transparency of the process (election) which should lead to being able to assume that office. But you know this already.

--
In fact, "I have better things to do with my time." I don't have time for this as I'm busy deciphering binary codes through programming with Ifa. I'd bin your mention. I'd bin this thread. I'd bin the whole of Nairaland!

vanitybutiwanti:
Please if another candidate wins, are the prices of commodities going to reduce automatically?

Will the negativity and ill treatment from the international community disappear overnight?

Yar' Adua reduced the price of petrol from #85 to #65.

Nigeria rose to the largest economy in Africa and the fastest-growing economy in the world at some point under Goodluck.


Maybe with another candidate winning the negativity wouldn't reduce; maybe it would. But we all know a President with a drug-trafficking and hazy background worsens that negativity for sure.
Even other Africans who are indebted to us now openly taunt us for having a drug-trafficking president. All you need do is google it.

But, never mind logic and objectivity, let's go around in circles asking questions with obvious answers. After all, I read your justification for the irregularities two days ago as nothing more than a game and "playing street".

If you allow yourself get unnecessarily triggered by taunting of BATists about the envisaged PEPT judgement, then you should wake up to reality.

We'd all still buy refined petroleum products at the same prices, deal with the attendant effects of inflation, deal with the negativity from the international community and the scorn of being Nigerian (or of Nigerian descent even via immigration).

We'd all still deal with the insecurity, chaos, and every vice there is. Well, directly or indirectly from lamenting and pressuring relatives and long-time acquaintances.

Just like Wale Edun and Fayemi confessing in recent days, enjoy the fleeting satisfaction of "winning" a battle via propaganda and scuttling processes while the war ravishes the very fibre of hope holding this country.

This is my consolidation so when I read such taunts I have a wry smile form on my face. We will all learn eventually.

There should be an actual diagnosis for schizophrenia, megalomania, and self-hate at a go.

"Africans are dull! Africans are stûpid! Africans have low intelligence and are slâves!" Cool story. Now show us something you've done to ameliorate the "dire" situation we've found ourselves. Nope! He prefers a thesis. Theories, criticism, and more. No substance.

It's akin to those who'd criticize electoral processes but never take part in actual canvassing and voting, but would continually insult their countrymen who even make attempts to then ghost when you ask for evidence of them voting.

Actual Africans who are doing the work to salvage the situation are humbled by the enormity of what's before them.

You've had 18 hours to contemplate and the only thing you could counter with is the same thing you're being hammered for - theories without practical applications by yourself.

OTEMperamental dôlt!

A001:
Continue posting all your life's achievements and history on Nairaland. Garnish them with your pictures as usual. That's none of my business.

I've better things to do with my time than unnecessary online engagements that don't add a kobo to my account or add anything to my knowledge.

What you call hogwash is none of my business. I've work to do. This is the start of a new week. Keep listing all your life's achievements. I'll simply scroll pass them like I do to the majority of posts on this thread that don't concern me because of time constraints.

Of course. Predictable. "I'd bin your mention!" "I don't have time!" Everything evasive to avoid the obvious - you are all bluff! Bluff and nothing more! You create nothing but talk down on everyone.

You are worse than the religious folks you criticize, thinking yourself driven by a sense of superior knowledge by some force higher than what everyone around can understand. But you are as hollow and banal as they come.

So the verdict is in then: You've done nothing tangible and concrete to contribute to the African heritage curation and revival you accuse the rest of us of subverting. You are just a critic. A lazy, megalomaniac one at that.

Nothing more than one of those Twitter addicts who'd tweet hashtags they don't even care much about but as long as it feeds a certain crafted image of theirs, they'd do it.

Now go insult the rest of the continent on other threads while avoiding your reflection of complicit hypocrisy in the mirror.

A001:
At least, I'm collaborating with fellow Yoruba scientists to develop STEM in Yoruba. We contribute to this project both offline and online.

How have you impacted your local culture, Urhobo, using your knowledge and skills in your field?

I've seen Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa tech guys and ladies doing wonderful things in developing and promoting science and technology in their native language?

What have you done to promote and develop STEM in your own culture?

Still complete hogwash and theoretical bullcrap. Armchair analyses and everything abstract but never doing the actual work. Like our policymakers holding a thousand symposia but never getting on ground to implement or curate the things they talk about.

Shush it! I'm not on about mentioning what others have done - I mean what you have done. YOU! You are the one who's been on a crusade insulting Africans and calling them dumb, but have done no ground work.

Let me help you with what I HAVE DONE TO CURATE the culture, stories, language and more of my own people.

In 2011/2012, as a a teenager, I helped document the most recent written history of my LGA. My name is also listed on it. I still have a copy of the book at home.

On October 2, 2020, in the heat of the EndSARS, we launched a digital portal for everything my people which I was honoured to have built along with other contributors.

I've collaborated with the Curator of the Women War Memorial - the one of two in the world (and still do even though she's currently holidaying in Canada) who's a retired history lecturer and other historians and researchers to update the bibliography of my people (nay the Ibibio people in general).

Later on when I'm home, if you will match it up, I'd show you my desktop screen - video even - of the digital portal for every tribe in my state; language, culture, history, people, and more. Teaming up with other creators. It's still in development mode on XAMPP, but I'd show you if you'd match it up. No, it's not paid. We are bootstrapping it ourselves.

I didn't need to insult Africans and call them dull, foóls, low IQ and other such self-denigrating terms.

Again, A001, devoid of your hogwash epistle and referencing theories and the works of others, what have you done - actual work outside Nairaland - to promote the culture and more of your people away from Nairaland insults?

Iamsane:
Upon all these courses. You are still dumb. I can prove it if you won't let your stupidity get in the way.

Theorists are armchair war generals. They claim to know it all and theoretize but when it gets right down to it, they barely ever create anything of valuable.

If he's serious about the things he postulates, he should team up with developers and course creators to create web and/or mobile portals which serve as the go-to repository for everything about his tribe - history, culture, language (etymology and all), religion and more.

I'd have exemplified with one but it's too close to home. I might if he's willing to. In fact, I dare that he shows anything concrete he's done to push the narratives he holds dear other than Nairaland insults.

I bet he doesn't even know the history of his own hometown or has ever been part of the documentation process, whether in paper or digital form.

No, a gazillion research works which are nothing more than lexical regurgitations of other works and which are still far from accessible to the target demography - the everyday "ignorant" African he insults daily here - do not count.

Theorists are all talk and little execution of what they say. More like the ubiquitous folks on Tech Twitter giving a thousand tips and "how-tos" but when it gets right down to it, they do nothing. Just insults and throwing tantrums.

Just posturing and angling to fit the perspective as thought-leaders. Smart people who get their hands dirty doing the actual work have learnt to ignore them.

DissTroy:
I'd exemplify:

Say I'm a techie and I team up with a marketing cofounder to start an e-commerce company called "Market Plentee". Basically, our startup helps you pay your customer with bonus points redeemable after 50 points.

We get #5 per transaction so you do 50 transactions monthly. That's #250. 10,000 people use our app monthly.
That's #250 times 10,000 or even less. But averaged at #2.5 million monthly as revenue.

But 1 person is 50 monthly transactions. and 10,000 people give us 500,000 monthly transaction volume.

See? It looks high but our gross profit is #2.5 million. But because the transaction volume is high, I can get accounting gurus to falsify the financial records and instead of #25 million gross profit in 10 months, I could ramp it up to #4.5 billion gross profit. How? Increasing the charge back from users and up the user numbers.

In Nigeria where we overlook things, would the authorities painstakingly go through 5 million transactions in 10 months. Like #50 here, #40 over there, #84 there? Nothing suspicious, right?

Well, we are a fintech. With our cooked financials, we get a $13 million valuation. We raise $2.3 million in a Series A round from VCs, and our initial investors sell their equity for big bucks.

We get Tech Cabal, Benjamin Dada, Tech Radar and the big boy tech blogs to run 5 cover stories on us. We get public legitimacy.

Rinse and repeat.

Only in fintech would you likely get away with it.

----

Of course, not all are guilty of it. But the earlier you get funding from outside sources before your startup stabilizes and gets profit, the more you are desperate and more likely to fall prey to investors who'd put you under pressure to falsify records because they want [ 10 or 15 times their investments in 'your' business.
And the more likely you'd sign away rights.

I'm looking at it simply from the tech ecosystem perspective. I can't say for hotels and others. What I know about them is what most people already know - conduits, but I can't say how they operate.

I stumbled on a debate about the deceit of Nigerian fintech minutes ago on X days and hours after I pointed it out.

The valuation is forged. Most Nigerian fintech are nothing close to the valuations you read in sponsored articles on tech blogs. It's fraud.

Cooked financial records, mostly. Or projected perception of profitability.

ShaqFu:
does it include hotels, restaurants and the likes? Because most, if not all business have to do with profit making, and in making profit, you have to buy something or sell something, that is, apart from if your business is rendering of service.

I recently got whim of how some NGOs are used to launder money in huge amounts, despite them not being profit oriented.

I'd exemplify:

Say I'm a techie and I team up with a marketing cofounder to start an e-commerce company called "Market Plentee". Basically, our startup helps you pay your customer with bonus points redeemable after 50 points.

We get #5 per transaction so you do 50 transactions monthly. That's #250. 10,000 people use our app monthly.
That's #250 times 10,000 or even less. But averaged at #2.5 million monthly as revenue.

But 1 person is 50 monthly transactions. and 10,000 people give us 500,000 monthly transaction volume.

See? It looks high but our gross profit is #2.5 million. But because the transaction volume is high, I can get accounting gurus to falsify the financial records and instead of #25 million gross profit in 10 months, I could ramp it up to #4.5 billion gross profit. How? Increasing the charge back from users and up the user numbers.

In Nigeria where we overlook things, would the authorities painstakingly go through 5 million transactions in 10 months. Like #50 here, #40 over there, #84 there? Nothing suspicious, right?

Well, we are a fintech. With our cooked financials, we get a $13 million valuation. We raise $2.3 million in a Series A round from VCs, and our initial investors sell their equity for big bucks.

We get Tech Cabal, Benjamin Dada, Tech Radar and the big boy tech blogs to run 5 cover stories on us. We get public legitimacy.

Rinse and repeat.

Only in fintech would you likely get away with it.

----

Of course, not all are guilty of it. But the earlier you get funding from outside sources before your startup stabilizes and gets profit, the more you are desperate and more likely to fall prey to investors who'd put you under pressure to falsify records because they want 10 or 15 times their investments in 'your' business.
And the more likely you'd sign away rights.

I'm looking at it simply from the tech ecosystem perspective. I can't say for hotels and others. What I know about them is what most people already know - conduits, but I can't say how they operate.

Shaqfu, if you care to, here's an article by Tech Crunch on how VCs forge and manipulate the valuations of startups they invest in. https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/10/the-art-of-vc-startup-valuations-is-a-forgery/?guccounter=2

It's not indepth per se, neither does it exemplify with the Nigerian tech ecosystem, but it's an opener. Ignore most of the VC jargon if it's easier so you don't get confused, but it's an in-road into the dark world of startup valuations.

ShaqFu:
in simpler terms, there is hardly any business in Nigeria that isn't shrouded in fraud?

There are. Many. Countless.

But if your business involves you moving money/monies in large amounts and everyday sales (even in small amount but in several quantities), you are already a target or magnet for money launders or persons with underhanded financial dealings.

That's why I'd likely quickly get investors sending me response mails if I'm pushing a fintech product than if I'm pushing cleantech, EdTech, or healthtech products, even though the later show better prospective in the long run.

And your first investor - the angel investor - is likely a loan shark who thinks he has a hold on you because he dared to take the risk investing in you first. And he's sort of right.

Opay got a $424+ million funding based on a $2+ billion valuation. As at 2021 when they raised, if you used Opay where the transactions were free, how were they able to get that kind of valuation when it wasn't that profitable obviously?

Simple: So they could raise the $424+ million they got and the investors in previous rounds could cash out by selling their stake or equity. And to do that you have to tamper with the financial records. Replace Opay with Patricia, PayDay, Float... And so it goes.

But Opay is backed by the CBN so what they might have done isn't illegal technically.

piswapexchange:
Rivers state has been fortunate to have high performing governors over the year.

Wike, actually. Amaechi had good intentions but outsourced them to thieving local contractors who did nothing.

Wike is a thug and it tells on the state, but he performed better than the last two predecessors. If he'd worked on security too, Port Harcourt would have been a thriving tourist city too.

Amoto94:
Di.sstroy another one
https://techcabal.com/2023/09/01/float-fx-trades-5bn-losses/

larride:
I call BS.

The explanation of how the $1m was defrauded does not make sense.

All I'd tell founders and would-be founders from what I've learnt studying the ecosystem is, be careful who funds you first. It sets the template for how the business would turn out.

You'd sign away rights and give in-roads to falsify bank statements and valuations so the angel investors can cashout big time during the next fund-raising round.

The VCs who helped Float raise the $17 million knew it was cooking the books 'cause VCs have a right to see your financials. I dare add, the angel investors helped them cook the books.

Even nobler, more upright VCs like Y Combinator make you sign away rights hidden in VC jargon which means they determine how your business is structured and you must bend to their terms. And it's hidden in plain sight on the "About" page of their website.

These VCs are mostly polished loan sharks.

Even Flutterwave's $3.1 billion valuation in January 2021 most likely was bloated. In fact, it was. They got fined a year later in the U.S.

You read of companies valued at $500 million and the financials don't add up. There's a strict formulae for calculating valuation but these guys just ditch it for greed.

PayDay, Patricia... Their valuation got inflated deliberately, and the angel investors cashed out big time.


Subsaharan Africa Fintech space is like the reality TV adaptation of the "Wolf of Wall Street" movie.

Box34:
Like what have been said earlier, don't think of settling for any bellow 25. I just married early this year and I was at this junction too trying to make decisions but unfortunately all the girls bellow 25 I met were drama none was marriable or let me say they were not even ready in action and characters still enjoying their prime. I later reconnected with an old lover of mine whose now is my wife and the rest are now history. I am enjoying my home and she is very understanding and quiet to my liking. My brother please check the maturity of the lady and not just only beauty ,because what keep home is understanding and Love .

You reconnected with a former lover who went to sleep with other men during the time apart, not thought her worthy of marriage, but you went back to marrying a woman other men slept with after you knew her?

Are you a cuckold or something? You really think it's something to be proud of?