TRACKING____Nigerian doctoral student in Japan, Ikenna Nweke, is the latest poster boy of the image desired of this country’s citizens before the world. He showed himself an epitome of honesty and selfless integrity – values that have been widely applauded, even in his host country.
Nweke, mid-last month, stumbled on a missing wallet containing huge cash, credit cards and other valuables while on his way home in the Asian country. Rather than keep the tidy fortune, he not only returned the wallet to Japanese authorities for the owner to come retrieve it, he also declined a percentage that he was entitled to by law. The Japanese police praised Nweke for his honesty.
The Imo State native was reported saying the officer he met at the police station was curious he didn’t keep the money.
“I told him that I was raised by a decent family and that my faith as a Christian forbade me from taking such. Then I handed over everything to him and he took my information…and then told me about my rights as somebody who has found something that was missing.
He told me that I was entitled to 10 percent of the money, and that if the owner does not come to pick the money after three months, all of it would become mine. Both offers were rejected by me,” Nweke recounted.
He noted that Nigeria is a country of some 200 million “wonderful” people, of which criminal elements are only a tiny fraction who do not correctly represent the Nigerian persona.
President Muhammadu Buhari has extolled this noble citizen for “projecting the values of honesty, integrity and contentment that should be the hallmark of a people.”
In a statement by presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, he said Nweke’s action spotlighted the real Nigerian values and “clearly signposts what should hold the nation together, inspired by solid foundations laid by most families, religious bodies and communities for success in life.”
Nweke is a representative of the true Nigerian spirit. And there are others, like a former cleaner at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos, Mrs. Josephine Ugwu, who found and returned millions of naira forgotten in the toilet by an airport user.
Sadly, however, there are other citizens whose misdeeds have portrayed this country in bad light and suggested to the world that Nigerians are typically criminals.
A recent example is Ramoni Abbas, an Instagram celebrity widely known as Hushpuppi, who was arrested last month in Dubai and has now been deported to the United States for trial over cyber fraud. When he was picked up by Dubai police in June, some 1.6billion dirham (N168billion) suspected to be proceeds of Internet scam was recovered from Hushpuppi and his associates.
Before his arrest, Hushpuppi was noted for his flamboyance on social media, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) last year nailed down one of his associates, Ismaila Mustapha, known as Mompha.
Other Nigerians like Hushpuppi in recent history include Obinwanne Okeke, popularly known as Invictus Obi, who has pleaded guilty to wire fraud involving $11million in the United States.
Before his arrest and prosecution, Okeke was listed by international rich-list compendium, Forbes, in 2016 as one of its ‘30 Under-30 Africa’s Most Promising Entrepreneurs.’
These crooked Nigerians have been wrong models inspiring desperation for quick wealth in the citizenry, especially among youths who are finding cyber fraud alluring for achieving such end. Worse is that they are agents by which the international community profiles the generality of Nigerians.
Nigeria’s anti-corruption agencies need do more to contain these evil agents from further soiling the name of the country.
But it is also time the world realises that the true Nigerian spirit is far more accurately indexed by the likes of Ikenna Nweke than Hushpuppi and his ilk.
