15 Comments
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Victor Eduoh's avatar

"As the saying goes, if someone explains Nigeria to you and you understand it, the person has done a poor job of explaining."

Don't even know if you should laugh or cry over that.

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wole's avatar

"A profound and utter disgrace."

Unfortunately, they being utterly shameless, the disgrace is actually borne by non-participating bystanders who just happen to share the same nationality.

The big take-away for me is the incredibly slothful and amateur effort at fabricating a cover. It speaks to a deeper issue in the culture which brings to mind John Gardener's observation that...

"The society that scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity, will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water."

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Feyi Fawehinmi's avatar

That’s a great quote

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Ayotunde Abiodun's avatar

Gardener's observation is profound.

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Laide A's avatar

The date the purchase was made November 16 1993. The next day his best buddy took over the government. Even in the most dangerous of times, “Tali Shani” still had time to launder funds.

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Feyi Fawehinmi's avatar

The show must go on :)

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Jonathan Brown's avatar

your penultimate paragraph is entirely accurate

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Sim Owolabi's avatar

Interesting piece well written and certainly well researched beyond what is available from the judgment. I look forward to more.

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Obi Ekele's avatar

this is so embarrassing...yet unsurprising. We carry this "Nigerian scammer" behaviour to other countries yet we wonder why Nigerians continue to be subject to dehumanizing global travel conditions. The rot is deep. And the fact that it is coming from our so-called elites is even more staggering.

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Tayo's avatar

There’s no depth Nigerian elites won’t plumb in so far there’s loot and plunder to be gained, very gauche and utterly disgusting. If elites are a broad reflection of society, I shudder to contemplate what this means for us as a nation and a people, at least we’d have a good laugh at their ineptitude when facing justice systems where the decisions are neither precooked or the judges cheaply bought.

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Akanbi Quadri's avatar

A sly person is a smart person to most Nigerians, if the scheme had worked, he would have been praised and as it failed, he would be helped to save face.

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Sikiru Salami's avatar

This is insanely embarrassing! Why should the UK officials ever take us seriously as a people after this incident?

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WageSlave's avatar

I actually started laughing as i imagined the drama unfold in the court room with awkward stares from ozekhome.

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Eloho Liz Ug's avatar

Stunned!

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AbdulAzeez Ajibola's avatar

Profound and utter disgrace indeed!

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