For sometime now, activities of young men have been ruling the airwaves and other forms of communications on their nefarious actions to get rich quick through rituals; many of their victims women.
Young men no longer dream of a future requiring hard work to succeed in life. They indulge in short cuts to riches. The idea is to send scam letters to people overseas and even in Nigeria to dupe them of their hard earned money. Some of them are specialists in hacking accounts.
In Nigeria, these young men are referred to as ‘yahoo boys’, drawing from a popular internet platform. There is another group that is called ‘yahoo plus’. These ones add rituals, sorcery powers and ‘juju’ to manipulate their clients.
Recently, there were pictures and videos in the social media where some young men who are from early teens to early twenties were directed by native doctors to buy pots and defecate in public places and within public view eat their faeces. There was also a group that was told by their native doctor to wear diaper and go to the bank before the public glare. There have been several cases of young ladies running mad and pushed out of the vehicles of these ‘yahoo boys’. These boys were told by native doctors to ask a specific lady that will be used for rituals to stay in the front seat always. After sometime, they were sure that the lady will die and alot of people have confirmed the death of such young ladies. Another way they engage in rituals is for them to eat the faeces of their friends and loved ones. On eating the faece of the person, he or she dies untimely.
Recently, there was an account of a young man from a well-to-do home whose parents planned for him to travel to Canada. The mother visited to tell the son about the preparation to travel. Even the young man was not a never-do-well, as he had completed his MBBS to become a doctor. But he wanted fast money. As the mother came to his house, he tried to use her for rituals. As fate could have it, he could not succeed and his nefarious activity was exposed to the public. There was another instance where teenagers of 13, 14 and 17 years left their homes in Delta state to Edo state to undergo skill training to become ‘yahoo boys’. You could see how demented our young persons are. There was also a case where a 17-year-old boy in connivance with some of his friends who are younger than him, lured his girlfriend to an uncompleted building, strangled her, cut off her head and roasted it for rituals. That apart, there was also a young man who was told to kill young ladies and that each kill he would be given six hundred thousand naira(N600,000). The young man confessed in the media that he had killed over 70 persons. These and many more have been an account in the media on ritual practices indulged by our youths.
In higher institutions, many of them are losing interest in reading and hard work. Some are dropping out of school , while, some use the ill gotten money to bribe their lecturers for scores. Some of them drive expensive cars to the extent that in Abia state university,students have been banned from driving on campus.
This development is giving the future of our youths a gloomy outlook. If this trend is not arrested, the future will be bleak for Nigeria, as the youths are leaders of tomorrow. Ofcourse, the mindset of an individual determines the extent he goes in life. The fast lane thinking of our youths is heading them to the precipice.
We, therefore, call on churches, mosques, traditional rulers and other custodians of our culture to reprimand, reproof and condemn these youths who wallow in inanities. Parents should not be left out in the condemnation and should avoid being part of the filthy lucre. The government has alot of role to play in changing the orientation of our youths. It should encourage reward and punishment where necessary. Where is the National Orientation Agency? It should be revived and campaigns should be mounted by it including non governmental organizations against ‘yahoo’ practices and all forms of fraudulent activities of the youths. Government must also take step to register native doctors and any one encouraging ritualism should be treated as a common criminal, as they have sent many to their early graves. It is not a bad idea if it is backed by a legislation.
A stitch in time, saves nine.
