Friday, May 15, 2009              

The next Nigerian for the Chinese hangman

SIR: I read the report in The Guardian of May 4, 2009 about the execution of one Chibuzor Vitus Ezekwem in China after a Chinese court found him guilty of trafficking in banned substances, with dismay. It is even more worrisome that 18 Nigerians are on death row in that country. One wonders what manner of attraction this country holds for Nigerians who are in a hurry to their ruin.

Against this backdrop, isn't it scandalous that convicted drug peddlers are treated with kid gloves when they are apprehended in this country?

There have been reports of convicted drug dealers who were given meagre fines and those who bought their way through justice. It has become expedient that our laws ought to be strengthened and sterner penalties attached to peddling of illicit drugs.

Nigerians have long been fed with the rhetoric of how this nefarious trade tarnishes the image of the country. It has become trite and insipid. Truth is, corruption tarnishes the nation's image even more (assuming there is still any image left to tarnish). Corruption is at the heart of these chancy attempts at sudden wealth; that is why the nation's novel attempt at re-branding must be that of values.

Ours is a nation that has been fragmented by greed and selfishness. The very systems established to check crime, more often than not nurture crime. Our churches teach lies, our politics breed bile, our schools foster vice. For every Ezekwem that is sent to the hangman, a hundred others are waiting to board another calamitous flight to the Peoples Republic of China.

Isaac Anyaogu,
University of Nigeria, Nsukka.