When Thuggery Becomes a National Sport

The spate of thuggery in different ramifications, both verbal, physical, and legal, across various aspects of our national life has made me begin to think, could it be that thuggery has now become our national pastime? Everywhere you turn, different forms of lack of decorum have become a pastime, from online fracas to NURTW scuffles, even within the federal capital territory. I finally get to post this because of a story I read on Sunday of students at a private university who beat another student to de@th for allegedly stealing a phone.

Not long ago, the Army ransacked an entire village, and in Abuja, a plaza was allegedly closed because some people assaulted some soldiers. It seems that thuggery has become our national sport. I question why thuggery, which we call different names from woto-woto, wawulence, dragging, and several names, is one of our hobbies and makes the Hobbesian state of nature the norm of conduct.

To my mind, it seems thuggery is a national pastime primarily due to the following reasons:

A lack of strong institutions. When institutions are weak, people take the law into their own hands because they know there will not be consequences for the wrongs done to them and what they do to others. If people think the judiciary can be bought when they are wronged and won't get justice, what prevents them from thuggery?

Recently, I began contemplating in my journal whether "dragging is the new tool of the oppressed," as Paulo Freire talks about the pedagogy of the oppressed. It occurred to me lately that most communities worldwide for whom dragging has become an identity or synonymous are those for whom law, institution, and society have failed. No doubt other people use it for malicious intent, but generally, people take the law into their own hands and opt for dragging because it is the only tool of strength they believe they have left. If I know and am assured that the legal system will do right, why should I resolve to juggle justice or negative digital exposure that serves no purpose to restore what had robbed me but just the satiety of knowing at least I exposed your fraud?

Thuggery is a national sport because our society h@tes accountability for past and present actions. I had thought one day I would write about "acknowledging and reckoning" as an essential ingredient for true camaraderie.

In many parts of the US and North America, you will always hear them read an acknowledgment of the original owners of the land that universities are built on and past wrongs that were done. Some people will argue that complete reckoning with compensation may not yet occur, and others will even say the acknowledgment statement is performative. But I wonder if we can talk honestly about the past in our society, particularly in Nigeria, without people throwing tantrums. Can we call for proper accountability without someone accusing us of being h$ters?

Thuggery seems to be a national sport because we have not modeled communication as part of conflict resolution. Most of the time, I realize that when people say they are communicating, they either gaslight or incite you. In the way I think about it, communication in conflict does not prove that the other party is bad but that their action is. I am learning to know the difference between a good person who did a bad thing and a bad person who is unrepentant. Sometimes, it can seem blurred, but it is not. Do we communicate, or do we incite more conflict through our conversation?

Thuggery is a national sport because there seem not to be proven consequences for action. If we see actual consequences for bad conduct, people will think twice before inflicting violence. What happened to those who k!lled that woman in Kubwa who was going street evangelism? or the university students who m3rder$d their classmates for asking them to keep WhatsApp group conversation purely for academic purposes?

Thuggery is a national sport because we have created "untouchables" people and groups who can act without consequences. One question I contemplated when the tomato paste company was dragging that woman was, "If this woman was a particular religion and from the conservative part of Nigeria, would this happen?"

Thuggery becomes a national sport where there is socio-economic depravity. Most scholars agree that the tipping point of the French Revolution was the lack of bread. To be clear, I am not saying it is the primary cause, but in most rendering of the revolution, it was the last straw that broke the camel's back and allowed people to take to the street. We invite chaos when people's basic necessities cannot be met.

Thuggery becomes a national sport when our collective values are warped and when we become selective and develop amnesia when it is time to call a spade a spade. When we refuse to name things for what they are, we allow resentment to build up that bust when we least expect it.

There are more reasons why thuggery has become a national pastime, but space suggests that not all things should be aired.

I had my moments months ago. Someone drew me out of character after years and months of diplomatically asking for something I legitimately bought through them that failed to be delivered. I thought I would drag this person to h$ll and back to prove they can't take my gentility for weakness. Still, after just two days of verbal exchange and digital exposure, I knew I couldn’t continue on that path. I missed two application deadlines because I was seething with anger. I asked myself if I would act the same if the diplomatic option I pursued had worked.

I hope that one day, we begin to see the mental and emotional toll that this thuggery is impacting on our collective and individual psyche. A few years ago, I watched "Les Miserable" in my graduate film seminar class. The end of that film is what I fear we never degenerate into.

I come in peace!

 Posted on Facebook on May 28, 2024

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