Executive hoodlums, By Enyeribe Anyanwu

By Enyeribe Anyanwu

A popular, age-old adage says, “Tell me the person with whom you go, and I’ll tell you who you are.” In other words, tell me who your friend is, and I’ll tell you who you are. That is to say that a friend of a thief is a thief. A friend of a robber is a robber. A friend of the wise is wise, while the friend of a fool is invariably a fool. Going by this premise, a friend of a hoodlum is a hoodlum. Thus, the saying defines a person’s character or who is, or what he is, by the person he associates with.

There are many people in government, politicians and big business men who are good friends of hoodlums. They keep and maintain these hoodlums for use when the need arises. During elections, the hoodlums come in handy. At this period, they are not addressed as hoodlums. They become political thugs and bodyguards while some change to polling agents. They feature prominently in the campaigns and at the elections. They are equipped, armed and paid to snatch ballots boxes, disrupt counting of votes, strike terror on the electorate, kill and maim opponents.

But as soon as the elections are over, their nomenclature changes again from political thugs or agents to hoodlums and whatever they do is termed the handiwork of hoodlums.

The EndSARS protest was very peaceful, and in some locations laced with fun. In such locations, like the Lekki Toll Gate, protesters were having fun while carrying out their protest. One could see mattresses, mats, cooking utensils, plates, spoons, and good music to which the protesters danced and enjoyed the fun of holding a government that had been playing god to ransom –a hitherto deaf and insensitive government which now dancing to their demands.

But the peace and the fun were cut short by the hoodlums in power when they drafted their friends –fellow hoodlums outside government –to go and infiltrate or attack the protesters. They could not sit by and watch their government humiliated by the EndSARS protesters, hence they had to send their friends to infiltrate the protest with violence so as to discredit the protesters, and to reverse the gains of the protest. But the stratagem failed to produce the desired outcome, resulting in sending the ‘smiling’ crocodiles to end the smiles of the protesters with their own kind of smiles. Thereafter, hell was let lose, as some protesters seeing their colleagues mowed down joined the government hoodlums to unleash mayhem everywhere. Hoodlums that could not be hired also joined in the orgy of unmitigated violence that nearly left the country in tatters.

But while the hoodlums who burned, looted and unleashed unprecedented violence on the polity are being condemned and vilified, with prospects of prosecution, what happens to the hoodlums in power? The hoodlums who recruited and paid fellow hoodlums to go after the protesters? In other words, what happens to the executive hoodlums who ignited the violence and arson before the Lekki Toll Gate event? Some of these executive hoodlums were sighted in black suits dropping the street hoodlums with luxury cars near the scenes of EndSAR protests.

I remember that in law when a judge issues an interim injunction, or a restraining order he usually warns the parties concerned not to do a thing by themselves, or use their staff, friends, agents, privies or cronies to do it. This follows that by employing the services of friends –hoodlums –to disrupt peaceful protests, the employer is also a hoodlum, and is as culpable as the hoodlum whose hands attacked the protesters, set buildings and properties on fire, looted, killed and maimed people.

The point being made is that both the street hoodlum and the executive hoodlum are culpable and should, therefore, face equal condemnation and prosecution. But should the executive hoodlum escape human prosecution, let it be clear to him that he will not escape eternal prosecution, which is far greater.