Introduction: The Uncomfortable Truth “We are all criminals.” The statement sounds outrageous. It offends our moral sensibilities. It appears to insult the honest citizen, the religious devotee, the respected public servant, the loving parent, and the law-abiding professional. Yet, before dismissing it as absurd, it is worth examining what we mean by crime, criminality, conformity, and deviance. The central argument of this essay is simple, yet profoundly disturbing: the line separating the criminal from the conformist or law-abiding person is far thinner than society is willing to admit. Indeed, that line is often so thin, so fragile, and so dependent on circumstance that many of us stand on both sides of it simultaneously. To understand this, we must begin where all discussions of crime properly begin – not with the criminal, but with the law. Crime Exists Because Law Exists A crime is not merely a harmful act. It is not simply an ...
Nigeria, with other nations, is a land of constant negotiation with danger. To live here is to be alert. At Oshodi, a woman instinctively pulls her child back from the rush of okada riders. At Oluku, a man jumps aside as a reckless mini bus veers too close. When gunshots crack in a distant street, crowds scatter without waiting to ask who is shooting. Self-preservation is etched into our bones, a survival script rehearsed in every market, motor park, and traffic jam. And yet, paradoxically, this same instinct to survive is matched by an almost stubborn desire to flirt with death. The Lagos driver who carefully waits for the green traffic light later drinks himself into stupor and insists on driving home. The civil servant who avoids unclean water to protect his health will, with equal certainty, consume endless bottles of sweet soda that quietly corrode his body. A man who cries out in panic when a snake slithers across the compound may, the same evening, light a cig...