#FreeEvans campaign is a metaphor for who we really are

The arrest of Evans by the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) in conjunction with the Lagos State Police Command at one of his palatial mansions in the Magodo Phase II GRA suddenly shot him to a star with everyone wanting to have a share of the notorious man.

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When he was paraded at the premises of the Lagos Police Command, even top police officers jostled to take selfies with him while the media went on a frenzy, digging up stories about him, some concocted, in fact.

For the duration the frenzy lasted, Evans became more popular than the President of the nation with his story being on the lips of everybody.

Many people conveniently forgot his criminal past and only feasted on his exploits as if he was one star or the other. No day has passed without a mention of Evans in the media and newspapers or the social media is never complete with the story of Evans, his crimes, his family, his latest confessions, and his words complete with videos.

As much as the Evans circus has played out, the most devastating were the creation of a hashtag titled #FreeEvans by some people who believed he is being victimized.

The reasons they gave for the hashtag was not only silly, brainless and asinine. to say the least. The reasons they gave was that if Nigerian politicians who have been indicted in corruption cases would be freed by the law courts, they saw no reason why Evans should not be set free.

They also reason, albeit brainlessly, that Evans committed the kind of crimes the politicians committed, saying that since the politicians had looted the nation, therefore Evans had every reason to kidnap and rob innocent people, even killing some of his victims.

Some even went to the idiotic conclusion that Evans is being humiliated because he is an Igbo man and does not belong to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Such a warped reasoning.

The way and manner Evans has been singing like Canary leaves much to the imagination and tells of a man who believes the end has come for him and nothing can be done to remedy his situation.

Every other day, there is a new version of the Evans story with new twists and turns and even with the self-incriminating revelations, some people still believe that he should be set free.

But then, is it surprising that the call for Evans freedom is a metaphor of the real Nigerian who idolizes people with money, celebrate ill-gotten wealth without questioning where such affluence came from?

Those calling for Evans to be freed are the same people who would celebrate him, worshiped the ground he walked on, sang his praises to high heavens, adore him and wished to be like him.

If Evans went to church, he would have been made the chairman of the building committee, ordained an elder, inducted into the board of trustees, given a special seat beside the Daddy and used as a preaching point on how to sow seeds and give to the expansion of the work of God.

If Evans was into politics, some politicians would have adopted him as their godfather and financier and when the get elected or rigged into power as the case maybe, Evans would have been on their payroll, given juicy contracts as compensation and consulted before any decision is taken.

That is the kind of society we live in where no one cares how you make your money as long as you make it.

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Evans parents too, like most parents in Nigeria, must have indirectly pushed him into the crime world with the pressure they mount on their children to make money like their mates, not minding how the mates made their money.

Is it surprising then, that those who sponsored the #FreeEvans are just a mirror of the society we live in where the rich are seen not to do any wrong?