Arinze Emmanuel Nwakwudo
Research by arinze emmanuel nwakwudo
Fraud as Survival: Machiavelli, Economic Despair, and the Philosophical Justification of Yahoo-Yahoo in Southeastern Nigeria
In the bustling streets of Onitsha and the cyber cafés of Enugu, a new kind of hustler has emerged—young, digitally savvy, and morally ambivalent. Adorned in designer wear and fuelled by broken promises, these youth navigate the underworld of internet fraud, known popularly as Yahoo-Yahoo, not merely as criminals but as survivors of a failed state. Their actions, though condemned by law, have taken on a strange legitimacy within a society that increasingly rewards spectacle over substance,...
Read more →Princes of the Web: Reimagining Machiavelli in the Rise of Yahoo-Yahoo among Anambra Youths
In a society where moral ideals crumble beneath the weight of institutional decay, the allure of alternative power structures becomes difficult to ignore. Across cyber cafés and small towns in Anambra State, a new figure has emerged—the "Yahoo boy"—a digital-age hustler whose tactics of deceit, image-crafting, and strategic manipulation echo the very principles once outlined by Niccolò Machiavelli in The Prince. Though separated by centuries, both actors share a fundamental understanding of...
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