Long before the late Sergei Mavrodi arrived on the Nigerian financial scene in November 2015 with his MMM pyramid scheme, his reputation as an international fraudster preceded him. As far back as 2007, Mavrodi had been convicted in Russia for defrauding 10,000 investors. But somehow, he survived brushes with the law over sharp practices to go global with a Ponzi scheme that promised 3,000 percent ‘return on investment’ after upending the savings of more than a few people in his country. With such tantalising promise, it came as no surprise that Mavrodi would hit the jackpot in Nigeria where too many citizens are looking for ‘miracle money’.

Unfortunately, by December 2016, the scam had unravelled, leaving about three million Nigerians holding the wrong end of the candle just days before Christmas. “What is the scam here, if all members are warned in advance about all the risks, the possible and impossible ones?” an unrepentant Mavrodi asked in a letter he posted on the page for swindled participants of the scheme but addressed to then President Muhammadu Buhari. “They know there are no investments at all. The warning is a red text on a yellow background placed on the most prominent place of the website.”

Following that misadventure, the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) warned Nigerians about patronizing Ponzi schemes. SEC listed a few of these ventures to include Now-Now Alert, Flip Cash Investment, Result Investment Nigeria Limited, Helping Hand and Investment, No Failure Development and Empowerment Nigeria Ltd, and several others. Despite the warning, patronage for these Ponzi schemes only increased. A few of them also devised a clever way to legitimise their businesses: They boycotted industry regulator, SEC, and secured certificates of registration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). That became the tool for deceiving the unwary.

The latest of these ‘businesses’ is Crypto Bridge Exchange otherwise called CBEX which has scammed our people to the tune of more than a trillion Naira, going by most reports. Registered with the Corporate Affairs (CAC) last September, its EFCC certificate was obtained in January this year. Because they do their businesses online, it is easy for most of these crooks to evade accountability, but it is also obvious that they have collaborators within the system. It is important that they be identified and brought to justice.

Meanwhile, I have read the lamentation of several of the victims, but they have only themselves to blame. The Yoruba people have a way of putting this: “Ẹni ńwá’fà ńw’ófò.” Crudely translated, it means financial deals that are too good to be true most often end in tears. Perhaps the United States SEC definition of Ponzi schemes would be more useful. “A kind of pyramid scheme that operates on the ‘rob Peter to pay Paul’ principle,” the US commission explains. “With the promise of large returns as bait, the fraudster takes in money from new investors and uses it to pay off the earlier investors until no more new recruits can be found and the whole scheme collapses, with the newest investors losing everything.”

It is easy for all kinds of dubious businesspeople to prey on the greed and ignorance of gullible Nigerians. That is because the virtual collapse of the moral frame of our government mirrors other fractures in our society. There is also a way in which we can connect this to the get-rich-by-any-means mentality that is at the heart of the activities of ritualists as captured in my column of last week. Incidentally, I received several mails on that column but one stood out for me. It is from a young man, Oluwafisayo Agbolabori. He highlighted several things that are often ascribed to ‘miracles’ by many Church leaders in Nigeria in a manner that absolves people of their responsibilities. “At the individual level, such ‘miracles’ corrupt the minds of the gullible into thinking that there is an ‘invisible hand’ somewhere that could change N3,000 to N3,000,000,” he wrote. “As a Christian, I strongly believe in miracles. But my point is this: Instead of sharing these ‘miracles’ that, at best, can’t be replicated by most of our people, the clerics can share the potency (miracle) of self audit, hard work, self reliance etc…”

I agree with Oluwafisayo. The mentality that stupendous wealth could be ‘created’ outside productivity or credible investment also explains why promoters of Ponzi schemes continue to thrive. But the real enablers are the regulatory institutions whose certificates assist these crooks in their nefarious activities. That is where the real inquisition should begin on this matter.

Francis, The Exemplary Pope
Whether you are a Pentecostal or a Catholic, there is something about the Papacy that makes almost every occupant a unifying force for Christians. But in the death of Pope Francis, just as it was with Pope John Paul II in 2005, there is a sense of universal grief. Whatever misgivings anybody had about some of his positions on contemporary issues, Pope Francis was a genuine shepherd who preached love and tolerance in a world where hate and bigotry have become the defining ethos. “Pope Francis will long be remembered for his outreach to those on the margins of the Church and of society,” said Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

From his humble background as a chemical technician and bouncer in his early life, to Bishop in his native country of Argentina, Pope Francis preached social justice for all humanity. He emphasized that clerics must be like medics in a “field hospital” attending to people where they are. And he demonstrated uncommon humility throughout his life and ministry. For instance, in an unprecedented gesture to make the notorious warlord rivals of South Sudan embrace peace, he kissed their feet one by one at the Vatican, after organizing a spiritual retreat for them in April 2019.

There is hardly any worthy social cause that the late Pope did not endorse. On immigration, he tasked leaders to erect bridges and not walls and he supported the campaign on the sustainability of our environment. “The universe unfolds in God, who fills it completely. Hence, there is a mystical meaning to be found in a leaf, in a mountain trail, in a dewdrop, in a poor person’s face,” Pope Francis wrote in his famous ‘Laudato Si’ delivered in 2015 while advocating “a new way of thinking about human beings, life, society and our relationship with nature.” 

But perhaps the most controversial legacy of Pope Francis was his taking sides with the marginalised communities in every sphere of life by preaching inclusivity. On that score, he challenged doctrinal orthodoxy on the LGBTQ issue with his famous refrain, “Who am I to judge?” on matters of faith and sexual choices. It was not a popular position even among the Catholics, to put it mildly. Within the Pentecostal family, it was almost an anathema.

As I write this piece, I received a forwarded message. After reading it twice, I felt it perhaps sums up the message Pope Francis was trying to pass to some of us who could not understand him. Almost as if the sender was reading my thoughts, she followed up with a terse message: “It’s easy to be judgemental. The late Pope is a shining example of how NOT to be. A sad loss.” I was shocked that the message reflected exactly what I was thinking at the time.

On reflection, it couldn’t have been an accident that Pope Francis died on Easter Monday. “There are three virtues that the world still needs — faith, hope and love,” King Charles of England wrote in his Easter message last weekend. “And the greatest of these is love”. Yet, to love means we must embrace and respect others even when we disagree with their choices. Therefore, to those whose knowledge of the Bible is restricted to what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, Pope Francis is reminding us that there is also Psalm 130 verse 3 in the same Bible: “Lord, if you kept record of our sins, O LORD, who could stand?”

Now, to the WhatsApp message. Like all such messages, nobody knows the original writer, but here it goes, though slightly abridged:

I chuckled the first time I came across the phrase, “Until you have money to finance your temptations, don’t brag about morals. Too much is hidden in poverty.” It peeled back the comfortable layers of ‘self-righteousness’ we often wear and exposed an uncomfortable truth: that what we sometimes call morality may, in fact, be a privilege of limited options. It reminded me of another saying: “You call it corruption – until it comes your way. Then you’ll call it connections. And if you’re religious, you might even call it grace.”

In our moral superiority, we mistake the absence of opportunity for strength of character. And in doing so, we judge others through a lens clouded by comfort, detachment, and unchecked privilege. It’s easy to seem disciplined when nothing desirable is within reach. Easy to appear loyal when there’s no better offer on the table. Easy to claim honesty when a lie has never promised to save you. And so, we stand on our ‘safe little hills’ of assumed virtue, pointing fingers at those who fall—never pausing to ask whether we’d have done any better in their place. Maybe we haven’t resisted as much as we think. Perhaps we’ve just never been offered the shortcut.

This isn’t to romanticize failure or excuse poor choices. It’s not to say wrong becomes right if it’s understandable. No. It’s a call to humility. A reminder that judgment without context isn’t strength. It’s easy to judge others simply because they sin differently than you. It’s easy …to scoff at the one who compromised – until your own values are tested not in theory, but in fire. And when that ‘fire’ comes – and it does come – you begin to understand that real morality is quiet. It’s forged in private. And it costs.

We shouldn’t glorify mistakes or blur the line between right and wrong. But we must stop weaponizing virtue. Because morality isn’t proven by the absence of failure. It’s revealed in the presence of options. It’s folly to assume we’re better simply because we haven’t faced the same storms. Life has a funny way of humbling people. The very thing you once judged may become the thing you one day understand. And when that moment comes, may you be met with compassion – not condemnation. We’re all human. All learning. All navigating the chaos of life with the tools we’ve been given, in stories the world may never fully know. So, hold your standards high – but hold your heart higher. Speak truth—but season it with tenderness. And let your integrity be the kind that doesn’t need a stage to be real.

Pope Francis did not author the above. But that, I guess, was the message he was trying to pass to some of us. May his legacy endure!