‘Why is your focus on 6 Nigerians out of 79 wanted criminals?’ — Reactions trail FBI’s request

The request by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on the whereabouts of six Nigerians, whom the United States indicted for fraud, has sparked outcry on social media.

The six Nigerians are Uzuh Richard, Alex Ogunshakin, Felix Okpoh, Micheal Olorunyomi, Benson Nnamdi and Abiola Kayode.

They were among a list of 79 persons declared wanted by the US — 16 Russians, 20 Chinese and 37 Arabians.

On Friday, the bureau took to its Twitter page to seek help in finding the Nigerians wanted for “their involvement in ​business​ email ​compromise (BEC) schemes resulting in over $6 ​million in losses”.

The manner in which the FBI announced the criminal alert appeared to have gotten a lot of Nigerians angry and consequently opened the floodgates of negative reactions on social media platforms, particularly Twitter.

Majority of those who commented on the issue called out the bureau for singling out Nigerians, who are the least on the list, while ignoring countries with higher nationalities.

“6 of 79 is ~ 7.5% but the FBI intentionally posted an image that makes it look like the Nigerians are 60% of the wanted it. More shocking when you see big countries like Russia & China individually contributing about 50% of the list. How they use the media to shape your thinking!,” JJ Omojuwa wrote.

“There are lot of Nigerians doing legitimate businesses around the world and It’s painful because these few bad eggs keep overshadowing the efforts of others. That’s why the FBI used those 6 Nigerians as click bait, a deliberate attempt to ridicule the country. Smh,” another user wrote.

Here is what some Nigerians had to say:

6 of 79 is ~ 7.5% but the FBI intentionally posted an image that makes it look like the Nigerians are 60% of the wanted it. More shocking when you see big countries like Russia & China individually contributing about 50% of the list. How they use the media to shape your thinking! https://t.co/yoDViPvAss pic.twitter.com/zxG1Eb2LL7

— JJ. Omojuwa (@Omojuwa) June 27, 2020

79 people in A cyber most wanted list ... 6 Nigerians on the list, about 16 Russians and 20 Chinese on the list. Yet they decide to use Nigerians as the click bait, cox you people give them lotta importance. About time we start ingnoring these news.

— HRM Adewale (@Wharlay_Lee) June 27, 2020

This sensationalizing bullshit is the reason I commended Dubai Police. They captured scammers of Nigerian descent and paraded them as “international cyber criminals.” FBI had to activate Nigerian nationality-baiting, with only 6 Nigerians out of 79 scammers of many nationalities. https://t.co/afHg8G0nvH

— Gimba Kakanda (@gimbakakanda) June 27, 2020

This issue of 6 Nigerians FBI used as poster for their wanted list just another example of how we have been helping them dent our own country image... They know we will help them scream it loud more than them..

This will continue to happen until we're tired and "fight" back. pic.twitter.com/s4QUtlXUGu

— 👨🏽 King One X 🇳🇬 🙌🏽 (@MrOneXMind) June 27, 2020

This is a deliberate attempt to make Nigeria look bad as many people won’t even read the Article

In the article there are 79 Persons: 16 Russians, 20 Chinese, 6 Nigerians and 37 men of arabic descent but the headline is showing only 6 Nigerians. Smh#BlackLivesMatter https://t.co/MaPlGdQHXE

— DANNY 👑 (@Danny_Walterr) June 27, 2020

There are lot of Nigerians doing legitimate businesses around the world and It’s painful because these few bad eggs keep overshadowing the efforts of others. That’s why the FBI used those 6 Nigerians as click bait, a deliberate attempt to ridicule the country. Smh.

— Omoniyi Israel (@__Omoissy) June 27, 2020

The FBI knows Nigerians activeness on Twitter. They know we're going to get angry & trend it. When a blogger writes contents, he looks for d best title(caption). Using "6 Nigerians" was the best for them😒

A cybercrime involving 79 people? Bad is Bad but ur caption 👎👎👎

— Your Guardian Angel👼 (@AskMeWhatIWant) June 27, 2020

Invictus,Mompha,Hushpuppi n other fraudulent Nigerians have succeeded in painting the country black.Whether you like it or not, Nigerians have been recognized worldwide for fraud.FBI said 6 Nigerians to notify their readers that the S.I unit of fraud are also among the suspects

— DR.PENKING™ (@drpenking) June 27, 2020

FBI have declared these 6 Nigerians wanted! Lets blame government, they pushed them overseas to commit crime because country is so hard. Madam @abikedabiri dedem @GeoffreyOnyeama wave your magic wand to resolve the matter before their brothers destroy our embassy. Crazy people. pic.twitter.com/YDnHCXK8aX

— Chief Ojukwu (@ChiefOjukwu) June 27, 2020

Why is Nigeria the subject of this tweet? You have over 70 people on the wanted list with just 6 Nigerians why is the concentration on the 6 Nigerians? This is a very bias tweet, @FBI. https://t.co/Lixa2J7T3b

— Olúyẹmí Fásípè 🇳🇬 (@YemieFASH) June 27, 2020

In the crime market Nigerians sell news faster , so it’s understandable that the FBI would put up 6 Nigerians as front page cover . They know the Nigerian government wouldn’t interfere as opposed to other governments who would/might Query them .

— Volqx (@TheVolqx) June 27, 2020

Everybody just dey use Nigeria to catch cruise sha🤦‍♂️79 criminals but FBI chose the 6 Nigerians in the list as headline😬 If big problem knack you for ground, small small ones go dey climb any how....This life no balance at all but no be their fault sha, Na the bad eggs among us😪

— JIMOH, Ibrahim Kayode-KhaliluRahman GMNSE 🤴👷‍♂️ (@i_am_jik) June 27, 2020