By Bagudu Mohammed
When the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, described Nigeria’s infamous yahoo boys as “geniuses,” it sparked a storm of controversy and a national conversation that refuses to fade.
While addressing youths in Onitsha, Obi had remarked that “some of our so-called yahoo boys are geniuses who need redirection, not condemnation.” To him, the creativity and courage that fuel online fraud could, if properly harnessed, drive innovation and national development. His challenge, he said, was to “channel their energy from deception to productive enterprise.” Predictably, the statement ignited both outrage and awe.
To some, it was immoral and disappointing, a dangerous attempt to romanticize crime. To others, however, it was a profound observation: that the same brilliance used to manipulate and defraud could, under the right conditions, power progress. After all, as the Oxford Dictionary defines it, genius is “exceptional natural ability or talent.” And who can deny the twisted ingenuity of a 16-year-old who can outwit a 60-year-old online? Yet, Obi’s statement seemed more than a casual remark; it was political choreography, a delicate dance around the moral landmines of public perception. Perhaps he remembered the backlash that followed President Buhari’s infamous label of Nigerian youths as “lazy” and sought a softer, more diplomatic rhetoric one that acknowledged the country’s moral decay without condemning its victims. But his words resurrected an older, darker concept: the “evil genius.” The term was made famous in Nigerian political history by none other than General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, a man so intellectually calculating, so politically cunning, that admirers and critics alike called him “The Evil Genius.” It was both a compliment and a curse. Babangida’s intelligence, his strategic manipulation of allies and adversaries, and his ability to survive in Nigeria’s brutal political jungle were legendary. Yet his rule was also marred by repression, deceit, and one of the most controversial acts in our history: the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, widely considered Nigeria’s freest and fairest.
His legacy still hangs between admiration and condemnation a perfect embodiment of brilliance gone astray.
The phrase “evil genius,” however, is not confined to politics or Nigeria. In literature and philosophy, it has a long lineage. The French philosopher René Descartes used the term in Meditations on First Philosophy to describe a hypothetical “evil demon” a deceiver so powerful that he could make humans doubt even the reality of their own existence.
For Descartes, the “evil genius” was not about moral corruption but intellectual deception, a metaphor for the fragility of truth and perception. In popular culture, the phrase takes on a different life. Think of Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes’s diabolical nemesis; or Lex Luthor, Superman’s brilliant yet twisted foe; or Light Yagami in Death Note, whose intellect, unrestrained by morality, transforms him into a monster.
These characters reflect what psychologists now call the dark side of intelligence, when cognitive brilliance is hijacked by psychopathic or narcissistic traits. As the psychologist Kevin Dutton noted, “Intelligence amplifies intention.” Whether for good or evil, a sharp mind only sharpens what lies within the soul. But beyond fiction, should we truly celebrate intelligence without integrity? The answer, as ethics and experience show, is a resounding no. True genius is not merely the ability to outsmart others, but the wisdom to elevate humanity. A student who cheats his way through exams may demonstrate cunning, but not intellect. A footballer who scores with his hand, like Maradona’s infamous “Hand of God,” may dazzle momentarily, but history remembers him with mixed feelings. Rules exist not to restrain genius but to refine it, to separate brilliance from trickery, craft from corruption. In every field, from science to sports, the line between genius and fraud is drawn by character.
There are fake doctors who perform surgeries without certificates, lawyers who never studied law but argue persuasively, and ministers with impressive résumés built on forged credentials. Their talents may be real, but without legitimacy and honesty, they become hollow. Recently, Nigeria’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Geoffrey Uche Nnaji, resigned over an allegation of certificate forgery. Even if his capacity was unquestionable, the shadow of deceit stripped him of credibility. Genius cannot coexist with falsehood. Ethically, as philosophers like Aristotle remind us, virtue is the foundation of greatness. To be noble, an act must serve the collective good, not personal gain.
The Guinness World Records, for instance, declined to recognize the Nigerian influencer Mandy Kiss’s infamous attempt to sleep with 100 men in 24 hours, not because she lacked determination, but because genuine achievement must align with ethics, safety, and cultural values. So, is there really such a thing as an evil genius? Perhaps only in fiction, where villains are romanticized and morality is suspended for the sake of drama. In real life, the concept is self-contradictory. Genius, by its very definition, creates, elevates, and improves. Evil, on the other hand, corrupts and destroys. To marry the two is to confuse poison for perfume.
As psychologist Howard Gardner, known for his theory of multiple intelligences, once suggested, intelligence divorced from ethics is merely cunning. And cunning, no matter how sophisticated, is not genius it’s decay wearing a crown. Peter Obi’s point that some Nigerian youths possess rare creative energy misapplied to cybercrime is valid. Desperation and broken systems can drive bright minds to dark places. But the true genius is not the one who finds a clever way to cheat; it’s the one who refuses to, even when temptation is loud and opportunity ripe. Around the world, genuine genius is measured not by how loudly it defies rules, but by how brilliantly it redefines them for the greater good.
The young Nigerian who invents a fintech app to simplify payments deserves applause far more than the one who uses code to drain bank accounts. The student who builds a startup in a one-room apartment is a bigger hero than the one who scams strangers online. Cheating is never a hustle; fraud is never innovation. Evil can imitate brilliance, but it can never replace it.
The light of talent and the darkness of deceit cannot coexist, ust as truth and falsehood cannot share the same heartbeat. In the end, there is no such thing as an evil genius. There are only geniuses and deceivers. One builds; the other destroys. And history, with all its unforgiving memory, knows exactly how to tell them apart.
