THE NIGERIAN POLITICAL DRAMA

  I do not understand why some people are kicking against the idea of having some Nollywood actors and people in the Nigerian entertainment industry go into politics in Nigeria. If you ask my candid opinion, I think that there are no better qualified persons to join the train of the Nigerian political drama than well tested Nollywood actors.

  The Nigeria political scenario oftentimes appear like a prolongation of nollywood, with actors playing their roles with a very high level of vehemence but within the stipulated confines and the dictates of the script and the exigencies of the directors (the cabals) who often times act from behind the camera calling out the shots in a situation pari passu with what is applicable in movie locations.

 I think that the question should really not be whether or not people in the show business should endeavor into politics, Nigeria has really never had trained leaders who have been formally trained to assume leadership roles in the country, just anybody assume the role as long as they have influential godfathers, even persons who cannot properly administer themselves are then given the task to administer a nation of over 166 million persons.  

    What we should be more concerned about is whether these crop of distinguished entertainers can bring something new to the table, whether they can dare to improvise at key moments of our day to day political razzle-dazzle, whether they can question the irrationality of the script handed to them from time to time by the directors and even dare to permit themselves the effrontery of the usage of adlibs outside the concessional and readymade script.  

  Rather than begin to just condemn the advent of entertainers into politics, I honestly believe that our worries should be the following; Is anybody trying to capitalize on the popularity of these entertainers who may not have personal resolve and conviction for politics and politicking? Who are the real persons behind the masquerade and what are their intentions? Does being a successful entertainer mean that one has what it takes to delve into politics and make the much needed difference? Are they going to get there like the many others before them who have since conveniently become even with the decayed rank and file of our political claptrap?  I hope they won´t begin to tell us pretty soon that government issues are more complex than what is presumed from the outside.

  On a very serious note, if you know you cannot be the solution to the many problems facing our nation, this audition is not for you. Nigeria needs capable and highly capacitated developers, who are just not going into politics to test their popularity or to satisfy a lifelong or a childish ambition but persons who already have feasible developmental framework in place to bring to the table. Since the real intention of everyman does not precede him, I want to welcome as many youths as are willing to come on board, convinced that they have the tools to turn things around for the better in Nigeria.