This king is dancing naked

Fred Agbeyegbe is well known for his dramatic quests. The legal luminary’s plays like Budisso, have continued to tickle the senses of the Nigerian theatre audience. Agbeyegbe has enjoyed the rare patronage of Nigerian literary critics for the thoughtfulness and provocativeness of his works. One of the plays that has earned him deserved attention is The King must Dance Naked. The play’s illuminating appraisal of the socio-political environment and its stylistic blend of culture with moving images or spectacle are some of its endearing qualities.

But the focus of this article is not about Agbeyegbe’s dramatic oeuvres or their relevance to Nigeria’s socio-economic and political disconnect; my interest in Agbeyegbe here has to do with the fascination I have for his titling ability. He has a gift for getting catchy titles for his plays, for example, Budisso, which was performed by Ben Tomoloju several years ago and later by Sola Adeyemi. People are usually attracted by the sensual undertone the title connotes. You will understand or appreciate its connotative reference better if you speak the Yoruba language. And there is also The King Must Dance Naked. In this era when rulers are seeing in public with their dangling phalluses and are less perturbed or ashamed of their ugly nakedness, Agbeyegbe deserves our collective admiration for his exceptional and apt application of tags to his dramatic creations.

Literally speaking, Agbeyegbe with Budisso has given the correct name tag to rulers with heated loins who like dogs are always on heat and will impulsively grab the available buttocks of fine(?) women. In the end, such leaders usually have their nakedness exposed to a bemused public.

Like many Nigerians I did not miss the screaming headline of the Sunday Sun edition of January 13. The headline was proclaiming the profanity of a particular Nigerian king. To be sure that I did not miss out on the lurid detail of the abominable family scandal, my friend, Diego (not the drug-inspired Diego Maradona) Okenyodo forwarded the Sun report to my e-mail box. My friend wanted me to catch a full view of the nauseating nakedness of some of the characters that had straddled Nigeria and raped it. But it wasn’t a pleasant sight. The sight soiled all known human moral fabrics.

There had been numerous media reports alluding to sleazy sexual orgy in the corridors of power. Those who should hold the candle to public morality are the very persons happily living in darkness. There were reports of sexual harassments, intimidations and free donation of sex by those seeking positions and those in position to give such.

Not too long a time ago, Mrs. Iyabo Anisulowo, a former member of the National Assembly alleged strongly that she lost out in the power game because she did not give in to the sexual desires of a chieftain of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). She further claimed that raw sex was traded openly like stocks on the floor of Aso Rock Villa and other public places maintained with the taxpayers’ money. Her allegations sounded almost hysterical at the time and they certainly drew loud guffaw from a cynical section of the public. Some Nigerians thought they saw a duplicitous vendetta move in Senator Anisulowo who, they thought, was pained for not being returned as Senator. There was even the snide remark about appeal, which she threw at her tormentor-in-chief but which was considered rather ironical.

However, the Sun’s sleazy report had vindicated the sexually-harassed senator. Her villain-in-chief in the allegations was scandalously portrayed as key player in the absurd sex drama.

It will be unethical and a breach of the law to subject the meat of the Sun report to critical assessment while the full detail is yet to be heard by our learned persons of the bar and bench. Therefore, it is not for one to declare or apportion guilt or determined the veracity of such a heinous, family-breaking claims. But as members of the Nigerian public, we shall wait patiently and listened hard to hear more of the lurid details of how incest became a family curse. Though we cannot get redress for the vicious bastardisation of the Nigerian life and foisting a tendentiously tribal government on the nation, we can regale ourselves with the shameful details of how a family embarked on its abominable and ruinous path.

Maybe, we will get our catharsis or dramatic relief from listening and watching the people of power drag the family honour through the mud. But it is sad that this nation has been accursed with such questionable leadership. Now it is becoming clear why Nigeria has lost itself in the wilderness; why there seems to be no hope even in a hope-land.

No one should expect any good from leaders with moral deficit. Leadership may not be religiously-inclined, but it is about spirituality. It is about spiritually connecting all the positive forces and charging them to generate the right energy needed for the collective growth. But where the prime force is spiritually negative, the people and society such a force leads is trajectorily positioned for destruction.

Nigeria has been so unlucky with its leaders. And the outlook of these leaders has been getting darker in the last 23 years. The fact about this is not far to seek. It is linked to a lack of moral quality that any good leader should possess. It is for that singular reason the vintage Nelson Mandela was able to assert a strong, commanding leadership in Africa.

Nigeria needs moral leadership not the kind that engages in incestuous escapades. May God save Nigeria from its morally challenged leaders; leaders who must dance naked or bring out their phalluses for exhibition.

REACTIONS

Everybody wants a glimpse into the future. But from your analysis of likely happenings in 2008, there seems to be little to cheer about. Though in Nigeria every year that comes becomes worse than the previuos ones, what madness is it to be expecting evil before it comes.

Year 2007 was a watershed for the nation. For it was a make or mar year in the political circles. There were fears a civilian-to civilian transition may once again lead the nation to the edge of the precipice. And 2008 is expected to be coloured by the good, the bad and the ugly, judging by the current situation and may be a great determinant for our political future.

As for me, I dreamt of a year of peace without pain, fear, diseases, ethno-religious riots, political assassinations, extra-judicial killings, disasters at home and abroad, bomb blasts, deaths and terrorism. — Ajuwon Oludeji Johnson, Adamasingba, Ibadan.