By: Olamide Francis
Professional comedians should start watching their backs. I pray that the extinction of that industry isn’t imminent. A new class of comedians is emerging with great comic capacity more than anything we’ve ever seen. They don’t require anything to launch their profession other than a public office or an opportunity to serve the people. The only due they pay to remain in the industry is required every four years.
They are about to sweep off the conventional comedy industry on account of the mushrooming audience ready to laugh away their tomorrow. These unusual breeds of comedians have a common name; they’re called politicians, sometimes, public servants. In Nigeria, that word isn’t what it is in the dictionary. It’s got a whole new meaning entirely.
Nigerians love to be entertained, that’s why those who are supposed to ‘repair the polity’ (oselu) have ended up ‘eating up the polity’ (ojelu). They have switched from providing good governance to providing comic reliefs for the populace, while they take the nation from glory to glory in shame and poverty. The number of dramatis personnae in Nollywood is a tiny fraction of those in Nigeria’s political space.
Any Nigerian who is depressed should be arrested. How will you be depressed with the surplus comedians we have directing the affairs of the nation. Justice, Peace, Comedy, and Progress should be the new motto on our coat of arms. Nollywood is losing it, just look at Nigeria. We’ve produced enough comedians in our politics that it’ll soon become a source of foreign exchange.
The latest comedian on the bloc is the acting NDDC MD, a direct descendant of Olisa Metuh, and of the order of Dino Melaye and co. Conscience fear the guy sotey, he had to faint at the mention of the billions and trillions that he and his cohorts mister-managed. Those funds are more than ‘mismanaged’. It’s on a higher plane. It’s disrespectful to call it ‘mis-‘. He was shocked at the figure like Mr. ‘Shocki’ at Aso Rock. I’m sure he didn’t count the number of zeros as he was channeling the money meant for his kinsmen for his personal use.
Nigeria is comic relief, and her citizens like it that way. Many African nations are gradually waking up to clean their mess, but we’re okay with the entertainment those we selected and elected into sensitive offices in the land are providing for us. The change will come when we’re ready. For now, na entertainment galore.
Abi, are you not entertained?!
