The 4th Republic
I was pissed off at some friends because they didn’t send me a ticket to watch the movie Fourth Republic, but the money I just spent was worth it. I’ll desist from gifting you a full synopsis, but you can watch a short preview here.
Both Kate Henshaw and Linda Ejiofor put in star shifts, and the movie did something that a lot of Nigerian art ought to do. First, it covered the gender related issue women face when running for a political office. Remember Ayisha Osori’s excellent book?
Those issues are real.
Just imagine this: Mabel King’s opponent extended an offer for her to be his 3rd wife after he won; her party members undermined her; her lawyers disrespected her authority. Of course, this is Nigeria where every woman is either a prostitute, or just a pussy to be fucked… 🙄
Newbies in Nigerian politics need to understand that despite the hype, neither integrity not piety win elections in a Byzantine environment like Nigeria.
Hypocrisy does.
Mabel’s hypocrisy was revealed after she was found to have endorsed the rigging that happened. Also as important is that the movie highlighted the risk that youth corpers face, and the unrealistic expectations that the public have about them whistleblowing on election malpractice.
Really, there needs to be better protection, training and welfare for corpers.
Politics, especially as practised in Nigeria, will always have its MC Oluomos.
As we saw during the last elections, those of us from the chattering classes who are newcomers in politics need to figure out smarter ways to be steps ahead. I recommend you go watch the movie.