I’m very sure it came to many of us as a rude shock to see our own Julius the “Genius Agwu” graphically declaring his intention on social media to become the next governor of one of the most politically troubled state in the outgoing dispensation in Nigeria, the Rivers State. It would have been too much of a shock for us, if this were to happen some 8 years back, but recent happenings seems to have created a soft landing for it, with some Nigerian entertainers recently discovering politics as a potent means of giving back to the society, and of course getting their own bite of the national cake……..before nko?
Despite having some non-political beings like Rotimi Makinde, a Yoruba film actor contest and win election to the national Assembly in the not too distant past, many Nigerians still find it difficult to come to terms with a humour merchant, “an unserious element” daring to dream of becoming the number one man of a full State. Many have dismissed the idea as an inordinate ambition, taller than the brief Julius Agwu himself, to some it’s just a hoax, probably a publicity stunt for a mega comedy show he is planning for 2015. But someone like me is trying to believe my senior colleague could actually be on a trail blazing adventure, which actually could be a tall dream but not necessarily a nightmare.
I could remember I was surfing the net on Thursday, the 7th of August, gliding through different blogs to gather news for my 6:30pm daily pidgin news on radio, Toritori, when I stumbled upon the art work of Julius Agwu for Governor of Rivers State, 2015. I googled it immediately and realized the news was fast spreading like uncontrolled Ebola, then I clicked on some popular blogs to get the reactions of my fellow countrymen, it was actually predictable…………..some people get bad mouth sha, a particular commenter, whose manners I’m not too comfortable with expressed his opinion rudely like this;
“ He is vry stupid,he finkz politicz is fr jokers rit? Wich pple ask em 2 lead dem? e go soooo shock am sey em no go evn win primary..... Rubbish, if ur career is dead den fink of anoda fin 2 do nt politics coz t won't work fr u. ~@iamJbankz Olamide's PA~
Another person with the name FUNMINISTA writes… “He's very insane...do they crack jokes there?”
A close observation reveals a common denominator in all these people’s reaction and comments which caught my attention, they all seem to think politics is for extremely serious minded people who have no luxury of space to entertain humour or on the other hand, they think comedians are perpetual fools whose brain lacks the natural capacity to accommodate anything serious under whatever condition. I bet they’ve never seen a Comedian where he is discussing money matters before, that reminds me of the Julius Agwu V Jimoh Ibrahim saga, when Julius was left stranded in the United State, he set jokes apart and addressed the issue with his sober mind. In a related vein, many of the greatest leaders in history are extremely funny characters, despite the tightness of their schedule and the enormity of their work load. The Abraham Lincolns and the Obasanjos of this world are so funny that they could have made a decent and enviable living as a professional comedian, if they had given it a shot. As troubled as Lincoln’s administration was, plagued with wars and his fight for emancipation, he was still reputed to be one of the most humorous leaders the world will ever produce.
From ages past, since the days of King David, when leadership was by right through birth or selection, sense of humour has been a great asset to leaders, talk less of these days, when politicians are working round the clock daily to outwit each other by any possible means. I believe many of us can still remember how former President Olusegun Obasanjo used his robust sense of humour to dispel a rumour and silence oppositions during a political campaign rally for 2007 general election, the “Umoru are you dead?” episode. He had to put a call through to Late President Umar Musa Yaradua, who was then the presidential candidate on his sick bed in far away Germany from a presidential rally venue, MKO Abiola’s stadium, Abeokuta to dispel the rumour that Mr. Yaradua was dead. Not easily forgettable also were OBJ’s dance steps and his songs at different campaign rallies, I can imagine Julius Agwu dancing to his “Chop Bisikit” (Awilo Logomba- Gate Le Coin’s remix) at a campaign rally.
But honestly speaking, a comedian and a politician has a lot of things in common, at least they fabricate things, manipulate facts and economize the truth to discharge their responsibilities. Over the years, the line between the two has become increasingly blurred, as people now tend to take comedians seriously and see politicians as a joke. As a matter of fact, Boris Johnson was simultaneously a London Mayor and a Zipwire-swinging buffoon such that when a poll was conducted, he was voted the second wittiest man in Britain. Similarly Al Franken, the present junior Senator of Minnesota in the United States was a comedian, a comic writer and a show producer who won 4 Emmy Awards for outstanding writing in a comedy, variety or music series. The Chief of all is Beppe Grillo, an Italian Comedian who started his own political movement, “Five Star Movement” in 2010 via the internet and has since then evolved from winning 4 regional councilor seats in 2010, to receiving the third highest number of votes and the party winning a Mayoral election for Parma and recently in 2013, the party won 25.55 percent of the vote of the chamber of deputies, thus becoming the largest party in the chamber of deputies.
If truly politics has 3 basic constituents, the pre-election, election and post election phase, and the initial phase happens to be the most challenging (at least in Nigeria), I think Julius’ dream is not necessarily a nightmare, he seems to have all it takes, having done a little background check on him. His popularity, resilience and discipline will be tested though, but with the right association I believe he can scale through and make history especially in this part of the world. His major threat in my own opinion is having little or no political antecedents, unlike all other comedians turned politician mentioned above, who were all at one time or the other a political satirist in the course of their professional career as a stand-up comedian cum comic writer. But if there is anything I’ve learnt from Barrack Obama’s life, it’s never to say never, especially in Nigerian politics ever since the unfortunate marriage of politics and rice, ask my people from Ekiti State.
Dream on Julius the genius; after all it’s a dreamer’s world. One thing I know for sure is that sense of humour can never be a liability to a man, instead it is an inestimable asset to whoever is blessed with it in any field of human endeavor, politics inclusive, and the good news is that it can be acquired. But truth be told, Julius Agwu is mad, madness in my own word is the ability to see what other are not seeing and hear what others are not hearing. Wouldn’t you rather be mad?
Written on the 9th of September 2014
A.K. AFOUDA SAMUEL LLB, BL
Lawyer, OAP and Humour Advocate
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