ENTERTAINMENT: Nigerian Politics Is Like Nollywood – Wole Soyinka

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By William Oyo-Ita 2 April 2015
Foremost writer and Nobel Prize winner, Wole Soyinka has likened Nigerian politics, especially the current electoral process, to the Nollywood Film Industry. In an interview with Guardian, the respected writer and political critic also blasted Nigerian politicians for being wasteful and criticized the ongoing electioneering process as a disguise for money laundering. “Most expensive, most prodigal, wasteful, senseless, I mean really insensitive in terms of what people live on in this country. This was the real naira-dollar extravaganza, spent on just subverting, shall we say, the natural choices of people. Just money instead of argument, instead of position statements. And of course the sponsoring of violence in various places, in addition to this festive atmosphere in which every corner, every pillar, every electric pole is adorned with one candidate or the other, many of them in poses which remind one of Nollywood. I get a feeling sometimes that some of these candidates were just locked in their wardrobes and they were told: ‘Just take selfies in there and don’t come out until you’ve finished the entire wardrobe.’ All kinds of postures. Just ridiculous. It has been an embarrassing exercise in terms of electioneering.”
“Most expensive, most prodigal, wasteful, senseless, I mean really insensitive in terms of what people live on in this country. This was the real naira-dollar extravaganza, spent on just subverting, shall we say, the natural choices of people. Just money instead of argument, instead of position statements. And of course the sponsoring of violence in various places, in addition to this festive atmosphere in which every corner, every pillar, every electric pole is adorned with one candidate or the other, many of them in poses which remind one of Nollywood,” the literary giant said.
buhari
He continued, ” I get a feeling sometimes that some of these candidates were just locked in their wardrobes and they were told: ‘Just take selfies in there and don’t come out until you’ve finished the entire wardrobe.’ All kinds of postures. Just ridiculous. It has been an embarrassing exercise in terms of electioneering…Obviously this money didn’t come from personal pockets only, there’s no question. It’s been bankrolled by lots of businesspeople – many of them I’m sure have been taxed indirectly – and they’ll be expecting some returns for this outlay, and so how are we actually going to get rid of this thing called corruption, if the electoral process itself has been so corrupted? It’s a money election.”
Soyinka did not make secret of the fact that the president-elect Muhammadu Buhari was his preferred candidate in the run-off to the presidential elections.