In a classic example of life imitating art, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce has gone from promoting entertainers to becoming Nigeria’s entertainer-in-chief.
More active on social media than on the floor of the Senate where he represents Bayelsa East, the 60-year-old will count volunteering to donate his wardrobe allowance to Osun workers and launching a commonsense campaign against President Muhammadu Buhari as highlights of his time so far at the National Assembly.
The takeover of assets of three of his companies – Silverbird Galleria Limited, Silverbird Promotions Limited and Silverbird Showtime Limited – by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) is the latest in a series of unforced errors by the showbiz impresario turned politician.
Accused of defaulting in the payment of N11billion obtained as loan from Union Bank, Murray-Bruce became the butt of cruel jokes after armed policemen sealed up the premises of Silverbird Group of Companies in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt on Thursday.
Questions may be asked about the sense in failing to negotiate the payment of such a loan, but there are some key commonsense decisions critics can’t take away from the Twitter activist.
- Abstaining from drinking and smoking
Murray-Bruce once said in an interview that he chose not to drink or smoke because he wanted to be in control of his senses always. According to him, he did not want any mind or mood altering substance to distort his perception. That seemed to have paid off as the man from Akassa, Bayelsa State did not suffer the fate of some of his colleagues back at Gregory College, Obalende, Lagos and the University of South Carolina, USA whose experimentation with recreational drugs landed them in trouble.
- Abandoning failed publishing business
Before show promotion and beauty pageantry, Murray-Bruce and his wife, Evelyn, ventured into the publishing business in 1980. But he soon realised that his magazine, Silverbird, was a successful failure, and promptly decided that publishing was not his calling. Starting with a loan of N200,000 from his father, the then 24-year-old organised a number of successful concerts which saw artistes like Shalamar and Kool and the Gang perform in Nigeria, after which he promoted a new pageant known as Miss Universe Nigeria in 1983.
- Changing Miss Universe Nigeria to MBGN
The venture into beauty pageantry could have gone the way of Silverbird magazine if Murray-Bruce had not rebranded Miss Universe Nigeria to become Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria (MBGN) in 1986. Fate also smiled at him with the emergence of a 20-year-old Lynda Chuba as winner. Lynda, daughter of renowned jurist and football administrator, Justice Chuba Ikpeazu, represented Nigeria at the Miss Universe pageant in 1987. She was the first Nigerian to do so since Edna Park in 1964. The MBGN pageant has since produced other successful queens; namely Omasan Buwa, Bianca Onoh, Regina Askia, Nike Oshinowo, Agbani Darego, Omowunmi Akinnifesi and Adaeze Igwe.
- Handing MBGN over to Guy
Ben Murray-Bruce did everything from promotion to announcing winners of the MBGN pageant from inception to 1992 when he handed over to his younger brother Guy. His time with the beautiful girls was over. Many questioned the ability of the relatively unknown Guy to steer the ship and avoid scandals like his brother did, but that decision proved to be a success. It was under Guy that Agbani Darego was crowned Miss World in 2001.
- Accepting disqualification for Bayelsa governorship race
Former Bayelsa Governor, Timipre Sylva; former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Timi Alaibe, and Murray-Bruce were screened out of the Bayelsa governorship election by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2011. Instead of becoming belligerent like the other two, the showman bowed to the will of the party, declaring that his involvement in the race had raised “political, economic and social issues which any governor cannot ignore.” He kept fate with the PDP and was rewarded with the senatorial ticket in December 2014. He won the election in 2015 and has been trying to make commonsense ever since.
