First Gentleman with Wilson Orhiunu
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Sticks and stones, sharp knives and spears, will break the bones and slice the ears. The gladiators who marched into the Coliseums of Ancient Rome knew what they were up against – pointed blades, a mad crowd and desperate opponents. What people tend to call a fight to the finish. No, not the finish line, but rather a battle royale that culminates with the ending of somebody’s life. All audiences have an appetite for blood. I am hard-pressed to recall any book or film that made vast amounts of money in which some blood did not flow. People through the ages always loved a good bloody spectacle. Caesar knew this and since he could not invent cable television gave the world gladiators and crucifixions.
The political arena has so many similarities to the Coliseums of Rome, especially as the elections approach in Nigeria. Everybody is watching and everyone is talking. Though the pretence is that we are all engaged in some form of ideological debate about the “unique selling points” of the candidates vying for office, I suspect that many just crave entertainment and a digression from the mundane. Some may disagree, but it is sometimes possible to judge what the crowd wants by how much they cheer when a principal actor does something. The actors after all have studied their audience so that they would fit snuggly as suppliers in the demand and supply economy that develops when you try to convince people to vote for you.
People have been given bags of rice, mobile phones, tubers of yams and items of clothing during election campaigns in Nigeria. I don’t agree with bribing people for votes, but, like Caesar would have said, “Give Rome what Rome wants”.
It is indeed a fight to the bitter finish with elections in Nigeria because so many people derive their “income” from the government and losing an election is just not an option. If a new party comes into power, most big contracts will be suspended and those in “sensitive” government positions (another way of saying lucrative) will lose their jobs.
Ideally, words are the tools used to convince the electorate to vote for a political candidate vying for office. Not political thugs, rigging elections, threatening violence if the outcome of the elections proves unsatisfactory to any particular groups or personal attacks on social media. However if the people want a bloodbath, then there is no need for politicians to learn to speak well. If on the other hand the electorate are to be convinced with sound arguments why one particular candidate will be best for the country, then learning the rudiments of oratory is imperative (and the bagging of rice into 3kg, 5kg and 10kg bags should be left to the market women).
The political speech is the single most important tool of campaigning in today’s civilised societies. If the economy is well managed and the electorate have disposable cash in their pockets, they could make their own arrangements for “stomach infrastructure” on the way to the campaign grounds. When giving a speech, the ears of the listeners are given out on loan for an agreed period of time – time in which the orator is supposed to make his point with style and aplomb. Attention span in humans appears to diminish with each passing year, so it is imperative that the seeds hit the ground germinating. Members of the audience would probably have heard or watched videos of other great speakers in the past. The great speakers like, Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King Jnr and Barack Obama. Depending on which country the speech is being given, the crowd might lower their expectations with regards to quality, logic and oratorical prowess of the speaker but there is only so much plasticity before breaking point is reached. The general expectation is that the speaker is at least better at speaking than the average man in the crowd.
Formal language and skillful use of that language is expected. It helps when sound bites for the newspapers are included as well as jokes for the evening news.
The print media is however a day too late in today’s instant world. As soon as a speech is delivered, it is uploaded online by someone in the crowd and people around the world would have done so much analysis before the speaker gets back to the hotel.
With a worldwide audience you would think that Nigerian politicians would actually rehearse their lines in front of a camera at home. Is that not part of our culture? Do our mothers not allow us and our fathers dress shabbily at home but the minute you try to go out they all say, “No go disgrace persin outside”? The “outside” has changed level. Old school politics worked well because the internet had not been invented. You could give out your rice and beans to your hired crowd and what happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas. Now, it goes outside, outside Africa. As these badly thought out speeches travel, so does the disgrace.
There is something else one can learn from Naija family life. When madam is unhappy with oga who is upstairs, she screams at the kids loud enough to convey her message to him wherever he is. Our politicians should address the crowds before them but must never lose sight of the international ears that they are getting on loan as 50% shame rate in some instances.
I, however, must say that I admire anyone with the boldness to address a big stadium crowd but of what use is confidence and stupendous swagger when the Gladiator has got his tools all mixed up.
