Of Seats, Thrones, and Misdirected Anxieties, By Peyi Soyinka-Airewele - Premium Times Opinion

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Opinion: Of Seats, Thrones, and Misdirected Anxieties, By Peyi Soyinka-Airewele

Some of the joys of being a Nigerian comes with the all-too-frequent moments where you have to explain the particularities of our social media discourse to bewildered foreigners. “Hmm, so let’s see, would you run this by me again? So Professor Wole Soyinka mistakenly sits in the wrong seat in Business Class. Then he promptly and politely exchanges seats with a young man when he is informed of the error.

“Then why are Nigerians debating an event that seems so unremarkable by global standards?” Hmm, sigh. let me think about how to answer this. Then Ninalowo hit the scene with his six-pack abs and caused consternation among male actors who had previously carried their potbellies with happy ease. It was no longer about the story. Filmmakers needed abs and tattoos to woo their female audiences and send desperate Nigerian men to the gym. Life and cinema became fused together.

Perhaps this escape into a make-believe sphere is harmless enough as long as the uninvited warriors remember that their vituperative warfare really has little to do with Wole Soyinka and the young man. Women in Nigeria continue to face a devastating war waged by government agencies who raid clubs, seize women from the roadside and subject them to state-sanctioned physical and sexual abuse #abujaraidonwomen. We have lost thousands of young girls, boys, women, and men to the insane logic of Boko Haram.

Yet the US itself is headed by a man whose hateful speech has truly divided the nation, objectified women, insulted those with disabilities and characterised all immigrants, Nigerians inclusive, as untrustworthy venomous reptiles.Michelle Obama led a popular refrain a few years ago during the US elections: “when they go low, we go high”. Sadly, not the case everywhere.

 

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