African Voice

Thursday

For How Long And For How Much?



By: Ekine Stronghold
This is the truth! Oh come off it. This is part of the truth. My honest opinion is that, my honest opinion has hardly been completely honest. If it had, by now I would at best be an outcast in the motion picture industry and at worst; my dead body would have been found by the roadside. Also the image of the Nigerian motion picture industry and the bulk of its practitioners would require massive and intensive laundry. That would not be fair to both the industry and the nation. After-all there are no saints on earth.
Most times, it is so hard to be objective with nollywood because the protagonists and the antagonists are one breed, and easily switch roles without warning. If you’re unlucky to be caught in the cross-fire, then you’ve only two options; play victim and be used as the scape-goat or play ignorant and be framed Judas. In any-case, Making a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea would be much easier (for the records, chose the deep blue sea. You just could be the next Jonah, fall in love with a pretty mermaid or discover Atlantis) so it is often more reasonable to join them instead of to fight them. Why fight them when both are one people?
Don’t play dumb with me; most of you know what i am talking about. The case of nollywood is that “all have steal-ed”, sorry i meant “sinned” and fallen short of credibility so when you take an objective look at the accused and accusers, nobody is fighting for the course per say rather everybody is fighting for their cut. Only when conned, do they cry foul. There’s nothing for the people, its all about the survival of the fittest, its a dog eat dog state of mind.
Don’t be deceived by all the big grammar-peddlers, blabbing on how backward the industry is or how non-progressive the other practitioners are, most times they’re just basking in the euphoria of having had their own share of the booty. As long as they get some chunk of the national moi-moi every other person can go to hell. If the press bark, they spread a little love. It’s a simple question of how much and for how long? An interesting question no matter whom you direct it to, a question I have been asked many times and no matter my answer I go back and ask myself again. How much and for how long will I continue to mind how honest my opinion can be? How much damage can the truth do and for how long should I care? How much more do we all stand and watch the looting of our commonwealth by people that think nollywood is their property? For how much can I just for once sellout and get a share of the national moi-moi and for how long will I leave with the guilt?
For how much and how long will reporters on nollywood keep from talking about these issues because of public image? For how long will they even be blamed for not talking about these issues? For how long will the practitioners be flourishing and the people expect the press to be objective and suffer in penury (that’s why the news has been for the highest bidder) just how much and for God sake how long before the people learn to take action?
It is in this part that nollywood has failed and somany water has gone over the bridge unchecked. It is my honest opinion that “most, if not all have steal-ed and therefore no one is innocent and they are not fighting for the course but for their cuts”. It has been a matter of “how much” but we must never forget to add the other half of the question, “for how long”. That my people, is my honest opinion. what’s yours?

No comments:

Post a Comment