Ban #BBNaija? Hey you, will you stop barking at a tree?

There’s a Yoruba proverb which goes thus – Ikú n pa agílíntí aláwo, ábèlèntásé Olóògùn tí n f’awo rè se onde; translated – Death befalls the thick-skinned alligator, talk more the Sorcerer who uses it’s skin as djinn or talisman. This proverb explains the point of this piece.

So yesterday, I woke up to a social media clamor about Big Brother Naija 2017 #BBNaija, I saw two or three posts asking that it be banned, for being Big Brother Naija. Funny, isn’t it?

This anti-BBNaija clamor came predominantly from self-acclaimed, and a tad self-absorbed, intellectuals who believe the show is a harbinger of moral and societal decay for Nigeria and the Nigerian.

“I don’t know what else one would expect, if not uncouth senselessness, when fame-seeking, self-glorifying, self-regarding, self-delusional, narcissistic and partially demented bunch of me-junkies are packed into a house with the futile search of self-validation as their sole intent, and also with just the increase of viewer-base and pecuniary gain on the Producers’ mind”

This excerpt above is from a piece I wrote 5 years ago during the Big Brother Stargame, titled ‘Dear Africa, this is not thy Big Brother‘; So, naivete intellectualism? been there, done that! ?

See, we shouldn’t be seen barking at a tree with a form of faux confidence similar to that of the Sorcerer in the first paragraph (Yoruba proverb) above. Nigeria as a country has remained in a pooh of sorts because we like barking at the tree, this knockout knack to just misdirect angst.

For example, this is a country where rapists seldom get sentenced, where a talented female adult cannot comfortably enter a parastatal or private Corp with a brilliant proposal, without the risk of being ogled and ‘sextorted’ to earn some listening, where pedophiles confidently buy penile pleasure with cervical currencies; core issues that we only lip-sync. Yet, we think the very forefelt bigbrotherness of big brother Naija is what deserves the venom of our intellectual 2 kobo? I taya.

Bros and Sisto intellectual of the moral police force, #BBNaija is an end, and you’re telling us to ignore the means? That we should just end an end? Ha! I taya.

Right now, our angst shouldn’t be directed towards Endemol and Multichoice for setting up a profit-poised show that has obviously allowed some people to publicize their skills “HEADlong“, rather, here lies a simple question we need to answer – can we sow chaff to reap wheat?

If you’ll only acknowledge the number of teens who with free MB, access and practice porn of any kind on their almost smart phones, you’d easily understand that a ban on #BBNaija plus the attendant outcry we haul at it anytime it’s hoisted, will solve nothing, because it isn’t the root of the decay we so hate.

In as much as we remain a society that is perennially averse to productivity, sound education of the brain, deliberate education of the mind, and the integral workings of institutions, we are bound to remain victims of cause and effect. Our society will remain skinless and spineless, no identity, no core, and therefore, as it stands, anything goes.

So, #BanBBNaija folks, cam dan biko, save your “intellectualism” and social media data for the real solutions if you’re indeed interested.

Gor blez yew.