Monday September 28th 2015 will ever remain fresh in the mind of students of College of Education now Tayo Akpata University of Education Ekiadolor, Edo State as her final year students in the department of English and Theatre Art put up a stage drama to support the present administration of President Buhari’s fight against the dreaded monster and cancan worm called corruption.
The director of the drama who is a course lecturer and the head of department of Theatre Art in the Institution Mr. Aihevba Peter said corruption destroys the nation and eat up the heart of men turning them into demons and they becomes insatiable with possessions and material wealth as they continue to crave and acquire wealth at the detriment of other citizens and the nation. “Corruption makes man live for him/herself alone without considering the welfare or good of others. It is a greedy amassment of wealth that has no profit but trauma for that corrupt officials and his/her generation.
“Corruption which is the bane of the Nigeria society has continually held the nation down as our leaders now see it as a way of life and continue in the act and the nation and her people are at the receiving end, retrogressing rather than developing in almost all spheres of life”.
Mr Aihevba said the time for rethink is now, for if we continue in the way of corruption in no time the nation will die a natural death and be forgotten for good. “There must be a change which must start from you and I as a good citizens of this great nation. The present administration has started the fight and we all need to join them in the fight and together kill this dreaded monster called corruption”.
To put an end to this dreaded monster the present administration led by Rtd Gen. Muhammad Buhari used corruption as a platform to campaign for votes in the just concluded 2015 general election which he won due to the massive support he got from the Nigerian citizens who were all tired of the tricks of successive administrations who instead of fighting corruption were aiding it and the resultant effects are retrogression, unemployment, poverty, robbery, rape, prostitution, murders, assassination and all other crimes you can think of.
To support the fight against corruption the students joined forces with the Buhari government by presenting the stage drama “Who is Afraid of Buhari” as a final year project. The students stole the show as they displayed great artistic skills like professionals in the Nigeria Nollywood film industry holding the entire audience and student community spell bound with their presentation. The audience were kept in suspense at each passing scene of the drama piece until the end of the show.
The beautiful drama piece was an adaptation from the play of Femi Oshofisan which he titled “who is Afraid of Solarin” The director of play Mr. Aihevba Peter said they transported Femi Oshofisan’s play and the experience into today’s reality. Continuing he said: “indeed there is someone today who is more dreadful and his name is Muhammad Buhari, his name makes the evil one tremble. All you hear today is probe, probe, probe and people are running here and there, so we needed to satirize and expose in a sagacious way the experience that is existing in today’s contemporary Nigeria”.
Despite the challenges, difficulties and negative experiences faced by the students while rehearsing for the show, they were able to put up a world class performance that attracted applauds from the audience who were full of excitement through out the period the drama lasted. The presentation of these students turn actors and actress can easily compete with movies that were shot with world class equipments.
Speaking on the challenges and difficulties faced, the director of the play Mr. Aihevba Peter said the performance took a team work and over 30 days rehearsals to achieve. He said the team work, commitment, dedication, zeal to deliver displayed by the students made the difference as the quality of delivering was second to none and the bar was raised for those coming behind.” the show was difficult both technically and otherwise but the students put up a better performance and lecturers and examiners who were present to watch the show and grade them commended the students for the great show and score them high above average for a brave and wonderful performance”.
Looking at the performance of the students, Mr. Aihevba Peter further said that the performance revealed that the students were ripe for the Nigeria Movie Industry as they have displayed credibility, competence and zeal to deliver at any point in time when called to do so. He said the students were able to combine and duplicate roles without audience noticing it, which shows their great quality.
An examiner and lecturer Mr Kingsley who watched the students performance expressed satisfaction and delight in the artistic display by the final year students of English/Theatre department during their drama piece presentation which also serves as their final year project. He said he was very happy with the great performance and drama piece presented by the students: “I am happy and feel over whelmed by the efforts of the students judging by the limited resources and facilities available at their disposal, but the out come of their performance is applaudable. They performed very well due to hard work, diligence, courage and determination to excel despite the odds and challenges facing them during rehearsals to the final presentation of the play “Who is Afraid of Buhari”. I am not too surprise at the performance, the students (actors/actress) knew what they wanted and they went for it and came out great at the end of the show. Their performance is worthy of commendation. I want to use this medium to encourage them to always believe in their abilities and God given talent, letting them know that what they need to succeed in life is already in them and should ensure they go all out to fully utilise it. They should dig inward and use materials at their disposal to get the best out of life. As for the show and performance today, I truly enjoyed myself”.
Mr. Uwota Joseph another lecturer and examiner who was at the Oba Eradiauwa Hall venue of the presentation to watch and score the students for their performance expressed satisfaction on the great performance and show put up by the students of English /Theatre department. According to him “I saw myself been reproduced on stage as the students put all they were taught into practice and the out come of which is the credible performance we all have witnessed here today: “I am extremely happy today looking at the performance of these students who could be misjudged for professionals in the Nigeria Movie Industry. When you see them display and perform so well you can’t but thank God for being part of the success story. The professional display of these students shows they are ready and equipped for the outside world. They were able to perform well because they went through the rudiment and put all they have learnt in the classroom, to practice on stage and the rest is history. This great performance shows they are ready to face the world. After now, some of them will go for video production, cinema etc.”
Adding his voice the music director of the drama piece Paul Enabulele said he had a wonderful time and really enjoyed himself. I am happy to have worked along with others behind the scene and the outcome of presentation is wonderful: “I am in charge of music and was able to measure effectively to ensure the success of the entire programme. The smooth operation of the band with the presentation was successful due to the constant rehearsals between the band and the actor/actress on stage.
“Discipline, courage, determination, commitment, zeal and constant rehashes made today’s event successful. For those present at the occasion, it’s like watching a movie in a television right in front of you. This performance is still not the best; we are growing and would do our best to improve on our future production. The flag should be kept flying and we should do better and better as we grow”.
Speaking on his experience on stage as one of the actors that played the role of an herbalist in the drama piece Osakpolor Bright said he is really happy to make the list of actors to perform and entertained the audience while playing a difficult role of an herbalist. “I am not an herbalist and I don’t have any herbalist as friend but I was able to perform the role very well because of constant rehearsals to study, understand and master my role well so as to be able to deliver well. The crowd was pretty large but I was not afraid of the crowd but rather concentrated on my role and to the glory of God I was able to deliver and pass the appropriate message required”.
Imade Daniel who was another student who acted the role of a pastor in the final year project drama piece said he is not a pastor but have seen a lot of pastors so acting the role was not too difficult. “It was not too difficult for me to act that role because of my determination, courage and commitment to deliver and pass the message of the evil of corruption to the audience and my lecturers watching. Passing the desired message was my focus and I am happy I was able to do that”.
The fun, enjoyment and happy moment of the stage play was centred around two characters acting one role of a very funny guy “POLY CAP” Who is a messenger of the Chairman in the play. Poly cap as acted by Ifueko Queen Osaruonamen and Masagbor Esther was the funniest character in the play and they continue to add glamour and humour to the drama piece to the applaud of the audience, lecturers and examiners present at the venue of the event. The examiners at the end of the drama piece commended the role played by poly cap making the hall lively, holding the audience spell bound till the end of the show.
Speaking on their involvement and lighting up the whole venue with their funny character the duo said it was easy for them to act such a funny role because naturally they are funny people and have acted similar role in the past. They said it was not difficult at all because they were acting and at the same time enjoying themselves while the play lasted. They said they have raised the bar but call on students coming after them not to be afraid as they can perform better.
Edokpolor Anita and Udoh Faith who took the roles of a male (Chairman) in the play said it was very challenging especially as female acting the role of a man, but determination, courage, commitment and focus to deliver saw them through. They thanked God for giving them the needed ability, talent and courage to overcome all the odds and put up a better performance that have earned them commendation from their lecturers and examiners who were present to watch the show and assess their performance. They assured their lecturers and supporters that the acting skills displayed will not end there but goes beyond the four walls of the school possibly take them into the Nigeria Nollywood firm Industry.