Is this the most boring Big Brother Naija?

This question is not necessarily for those who don’t watch Big Brother. Some of those who don’t watch Big Brother Naija like to think of themselves as too smart, busy and generally above such inanities like Big Brother. To be fair, they can’t quite understand how anyone can watch people sitting around doing nothing. In other words, the sheer boredom would kill them. Well, for some of us, it’s sort of our job to watch people sitting around doing nothing. That’s my excuse anyway. And there’s the whole spiritual angle. Pastor Sarah Omakwu (senior pastor, Family Worship Centre, Abuja) did ask church members not to watch the ongoing Big Brother Naija. And she threw the poser: Would Jesus watch Big Brother? As I wrote several weeks ago, I doubt anyone can really say authoritatively whether Jesus would’ve watched BBN. I’ll even go out on a limb to say that Jesus could’ve surprised everyone by watching BBN. Not that he would’ve been waiting for the Friday jacuzzi party or anything weird like that. But in his non-judgmental way, he could’ve watched just to reach out to those hurting.

Anyhow, whether for spiritual reasons or something else, the boredom that non-Big Brother watchers used to dread appears to have enveloped this edition of Big Brother Naija, otherwise known as BBN 6. And if the comments from BBN regular watchers are anything to go by, it would appear that even diehard BBN fans aren’t quite “feeling” this season as the housemates are not entertaining enough. It’s beginning to sound like one of the B’s in BBN might as well stand for Boring. Why? Before we get into that, I feel I must clarify that entertaining or interesting for me doesn’t mean housemates have to resort to vulgarity or any indecent behaviour. For what it’s worth, the first-ever edition of Big Brother Nigeria in 2006, as it was then called, remains my all-time favourite. That season had current BBN host Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, actor Gideon Okeke, director and eventual winner Katung Aduwak among others. Compared to Big Brother Africa which was all shades of naughty, BBN was by far ‘cleaner.’ In fact, many times it resembled a talent hunt show as housemates showcased different skills from singing to dancing. Ebuka was in love with his stout-he’ll later host a show sponsored by the makers of stout upon leaving the show. But I digress. I must also point out that entertaining as I found the BBN 1, it took nearly ten years for the BBN organisers to get new sponsors. And whatever did the magic, the show has been held every year since its return in 2017. Go figure.

Nonetheless, I’ll attempt an explanation of why I think BBN 6 is considered boring. The show might be a victim of its own success. The last edition of BBN 5 tagged ‘Lockdown’ took place in 2020. The general consensus was that the housemates were well selected and matched in terms of the different temperaments/characters that were represented in the house. Whether you watched the show regularly or not, you couldn’t escape the gist coming from the house. Remember Kiddrica (Kiddwaya and Erica)? Or Ozone (Ozo and Nengi)? Or individual housemates like Neo, Laycon, Dorathy, Lucy…The memories still feel fresh.

I followed last season partly through Youtube and live streaming on other platforms. It wasn’t the most convenient way to keep up for sure. Yet, I was on top of events in the house. Compared to BBN 6 where I had the opportunity of watching directly on Dstv for over 4 weeks. At the moment, I’m not making any special efforts to follow any live streaming but I don’t feel like I’m missing much. What is there to catch up on? Saga and Nini? Emmarose? Coming after such an eventful season was always going to be a challenge. Although the organisers could’ve simply replicated the magic of the Lockdown mansion, yes? Why mess around with the winning formula.

Speaking of BBN 6 housemates, individually, they have many great qualities but in terms of their personalities, certain attributes don’t translate well through the TV, especially on a reality TV show like BBN. So, Yerimene Abraham “Yerins” Saibakumo as we learnt from his fellow housemates was very intelligent, book smart and socially engaging. Did the viewers see or feel enough of that? How relevant was that for the show anyway? Adeoluwa Okusaga a.k.a “Saga” is an offshore engineer but all he seems capable of offering at this point is running after Anita “Nini” Singh. This must have something to do with his ability to go drilling for crude oil, not sure exactly what offshore engineers do. You could call it love, devotion or obsession…But is BBNmore  Love Island? In any case, they could make the relationship/situationship interesting for viewers. As you already know, by interesting, I don’t mean do anything vulgar. I’ve been watching a lot of K-drama, they move at a very slow pace but that doesn’t make the relationships less interesting or romantic.

Comparison with the immediate past season of BBN (with BBN 6 coming up short) aside, the early eviction of some housemates may have further removed some fire from the Shina Ya Eye mansion. A housemate like Maria Chike Agueze should have stayed longer. How is Maria’s eviction the concern of the BBN organisers? For starters, I don’t understand why a housemate with more than 8 nominations would be paired against those who got 2 votes. Then there’s Boma. I’m not a fan of Boma, but we certainly need some villains, no? Now, viewers must make do with Emmanuel now in the finale. His claim to fame appears to be his being part of the Emmarose entanglement. What else does he bring? He was Mr Africa or something like that. So?

Why is the Nigerian government afraid of shaming sponsors of terrorism?

Femi Adesina, the presidential spokesman reportedly said that the Nigerian federal government was not interested in naming and shaming the sponsors of terrorism that were announced by the UAE. The six are: Abdurrahaman Ado Musa, Salihu Yusuf Adamu, Bashir Ali Yusuf, Muhammed Ibrahim Isa, Ibrahim Ali Alhassan and Surajo Abubakar Muhammad. He implied that government would rather pursue prosecution plus allowing justice to take its course.

 Depending on where you stand, Femi Adesina’s explanation sounds reasonable. Half of the table on the Arise Morning Show (of Tuesday, September 21) was with Adesina. Reuben Abati and Tundun Abiola thought he was right, as they totally bought his spiel. It was only Rufai Oseni who begged to differ. Ojy Okpe who led the discussion didn’t share her opinion one way or the other.

To be clear, naming and shaming are totally wrong, especially in these times. But when Adesina talks of government not wanting to name and shame, are we talking of the same govt.? This is the same govt that sent the DSS to break down the doors of judges over some spurious allegations that have since been proven false. And the most recent example everyone is citing is the Nigerian government’s treatment of the EndSARS protesters, some now in hiding or seeking asylum from western countries. Scores were also reportedly murdered by security operatives. The EFCC’s whole game plan is to name and shame. Even though they’ve probably lost more cases than not, who cares after they’ve successfully named and shamed?

And now that the UAE has named 6 Nigerians as sponsors of terrorism, a government which claims to be fighting terrorism is no longer in a hurry to name and shame? In any case, UAE has already named, all govt needs to do is begin expedited prosecution. Saying they’ll let justice take its course is a giveaway. We all know how that goes. FG’s refusal to prosecute terrorism sponsors of Boko Haram is highly suspicious. Does this have anything to do with the fact that these people are from the president’s zone/religion? Would the government have refused to shame if they were named Nnamdi, Emeka or Okafor? The Buhari govt has levelled villages in parts of the South-East for less. Second base, jare.