Book review: Two faces of power

A review of ‘Dele Kogbe’s ‘The Girl Who Dares the King,’ by Folorunsho Moshood.

There are two faces of power according to David McClelland, a Harvard trained Psychologist. The two faces, which are like two sides of a coin, are ‘socialised power’ and ‘dominance power’.The former underlies leadership to greater achievementswhile the latter is a pleasure-seeking form of power. A leader does many tasks and gets many tasks done by other people using these two faces. Though circumstances can make a leader to switch from one face to another at any interval, exhibiting a socialised power indicates a desire of a leader to apply power for the benefit of his followers or subjects. And when a leader displays a dominance power, he is merely showing his desire for conquering his foes and subjugating his subjects. Therefore, when a king arrogantly displays his lustful desire for acquiring old and young women into his harem without their consents, he is merely exhibiting a dominance power.

We have heard tales and read books about those kings who used their dominance power in a lustful manner to acquire women. Even when old age has reduced their level of performance of masculine duty to their numerous wives and concubines, they still acquired younger women or girls, who were their children’s age mates. This is exactly what comes out of Dele Kogbe’s ‘The girl who dares the king’, which is a one-act play of sixty-seven pages, divided into eleven distinct but interconnected scenes.

The play, a 2022 publication of Creative Africa Publishers, is deeply rooted in Yoruba culture and tradition with rich dialogues, lively characters and well-tailored stage directions . It tells a tale of Abike Omosebi,a brilliant and hardworking student of Economics and Social Studies at Omesi College,who is also an epitome of moral upbringing. She used to be a development volunteer with a Non-Governmental Organisation, and her development works had taken her to Turkey, South Africa and India before she gained admission to Omesi College. At the College, she plans to start a pet project called The Guild of Girls Education for Africa (GG Education Africa). She also hopes to support African Union’s Development Agenda and the relevant goals of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Programme.

Socially and academically, she is doing extremely well until her path crosses with that of Olomesi of Omesi, the King of Omesi Kingdom. On this day, the King is on the campus of Omesi College for an award ceremony organised by the College. The eighty-six-year-old King decides to use his first face of power to get acquainted with thenineteen-year-old innocent girl. One thing leads to another, the King invites Abike to his palace, which the poor girl declines. But that action by Abike only encourages the randy King to be more daring; a letter is sent to Abike through the head of her department.After consulting with her mentor, Comrade Akanji, who suggests to her to honour the throne, she decides to dare the King by visiting the palace with her friend, Tope.

At the palace of Olomesi of Omesi, still using his first face of power, the King arrogantly subdues Abike’s innocent spirit after proposing to her. He entices her with a car gift and a royal guard, who must ‘take her to school every morning and wait until she finishes in the evening, and later bring her back to the palace’. All efforts by Abike’s parents and Comrade Akanji to secure the release of Abike from the dominance power of the King meet the brick wall. Not even the involvement of two clergymen changes the mind of the King.

But what mere mortals cannot achieve, death achieves it in grand style – Olomesi of Omesi suddenly climbs the rafters after a brief illness. The death of the King shows Abike the way out of the palace for fear of being accused of killing the King. It is after the death of the King that the reader will see how the King has exhibited his second face of power, a socialised version, to Abike. The King not only supports Abike in all her endeavours, but also accepts to be a patron of her GG Education for Africa initiative. The departed King, through his second face, plans to have Abike as a queen to the future King of Omesi Kingdom, the heir to the throne, who is studying in Canada.

This is a unique play that explores development issues such as Human Rights, Women’s Rights, Child’s Rights, Reproductive Rights, Human Trafficking, HIV and AIDS, Education of the Girl-Child, Tobacco Control, Democracy and Governance to tell an enthralling tale of an obedient child against a King,who shows two faces of power to her. Dele Kogbe, with this play, is trying to encourage the youth to become socially responsible, politically participatory and justice-oriented citizens in the not-too-distant future. Above all, the play is stageable and intellectually endearing. It is a must read for all and sundry, especially students, development workers and activists.