If BBNaija were our politics, would Laycon have won?

Laycon must be one of the most popular names in Nigeria now after he was announced winner of the Big Brother Naija season five on Sunday to the excitement of his fans who call themselves ‘Icons’. In a live show on Wednesday, the Ogun State-born 26-year-old whose real name is Lekan Agbelesebioba, was presented his N30 million cash prize, a new vehicle and a 2-bedroom apartment among other prizes by the reality show organisers. The organisers also announced that they had received over 30,000 videos during the online audition out of which 20 contestants were finally selected and had a total of 900 million votes across all platforms at the end of the show. That definitely looked like the organisers would smile or in fact, laugh to the bank.

I  was not a fan of Big Brother Naija until I watched my debut edition in 2018 which was themed the ‘Double Wahala’ season , where 20 housemates competed for the ultimate prize of N45 million. I watched that particular season meticulously because I had time on my hands; I was slowly inducted into the fan base solidarity and the rudiments of the game.

As a BBN fan, you have to ‘stan’ someone, which simply means standing for someone; making them your favourite(s). That year, I was a die-hard Cynthia ‘Ceec’ Nwadiora’s fan, alongside Bamike ‘Bambam’ Olawumi and Tope ‘Teddy A’  Adenibuyan, whose duo later got married and now have a baby girl together.

Let me save all the details of what attracted me to their persona, their game strategies and uniqueness. The funny part of it all was when my friends would put a call through to me sometimes or even send a chat via WhatsApp to tell me things like “Favour, someone is talking bad about Ceec here, I said let me report them o”. To such, I would almost get furious, trying to make valid points on why the person should not say something cruel about my stan; which we now know is synonymous to one’s favourite housemates.

People go as far as adding a symbol of their stans as a prefix or suffix on their social media profiles, especially on Twitter and Facebook. Now in 2020, the Big Brother show continues to thrive and the fifth edition themed ‘BB Naija Lockdown’ ended on a note that got the street talking about a particular Laycon. At the end of the show, Laycon broke the record of being the first housemate to have a 60 per cent win on the chart.

They have not stopped talking about it – the Laycon fans, the Icons.  Soon, a social media user began to push narratives in the social media space about how Nigerians got distracted from the issues in the country with an ordinary reality show. Actually, I would not say I am ardent fan of the show because I do not have any symbol on my handles, I did not add my favourite’s name to my name or have my timeline extremely filled with contents on each of the housemates, but I can tell the dramas that happened, the emotions that went in  and detail of personalities. To the hardcore fans, they kept videos of almost all the moments of their favourites, went all out to make T-shirts, donate  money, advertise on billboards, compose renditions and free advertisements for those they had fallen in love with during the show. What then is the difference in the voting process of Big Brother Naija and the electoral processes in Nigeria?

When the Minister of Communication Lai Mohammed ‘threatened’ to have the show cancelled, I had wondered if decadence only meant getting drunk or being clingy to someone a housemate got attracted to. What about those who would campaign for elections, get all their manifestos right, get the obvious support of the masses but would only end up having their results annulled or their election process inconclusive? Does that not look like decadence or corruption?

So back to those who went online to say something about Nigerians not having their heads in the right place and how spending a lot of money on some housemate who doesn’t know their fans – could they be explained to the rationale behind sowing and reaping?

A farmer who plants maize knows he would get that same maize at harvest, not rice or potatoes.  Nigeria’s system over the years has made electoral processes questionable, and even when we say free and fair, it would have been after a series of in-house rumbles and turbulence.

Would I prefer to have my time, ideas, money, campaign invested in a platform that allows my voice to be heard with my votes; that the weekly polls would show a result and I would be satisfied because I knew it was not rigged, and having no one coming out to show dissatisfaction and violence?  The answer is a big yes. Have most citizens been questioned over the years why they have voters’ cards but do not appear at polling units or they are implored to vote to get a reluctant participation? I was once a Presiding Officer during one of the elections where I witnessed the realities of almost forcing out Nigerians to vote who they want as their leaders. At the end of the day, the popular phrase would be “no be say my vote go count” or “they already know their winner now”.

Big brother house is probably, right now, the only voting ground in Nigeria with the highest participation; people voting from the comfort of their homes, knowing that the fan base speaks volume of the most deserving winner.

The reality in the game is that anyone who has a fan base that cannot vote well will not automatically win; only those whose fans canvass for more votes would win.

Laycon won on Sunday and the jubilation was surreal and some tweets read; “we did not vote for Laycon in vain, he won”. If he were in a political house, would his votes not have been buried by the more powerful people with the connections, godfathers and the supposed experienced leaders?

Laycon won and no other fan base asked for redress in court. This should serve as a lesson.

Boluwade is on the staff of Tribune.

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