Monday Musings: Based On Logistics, Bisola And Not Efe Emerges As The True Winner Of Big Brother Naija

Yesterday was an exciting day in Nigeria. A whole nation tuned in to watch the finale of the Big Brother Nigeria. Nothing has truly united Nigeria this much since the Abubakar Abdusalam-led military government agreed to transfer power to civilians. And arguably, nothing has divided opinions of Nigerians as much since then too. If I was ever curious what motivates producers of reality shows to invest hours of man-power just to film everyday lives of people, the scene of my living room last night where my mother, sisters and nephew sat transfixed in front of the TV screen for nearly three hours provided the answers.Marvis, Debbie-Rise, T-Boss, Bisola and Efe must have felt the eyes of the whole falling on them last night. And that was quite an unnecessary additional pressure with their thoughts already fixed on the 25 million Naira cash prize that seemed so near after surviving 78 days in the house and yet seemed so far away. I must admit that I also caught up in the excitement and anxieties of last night. My interest in the show had been fleetingly casual at first. But over the weekend, there was a geometric explosion in scale. And the reason was easily traced.It was partly due to my fortunate discovery of Bisola’s comic videos on Instagram, partly due to picking up Efe’s highly addictive catch-phrase “Based On Logistics”, and also suddenly recognising how uniquely beautiful T-Boss was. So here I was on the last weekend of the competition unexpectedly with love for 3 of the 5 finalist housemates with probably only a sunset left to pick a favourite before the show was all done.I must have been feeling the average pulse of the voting public because the trio emerged as the top three at the end of the finale. Although the results of the voting showed an overwhelming victory for Efe (his total votes were more than the total of other four contestants put together), second-placed Bisola and third-placed T-Boss won’t be getting on the flight home empty-handed. Efe spurred on by votes by the “street” went home with the grand prize of 25 million Naira and a branded brand-new SUV. Bisola would be visiting the United Nations Assembly in New York to give a pro-girl education talk for winning the One Campaign while in the house while T-Boss was handed a 500,000 cheque by sponsor PayPorte for being the overall best games-master while in the house. But of the three, only one truly went home as the winner.Tokunbo Idowu aka T-Boss might truly have people with private jets hitting on her like she claims but she would be the first to admit that there is a huge painful difference between 25 million Naira and 500,000 Naira. That is even less the the tithe she would have had to pay if she had been the winner. If going home with enough cash to buy two iPhone 6 with some spare change left is worth you been cooked up in one house while being watched and scrutinised by the whole for over two months is worth it, that is left for her to decide. But the odds are not looking good. But hey, she is coming home with increased fame in Africa.Efe Ejeba might just the newest most googled name in Naija right now. The humble boy from Warri would serve as an inspirational story for lots of souls on the street. From obscurity, if you have character and originality, success can be overnight. Or at least over-two-months. But what propelled him to the apex might also like be his undoing. In a conservative village/community-thinking nation like Nigeria, when people are part of your success story, they ALWAYS come back to be paid what is “owed” them. Suddenly, they expect all their problems to be solved by their new Messiah. And rather mind boggling, all these problems are usual financial in nature. So Efe should not be surprised if people approach him constantly to be paid “crumbs” from his new seemingly infinite cash prize to help with one “emergency” that they have. And if they sense any form of refusal from him, they will remind him of where he was before and how they were part of the people that propelled him to his new status. It will take a determined heart of steel not to cave in and the smiley-faced Efe does not seem to have one. So his financial tank will most likely start leaking. But hey, he is coming home with increased fame in Africa.The true winner last night was truly Bisola Aiyeola. It is correct that she didn’t go home with any sort of cash whatsoever but she got the better deal and if she is smart, she will end up better off than if she had won the cash instead. And if there is one thing I’ve learnt from Bisola’s Instagram page, SHE IS SMART! Being giving the platform to give a speech to the United Nations Assembly is a chance that world leaders crave. Even though she might end up talking to a watered down version of the crew, her resume would still read something like “Gave a speech to the United Nations Assembly at the UN headquarters on the importance of girl empowerment”. And that is massive pull. Companies and brands would pay to have people with such labels associated with them. There is a little well-kept secret in the world of non-profit organisations – nothing helps your financial prospects better than be branded as an activist/NGO ambassador. Bisola is about to get introduced to corporate world she wouldn’t exchange for anything. And hey, she is about to have increased fame in all the world’s nations.Photo Credit: Getty

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