Arts is perhaps one of the strongest known lasting weapons yet available to man. Conversely, it is multi-purpose. Firstly, apart from the message which cartons, sculptures, fiction, poems, etc. give, they relax and satisfy he who produces them. Thus, a very important aspect of arts is the satisfaction to the artist of having expressed, certain strong feelings which he might have.
Secondly, the artist, because he lives in society, tries to reflect the feelings and mood of the society. He/she stands out to talk when no one else will. He, of course, cannot or should not be expected to rise over and above the subjective position which he finds himself.
In the case of cartoons particularly, most often they are light hearted commentaries on contemporary issues. They are light hearted because at least they allow you laugh off some rather strong messages. During the administration of the Buhari/Idiagbon duo, when human rights were not respected “ and the Decree No. 4 dangled over heads, swinging round lime the Sword of Damocles, cartoonists spoke our minds, they said what many itched to say. They became, in a word, our spokesmen.
Though every artist of whatever brand has, his or her bias and often expressing same very strongly, it is not out of place to state without fears of contradictions that the 1984/85 cartoonists boldly spoke the minds of most Nigerians. A look then at The Punch, Concord, West Africa, Guardian and Daily Sketch would give one the message. Newspapers which did not have artists or poor ones endeavour to have one or better hands. In fact, it is this love for art that tabloids such as ˜Ikebe Super sell. Newspapers, like Vanguard today sell, to my mind, because of Lawrence Akapas critical and humorous mind “ whose criticism seems to be based on love for Nigeria, and his perception of what Nigeria should be. Little wonder then, that he expresses sentiments of Nigerians.
Take a look at Bisi Ogunbadejo from the piercing pieces in West Africa to the Guardian, and African Guardian, you will notice a streak of patriotism, ˜objectivity, sense of humour and courage. Yes, courage “ to say without fear. These are artists, these are cartoonists who one will ready any day and will have their place in the annals of our history.
These are artists because they chose to be and not those who went into arts (cartoons) because they had nowhere else to go. Like Dele Giwa, Odia Ofeimum and other courageous men, they prefer to say it and frankly too. They saw that arts was different from vendetta and could not be equated with mediocrity. This is perhaps, why some people buy some newspapers/magazines, because of the cartoons “ cartoons of principles.
There are others though “ who praise-sing, insult and, indeed even commit pencil to paper because it will serve some ego “ or bring in some expected rewards from pay masters. Though they masquerade as cartoonists “ and might have been in the ˜profession for long, it is always easy to discern that they have no readership apart from a motley of friends, relatives.
They are very unknown and cannot have the self-confidence or courage to say when they should. Unlike other cartoonists who draw thousands of readers to their newspapers, these set of ˜cartoonists rarely have their cartoons read. To make up for this, they become unreasonably arrogant, and self-conscious. They are concerned with nothing apart from self. They prefer holding their newspapers to ransom because if the papers progress some new energetic, brilliant and courageous hands might be employed hence diminishing their ˜empires. Because they are not read and their bylines are mere waste of energy, ink and newsprint, they engage in intrigues, and dirty gossips in beer parlour “ waiting for opportunities to demolish anyone who is courageous, bold, frank and credible. Their game is simply to go opposite all that is good and correct “ they are adverse to light and good “ and would prefer darkness and obscurity, because in obscurity they are hardly scrutinized “ save for perhaps the savoury remarks from a coterie of selfsame evil doers and obscure colleagues with whom bottles and cartons of beer are sunk in beer parlours.
Largely because they are unrecognized, they create means of calling for publicity. They seek by all means to call attention to themselves. They ensure that their profiles are put in pages of their papers “ and they go about scouting for sponsors to print their collection of nonsense.
However hard they try, they never get recognition “ because they are incompetent and could be thrown out any time, they see enemies in anything radical, anything which challenges the status quo, quite understandably too, because the status quo is incompetent and uninspiring. They fear that they will be swept to the dustbins “ which they will one day “ if and when there is a change, thus they oppose anything new and innovative, preferring to continue with rubbish from which they get their unearned daily bread. By the nature of their precarious living, they have to become praise-singers “ (see Engineer Y. Z. Yaus reply to the Bauchi Praise Singers serialized by THE STANDARD).
These people do a great disservice to their sponsors because of this incompetence brought about by arrogance, little learning and unabashed ignorance which they will have you believe that they are geniuses.
You are extremely lucky if you have never come across such people “ because they irritate, stink and spoil things for you. If you are the superstitious type, seeing them first thing in the morning spoils the day. It makes you regret the whole day. Perhaps, the best description for them is that they are a bad omen.
Because they are persistently incompetent “ and are unable to divest themselves of this weakness you notice that they are touchy, highly sensitive and always blaming everybody especially the ˜radicals for their shortcomings. Since they cannot see beyond the contours of their noses “ they are simply thinking the world and its realities star and end with the warped images which they have created in their crooked minds. Regrettably, they think that these warped images, so strongly influenced and shaped by their ignorance, arrogance and petty-mindedness whose stork-in-trade is evil and anti-radicalism, which they ill-understand, are the correct and only proper things.
Never mind the fact that they criticize radicalism for they do not understand it and when asked why the opposition, they fumble and resort to outdated and discredited disinformation dished out by the C.I.A. As far as they are concerned, radicalism is objectionable, because uncle Yankee-sponsored childrens book once said so. Even their reasons for the rabid opposition to radicalism are suspect, opportunistic, and in fact embarrassing to his ˜admirers who have to be at pains in defending what decent people see clearly as indefensible. He may oppose communism “ but when asked what the communism is, he would have no answer “ or may at best resort to some incoherent recently crammed anti-communist propaganda manufactured by the C.I.A.
Thus, in a reality, he is always at par with a society that seeks to advance, a society “ like any normal society as Karl Marx and Frederick Engels postulated is always in motion “ in a constant state of growth and development.
This, everybody sees, except religious bigots and fake cartoonists, who prefer the status quo. He prefers a living society to behave as if is dead to benefit his sponsors, hoping that such benefits will water down to him. Unfortunately, he parades himself as an artist, but arts thrive on realism, on what people see daily? Because he misrepresents reality and the aspirations of the people he rarely gets the needed support. He is often a sight of scorn and disgust.
To save himself from the public disdain therefore, he behaves as an expert, whose services are highly needed. He refuses even at times to render his ridiculously embarrassing and cowardly services. Then with the glee of a successful man, he resumed sketching when begged, pretending to have that which he does not possess.
Arts which get popular acclaim and those which have remained long are those which thrive on aspirations of people and reflect “ even if in differing tones the situation of the societies. They told human stories. See Shakespeare, for instance, who because of realism captured the theatre of his time. Thomas Hardy, another novelist and poet, who is avidly read today despite the generation gap. Or names such as Lev Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky or even our African novelists, the Ousamane-Sembens, Denis Brutus and Ngugi Wa Thiongo whose works and memories are cherished by so many.
Or consider our Bisi Ogunbadejo who does not advertise himself, or scramble for unnecessary publicity “ his cartoons in the African Guardian are so aesthetically good, the realism near to truth.
This is the only insurance to good arts. And we pray that cartoonists whose sketches repulse rather than entice, no matter their resort to anti-radicalism have no place in our society and reading culture. They are on the wrong side of history and will continue to remain frustrated. An artist should be bold enough not to say it when it is not.
Yours sincerely,
Lover of good ¦
By Rima Shawulu
The Standard, Monday, November 3, 1986