Mfonobong Inyang: Exploring Stories With Shock Value

In this instalment of perspectives connected storytelling, I privation to research however daze worth and outrageous plots person been utilized to signifier communication. Some of these stories are fictional, portion others are factual; however, they illuminate however the abnormal tin beryllium normalised. 

Acrimony

If you watched Tyler Perry’s Acrimony and you weren’t conflicted connected who should presume mea culpa betwixt Melinda and Robert, past you’re peculiar due to the fact that adjacent 7 years later, fierce arguments inactive ensue astir which idiosyncratic should person done better. Melinda and Robert met successful assemblage nether dire idiosyncratic circumstances. Despite being academically gifted, Robert couldn’t spend a extortion implicit his caput and had to settee for an RV. Melinda had a decent socio-economic background, but she wasn’t precisely the brightest pupil successful class. Robert’s determination to assistance Melinda with her grades sees the platonic narration rapidly germinate to a romanticist one, and contempt Robert cheating connected Melinda with Diana, they some get married. It tin beryllium tempting to enactment Melinda successful the brainsick woman radical chat, but present wa a pistillate who gave up her boyfriend, her womb and fundamentally her beingness to enactment Robert’s dream. Yes, she got bushed and walked away, but seeing him reunited with the aforesaid miss that helium had cheated connected her with galore years ago, stirred up thing successful her that fewer radical are equipped to manage. Indeed, hellhole has nary fury similar a pistillate scorned.

Robert argued that helium had ne'er cheated connected Melinda since then. Yes, she carried the fiscal value of the household arsenic helium spent years trying to motorboat the Gayle Force Winds. In his defence, helium didn’t involvement retired Prescott’s bureau with Diana successful mind; Diana was employed overmuch later. She didn’t conscionable springiness him a spot to stay, assistance him get successful the doorway to transportation his idea, but besides played nary tiny portion successful ensuring helium got the concern portion retaining the product’s intelligence property. Robert acknowledged Melinda’s contributions and gave her a generous cheque successful appreciation. Did helium spell excessively acold erstwhile helium did precisely what she promised Melinda for Diana? You spot wherefore that movie is crazy; each broadside has valid arguments.

The Yassification of Absurdities

There is simply a punctuation I don’t similar to notation astir Nigeria. Still, erstwhile I was penning this, it unluckily captured a dystopian position of the country: “if idiosyncratic explains Nigeria to you and you understand, it means the idiosyncratic didn’t bash a spell occupation of explaining to you”. I had to insert this due to the fact that of the communicative that those who cognize thing astir nation-building emotion to push; however those who telephone retired the ills successful the governance of the state are someway de-marketing Nigeria. For a moment, let’s spell done immoderate headlines and, astatine the end, measure successful your ain words however specified stories resonate successful the minds of right-thinking radical astir the world.

It’s atrocious capable that we’re inactive spending a ton of wealth connected needless commissioning, but however bash you explicate that determination is pomp and condition implicit the commissioning of little than 5% of a project? The aforesaid authorities that claims to person saved billions from removing subsidies and recovering illicit funds is inactive requesting outer loans? Do you cognize that the biggest infrastructure task successful Nigeria was commenced without the legally required biology and societal interaction assessment? In a well-governed country, allegations of the fund being padded to the tune of billions should beryllium the biggest news, but it’s not. The bully radical astatine 1BudgIT did the Lord’s enactment of highlighting, amongst different things, that N390bn was being budgeted for 1,477 streetlights – amounting to a staggering N266m for a azygous streetlight!

In 2025, immoderate pupils had to beryllium for their WASSCE astatine nighttime and with the assistance of candlesticks, and we are moving astir arsenic though this is simply a mean thing? You don’t request to beryllium a kid scientist to cognize that the lawsuit is sowing seeds of trauma successful the psyche of those kids. When adjacent you are anxious to archer radical that they are de-marketing Nigeria, inquire yourself: “Are these the champion stories...