SK Johnson: Beverly Osu is the perfect Nigerian housemate. Here’s why

by SK Johnson

osu

Two Beverly Osu stories in 2 days. I must have a massive crush on this girl.

Or not.

ekpembaruga utarijikwakwa
August 18, 2013 at 10:08 pm (Edit)

Beverly is a shame to her parents in particular and Nogerians (sic) in general. She will never find a husband

That little nugget of wisdom and insight up there is a comment under my post, yesterday, about Beverly Osu possibly winning this year’s edition of Big Brother Africa. Ignoring the spelling error and the ridiculous randomness of declaring with all the certainty in the world that she will never “find” a husband (as though husbands are things women go on scavenger hunts for,) the real question is, is she really a “disgrace”?

Let’s get straight to the point here. There is nothing shameful about Beverly Osu. She perfectly encapsulates what Nigeria is, and what Nigerians are. She is brash, tactless, noisy, and a whole bunch of other things which have caused Nigerians all over various forms of social media to condemn her and pity her in equal measure. For every “that girl is a slut,” there is a “that poor girl probably didn’t get enough attention from her parents.” Now, here is my theory; Beverly Osu is no stranger to Big Brother (unless she’s been living in the sea or something.) She knows how this show goes. People want scandal, they want noise, they want sex, they want “realness”. It doesn’t get more “real” than what Beverly Osu serves up in the house. Except, it’s actually not real at all. Sure, Beverly could actually be this carefree, wild thing she portrays herself as (and odds are, she is) but I suspect the only reason we see it is because of a very deliberate attempt on her part to play to that desire in audiences to see someone “keep it real”.

And that is exactly why Beverly is the perfect Nigerian housemate. Lagos, the former capital of the country, is nicknamed “Eko for show”. That last part says it all. Nigeria is a country of airs. Majority of the people here are more interested in keeping up appearances than anything else. I doubt anywhere exists in the world where people are willing to play to any image just to get what they want. The same person who shouts “do you know who I am?” to a random stranger, in ab bid to intimidate him, is the same man who would, in the twinkle of an eye, begin to sob and plead “abeg, I don’t have anything” to a policeman or a soldier.

We are a people of appearances, a bunch of identity-confused robots going about our lives without the slightest attempt to fight the hypocrisy. The hypocrisy might cause us to scream and shout when Beverly gets fingered on live television, and has sex in a bath tub, but it won’t stop us from rushing to click links to the pictures, or from downloading the videos. I doubt it will stop her from finding a husband too, but I digress.

But who knows? I could be the wrong one, and she could actually be a disgrace, who won’t be welcomed back to Nigeria by tons of people at the airport, won’t become an automatic celebrity, and won’t find a husband. I strongly doubt it, though.

Comments (2)

  1. Too true…Extend the hypocrisy to our religion, politics, education, and just about every other sector and you have a full deck. It also makes you start to understand why the country is the way it is- everyone is pumped full of hot air- from the politicians, academics, pastors, imams, civil society leaders, journalists, social media critics et al.

  2. You obviously don’t have to write about..*smh*

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