Analysis by Bolaji Fakeye
CAST:
Chief Haladu Ade Amaka
Aloho
Ochuole
Ogeyi
Madam Hoha
Commissioner of Police
Inspector Inaku
ACP Yakubu – Assistant Commissioner of Police
Doctor
Nurse Halimat
Showboy – Madman
Ayo – Clerk
Mrs Obi, Secretary to Chief Haladu Ade-Amaka
Plot of Harvest of Corruption:
By Bolaji Fakeye
The play is about corruption eating deep into the society of a fictitious country called Jacassa. Chief Haladu Ade-Amaka in the play is the Minister of External Relations of the country and is the principal character that depicts corruption in a public servant representative of the government. Corruption is the bane of most poor countries and Chief Haladu Ade-Amaka has other important personalities who are part of this evil destroying developing countries.
From the beginning of the story, Aloho who came looking for a job at the ministry of external affairs met a former schoolmate of hers, called Ochuole, who engages in illicit activities with Chief Haladu. Aloho was a born-again Christian who was new in the capital city of Jabu in Jacassa country. Aloho was desperate for a job and she naively fell for Ochuole’s deceitful promises for a job with Chief Haladu as a protocol officer, not knowing she would be sexually exploited by chief and used as a cocaine courier.
Aloho was squatting with a very devoted Christian friend of hers who lived in a poor neighborhood in the city, an area called Pannya. Aloho, Ogeyi and Ochuole went to the same university and Ochuole’s personality did not make Ogeyi believe in trusting someone like Ochuole. Ogeyi had strict moral values and believed in God’s time and patience, but Aloho was desperate and even disregarded her moral Christian sense. In the end, it got Aloho in so much trouble that she became pregnant, was arrested for being in possession of hard drugs she did not know were planted on her, and eventually she lost her life.
The plot of the play continued at Akpara Hotel, owned by a Madam Hoha. She is one of the crooks in Chief Haladu’s circle of criminal friends and her hotel is where the chief and Ochuole meets to discuss their nefarious activities. Mrs. Hoha’s discussion with Ochuole shows how the rot of corruption has eaten deep into the Jacassan society, especially the civil service that cannot sustain a family except the civil servant engages in bribery and corruption for extra money. The chief, Ochuole and Mrs. Hoha discussed about using the naïve Aloho to run illicit (drug courier) errands while they make the money.
The chief later visits the commissioner of police who is another corrupt individual in high office that is protecting the chief from the law. The chief’s visit was to bribe the commissioner for using the police, led by a DPO, to supervise the chief’s criminal goods. The police commissioner and Justice Odili are on Chief Haladu Ade-Amaka’s payroll to protect his criminal activities.
Aloho had fallen for the bait to travel to the United States as a protocol officer as part of the new job Chief Haladu and Ochuole offered her. Aloho did not know she was being used to push drugs and she was devastated to find herself arrested and in court. Of course, her smart friend, Ogeyi, had warned her to be suspicious of such a job to be protocol officer overnight and traveling to the USA. But Aloho did not listen, landing her in trouble. There is no shortcut to success and it pays to be patient.
Justice Odili’s position as a judge represents the corruption in the judiciary. He receives cash and gifts from Chief Haladu and thereby uses his position to protect and support Chief Haladu’s criminal acts. When the naïve Aloho was arrested with hard drugs belonging to Chief Haladu, Justice Odili dismissed the case from court after receiving a bribe of five hundred thousand from chief.
The plot takes another twist as it bears on good officers like the Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP Yakubu, and Inspector Inaku, who know Chief Haladu Ade-Amaka is corrupt and determined to investigate the minister. But the commissioner is protecting the chief by preventing his assistant from investigating the minister. ACP Yakubu however was determined not to let the matter rest and he set upon the case with Inaku.
In a subplot, a madman outside Yakubu’s office in rags and loads of junk, is shouting abuses at nobody in particular. The lunatic depicts the ironic ills in the society. He calls himself a rich man who is satisfied with what he has and because he has not stolen anything belonging others. ACP Yakubu asserts the crazy man symbolizes the corruption, lawlessness and craze for money that has pervaded the society so that probably mad should rule the country since the seemingly sane people have gone crazy.
Meanwhile, Inspector Inaku’s investigation took him to Chief Haladu Ade-Amaka’s ministry where he met a clerk called Ayo to help him expose the chief. However, Ayo, in exposing chief’s corrupt ways by producing relevant documents for the police officer. He also demanded a bribe of two thousand naira. The Jacassa society is so ugly with corruption that senior and junior level civil servants are actors at their different levels and only a few ethical officials like Yakubu and Inaku were keen on fighting it and not engage in bribery.
While Chief Haladu Ade-Amaka was able to use his connections with the corrupt judge to dismiss the drug case and acquitting Aloho of all charges, Aloho found she was pregnant. Aloho learns her lesson the hard way and regrets not listening to her friend, Ogeyi, who could not hide the shock that Aloho would do something as immoral as allowing the chief had carnal knowledge of her. Aloho wants to abort the pregnancy, which Ogeyi also counsels her against doing. But Aloho refuses to listen, digging herself deeper in the mess she finds herself.
Aloho tried to abort the pregnancy at Wazobia hospital. The doctor and Nurse Halimatu tries to discourage Aloho from performing the D and C since the fetus was already a full-blown three months pregnancy in her womb and risky. The doctor was a man of conscience who did not want to do it for her.
Meanwhile, ACP Yakubu was angry at the way the drug case that has involved the corrupt chief was dismissed by the court. The ACP and the police commissioner argued vehemently as the police boss did not want Yakubu to investigate the minister or the ministry of external affairs.
Aloho’s bid to abort the pregnancy failed and decided to travel home to her parents in the village. Ogeyi later receives a visit from Aloho’s village; it was Aloho’s younger brother, and he brought tragic news that Aloho died after giving birth to a baby.
The plot takes us to where Ogeyi went to the police and met Yakubu and Inaku with the story of how her friend, Aloho, got involved with the chief who used her to push cocaine and got her pregnant. It was a juicy revelation to the two police officers who have been keen on getting solid evidence to nail the chief on drug-related charges the court had hushed up.
Ogeyi’s statement to the police helped in solving the case and the chief was eventually brought before the law. Chief Haladu Ade-Amaka, the police commissioner and Justice Odili were all arraigned before a court to pay for their crimes; the chief was sentenced to 25 years, the other two to 20 years. Madam Hoha and Ochuole did not escape and bagged 10 years each, and even the clerk Ayo, who also collected #2000 bribe to release a document to the police received a 5-year sentence.
SETTING
The setting of the play is a fictitious country called Jacassa with a fictitious capital called Jabu. Ogeyi who harbored Aloho lived in a poor part of the city called Pannya.
THEME
The primary thematic preoccupation is corruption. Corruption has eaten deep into Jacassan society so much that the police and justice department was severely compromised. The characters of Justice Odili and the commissioner of police depict how Chief Haladu Ade-Amaka could buy justice. The problem of corruption is why graduates like Aloho and Ogeyi were jobless and underpaid respectively, while Ochuole who depicts immorality did not find it hard getting a job. Drug trafficking, sex, bribery and greed have taken over Jacassa, but Ogeyi, Inaku and Yakubu stand for truth that always overtake evil.
The evil effect of Corruption on the society is an eyesore. Corruption is the reason why graduates could not find a good job and the civil service has been reduced to servitude. The civil servants’ pay is so poor that it is difficult to sanitize the service of bribery and corruption. Corruption can also rob the people of the confidence reposed on the police and the judiciary as the Commissioner and the Justice shields Chief Haladu’s nefarious activities because they are placed on his payroll.
The Servitude nature of Civil Service has lured a lot of them like Ayo into bribery and corruption. They see the ministers and directors grow big while the junior officers only scramble for the crumbs. This led a person like Ayo to receive a bribe of #2000 to reveal official document to the inspectors.
Another Major theme in this story is desperation. Desperation is a dangerous killer. We saw how desperation ruin the life of Aloho. She was already a frustrated job seeker and this culminated into desperation. It was desperation that robs Aloho of her rational judgment of the juicy poison that came with her new job offer. She also damned the source of the job, knowing well that Ochuole’s lifestyle was never encouraging and the way she dressed is still suggestive that she has not given up such a lifestyle. The same desperation led her into disregarding her Christian morals, losing her guard to the extent that she gave it all out to Chief Haladu Ade Amaka, which made her pregnant and eventually lost her life.
Nemesis and Retributive Justice is another major theme in the story. As the saying goes, “whatever a man sows, he shall reap” and “No evil man will go unpunished.” Although Chief Haladu Ade-Amaka thrived in his nefarious activities and succeeded in buying the police and judiciary over to his side, his cup became full and he eventually went down with all his cohorts. His activities of embezzlement of money up to #1.2 billion rendered a lot of youth jobless and many are underpaid while he lavish the common good of the people. Having impoverish the people, he uses the same frustrated youths to further his illicit drug deals and eventual uses unsuspecting ladies to satisfy his sexual urge. All these evils came back to him and all his cohorts. The chief was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment as the principal offender, the Commissioner of Police and Justice Odili bagged 20 years each for being accessories, accomplices and betraying the confidence reposed on them. Madam Hoha and Ochuole did not escape as bagged 10 years each for being accessories to the various crime and nefarious activities of the Chief, and even the clerk Ayo, who also collected #2000 bribe to release a document to the police received a 5-year sentence. Justice will always prevail no matter how long.
Unprecedented 