A High-Definition Film Studios production and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation present, Ayolola Ayoola (Zinachi Ohams) Joke Silver (Rakia), Bimbo Manuel (Elvis), Bryan Okwara (Timi), Rahama Sadau (Michelle Ohams), Rachel Bakam (show Host), Ayo Emmanuel (Man) Osas Iyamu (Bovi). Cinematographer, Ifeanyi Iloduba; Director/Writer, Bright Wonder Obasi; Producers Bright Wonder Obasi, Chineye Obasi, Osas Iyamu, Nnadi, Dumkenenna.
“If” is a conjunction used to introduce a conditional clause that expresses condition or possibility. It could be a noun or adverbial clause. In a sense, it largely expresses uncertainty. Like in the title, we aren’t assured of the Rebirth Party’s success at the election, though we can be expectant at winning and hopeful. It all seems like a youth daydreaming to me, for a man of thirty-seven years of age to embark on such a herculean task. Let me not bore you with this grammar.
Here, in If I am President, the character, Zinachi Ohams never assumed the presidency, only in passing, but his platform oratorial speeches, his rhetorics, would run Martin Luther King Jr out of town, in expressing his love for Nigeria. Daddy’s Girl (2017) introduced a political campaign that must have been a harbinger of If I am President, largely based on digital capabilities: WhatsApp, Instagram, and GoFundMe. Which I admire for being the first popular median to try such. But it was such a mediocre production because the capabilities mentioned above were not properly or appropriately used for the benefit of the script. And I’m ashamed to mention it here!
Daddy’s Girl Nollywood Movie Reviews Vol1, pp. 97-100, reviews a Ghanaian film inspired by the concept of creating the nation’s own version of The Manchurian Candidate (1962). It is an ambitious project but not much of the theme is exploited and ends up with a story without depth. Imagine Fiona (Martha Ankomah), hardly out of secondary school, single handedly maneuvered through blackmail, Ghanian political upper crust to nominate her father, an engineer by profession, for governor of the state. Worst of all, her father never even had a clue.
Then came another political campaign themed story, Love is War (2019) Omoni Oboli project in which a woman, is thrust unwillingly into politics, to stand against her husband in an election. Omoni Oboli, features herself as lead, Hankuri Philips, a housewife, competes with her husband, Dimeji Philips (Richard Mofi Damijo) in a gubernatorial election. Both Daddy’s Girl and Love is War are harbingers of what to expect in If I am President. Though I can give Love is War, a four star, yet couldn’t match the riveting drama in a national election in If I am President.
When a thirty-seven-year-old young man, Zinachi Ohams (Ayolola Ayoola), hardly had shed his wet diapers, steps into the political arena with barracudas, and elephants, and pythons that could swallow a man whole in a single gulp, the spirit of the dead father couldn’t help but to warn. One could warn a nephew to avoid the risk; an uncle to warn a nephew to find a little cubicle of an office somewhere in the suburbs, rummage through his laptop for a crypto scam, in an entire eight hours and in the evenings, go happily home to his wife and daughter, with a bottle of wine; that way he could live longer.
Not quite five minutes of screen time into the film, the thirty-seven-year-old candidate, Zinachi Ohams gets into a nasty accident in which he and his wife, Michelle Ohams (Rahama Sadau), and daughter get hurt, badly. His daughter remains wheelchair bound all through the film. But when this young man showed up at the political arena:
“Who is this Zinachi?” A political doyen could ask.
“A small boy from a polygamist home,” Zinachi admits.
“We shall show them who owns Nigeria.”
He throws a shudder up the spine of the old establishment. They went into a panic mode. They must not accept it lying down. “Step down from running for the president of the office of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and join us.” The old order would play the age-old political game against the toddlers in the circus: allegations, sabotage, ethnic card, hiring a political gangster to instill fear in the staff of the Rebirth Party. And when all else fails, get Zinachi’s head on the platter. Elvis is desperate to let a thirty-seven-year-old flagbearer of the Rebirth Party beat them to their games. Instead, Zinachi offers conditions that the old order wouldn’t hear at all and threatens the old order grip on power.
A thirty-seven-year-old hardly out of his diapers won’t run them out of town. They called him into a meeting, but the mule headed leader of the Rebirth Party won’t budge. “Do you think I have chance in this election?” A female intending candidate doubts herself. She had sensed the heady wine movement of the Rebirth Party sweeping the country. Another female contender, Proff. Rakia (Joke Silver), seeks to challenge decades of male dominance in politics by promoting a female-focused agenda, but eventually capitulates. In a strategy meeting, the Rebirth Party would effectively use the youths, social media: WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, some facilities earlier productions never had, and they cross their fingers on free and fair elections.
Zinachi’s Rebirth Party appeals to the youths in the country. Youths are simply tired of seeing the old faces that send chills in their spines like Medusa Gorgon, who eats their souls raw. “We shall show them who owns Nigeria!” An old politician could stress. Youths in turn are in possession of the most formidable modern campaign weapon: digital. “Is a digital age and the only power to wield this age is the power of young people,” declared Elvis, (Bimbo Manuel), political stalwart for the old order, who can stop at nothing than maintaining power in the hands of the old.
Elvis, out of desperation, is so bent on maintaining status quo in the Nigerian politics that he engineers the police shooting at the rioters in broad daylight at the thoroughfare, where lives are lost. “We shall show them who owns Nigeria.” Another Doyen says. That single action shifts the support of the youths and the whole country in favor of the Rebirth Party.
If I am President has its shares of the harassment newly formed or Youths backed parties encounter in African politics. In the first place they do not have blessings of the old monies established parties; virtually they do not have the old collegial connections and handshakes–the old schoolboy winks. Even Zinachi’s wife questions his run for president: “Why do you want to be president—just for fame, money, power? Of the millions that have fallen for this Nigeria, how many have been celebrated as heroes?” Mitchelle Ohams (Rahama Sadau) out of anger could ask. They are harassed by paid stalwarts and hoodlums just to terrorize the party into submission. But the Rebirth Party stands it grounds and fares all through.
Where is the “Halleluiah moment” in the film when we shall have seen the daughter gets off the wheelchair as her father keeps saying his daughter would be cured–a plot point. And the Doctor commended him on that: “I love your faith Zinachi.” But the nurse, however, confirms the seriousness of Muna’s case. She never actually had good speaking roles but each time she speaks from her wheelchair, her voice rings through from a point of an oracle. She deserves a point of acclamation when she gets cured. Doesn’t she? I think I could take a jab at our lead character of the story here. If I am President is character driven. It is only Zinachi who moves the story around and all events follow him as well. And what makes Zinachi’s character more human is that he has family, a wife, a daughter, and stringent supporters ready to lay their lives for him. They are human in every sense. We see how Zinachi and his daughter are in bed singing together, and when he tells his wife that he needs her blessing before he could go along with the campaign.
In addition to its focused and streamlined approach, If, backed by the prestigious McArthur Foundation, contains several notable moments related to the political cries of emerging African countries. The scene between Zinachi and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is also a parting blessing to the film. “Perhaps you will be president one day. Only then would you realize what it takes to sit here as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.” Just as the earlier productions on this subject–Daddy’s Girl and Love is War– their forecasts may become realities sooner or later in our politics, and this production besides its crispy color impact, gonna surely leave impact on the minds of the youths of our nations. We shall be getting ready for thirty-seven-year-old presidents, Ibrahim Toure for instance.