Mercy Johnson production presents Kanayo O. Kanayo (Azor Morgan), Queen Nwokoye. Directors of Photography, Promise Obeiese, Emeka Ezemony; Executive Producer, Amobionyenze Richard. © 2022
God said love your enemy, and I obeyed him and loved myself- Khalil Gibran.
Never heard of him. First, Khalil coined the “don’t ask what your government can do…” phrase before JFK could paraphrase it into his inaugural speech. He also coined the above phrase here, summing up the total of Sir White. Khalil clearly expressed the core of the story. We are indeed introduced to a wealthy man, commanding stature but humble inside, who lavishes, like a drunken sailor, I could say, by my standard as a poor man. He lavishes money on his people or anybody who asks him a favor. You may inquire about the source of his considerable wealth. The screenplay didn’t divulge. Like I said, all I know is that he spends his money like a drunken sailor.
He always had boxes of money nearby that emptied as people approached him for financial help. Upon his arrival in the village, the entourage of the ordinary folks, men and women, runs in tandem with the van until it enters the immaculate compound. Some women spread their lappas for him to walk on. They were joyous. It doesn’t seem like this is his first. The news of his presence in town attracts youths, widows, chiefs, the King, and the Catholic Priest. His presence is a blessing to the townspeople. “Just something like a palliative,” he says at length. Odogwu is in town, and the village rises to its feet. Ezra’s presence in the village exudes energy from the folks as never before.
Chief Ezra Morgan distributes 20,000 Naira to each commoner at the welcome party. They are exhilarated, with their mouths wide open as they leave with bundles of blessings. The town goes into a festive mood. Everyone’s rushing to Ezra Morgan’s house for a share of the gift he brought to the village. Then comes the day he would share money among the widows. The widows danced, kissed the wad of bundled notes in their hands, all to the blessings of the true son of the soil, Ezra Morgan. Then come the three elders, looking more like stooges, to get their shares, and left with a full black plastic bag each, and “God bless Ezra Morgan,” blessings aplenty.
Then, the village widows gathered in front of his mansion, singing his praises and blessing him with a long life and prosperity. Ultimately, he provided each widow with a bag of rice and 20,000 Naira, carefully arranged. The Priest of the Catholic church couldn’t get cash from the rich man but a brand new second-hand car, leaving him exhilarated to the point of losing speech. He formed over a dozen crosses on his chest instead of “thanks.” Having heard of Ezra Morgan in town, the King had commanded his assistance to get chairs under the tree for the elders and all. The King, too, gets what is coming to him–a plastic bag full of money.
The most interesting characters who come knocking at Ezra Morgan’s door are a) a politician who needed money for his political campaign. He required 10 million Naira, which he was readily granted, but it is a loan of half a million to be returned later, and b) is the young fellow whose loan with the bank is almost in default. Another 10 million Naira was loaned out to this young man to pay his account to the bank. This was a lie, but he got away with what he asked for.
Ezra Morgan has a younger brother, who he sent almost half the globe to school. He brought nothing home to show for it. He is the second in command and believes he is next of kin to Ezra Morgan. He helps distribute the money to the community. Okina doesn’t respect his brother’s wife, Chris (Queen Nwokoye). He sees her as an impediment to getting to his brother’s life, who he claims questions Ezra Morgan’s spendthrift nature and the fact that she doesn’t respect his girlfriend. Then it happens that Ezra mysteriously gets sick and is pronounced dead by his doctor. It was a hair-pulling, hysterical cry and wailing for the entire community. It has laughable scenes as well. Not in Ezra’s house, though. The war has begun between Chris and her younger brother-in-law.
See how the community was shocked at the news of the rich man’s demise. We remind ourselves that when one of the elders, Ezra Morgan, had given him a bag of money to take home, he had boasted, “… can’t you see each time we go to his house, our pockets are always padded with money.” Come to think of it, there’s no more. No one goes home anymore with plastic bags full of naira. The whole village went into mourning. There he is, lying in state at the mortuary, with his white cotton-stuffed nose.
But you’d be surprised to learn that when it came to laying to rest this great philanthropist, the Catholic Priest couldn’t guarantee it because he couldn’t verify if Ezra Morgan were a Catholic, truly. The youth couldn’t dig his grave unless they are paid so many thousands of naira. Even the politician who promised to pay him back half of what he had loaned, after winning the election, and had won since, lied that he had returned the money. Ezra’s wife is strapped for where to get money from to bury her husband. And she turned out to be the laughingstock in the community. She got evicted from her home by her younger brother-in-law, but he wants to retain the two kids of his late brother. His younger brother is in haste to take control of the properties.
If you have followed Ezra Morgan’s story, you’d not be surprised to learn that humanity is not to be trusted with your love and care, for both love and care belong to you and yourself. Upon the doctor’s advice, Morgan and his doctor made up a scheme, a prank you can call it, to prove if the community truly appreciates what he does for them, so he pretends to be dead. Sir White is making a statement and addressing the spendthrifts among us. You can be generous, but only to the point that the community for which you are losing sleep over will always take care of itself, with you or without you. That is what the sage Khalil expresses in the one-liner, “…I obeyed God and loved myself.”
I admire Mercy Johnson launching her own production company. She has added her number to Omoni Oboli, Bolani Austin-Peters, Mary Njoku, Ruth Kadiri, Toyin Abrahim, Mo Abudu, etc. Toyin Abrahim produced Ijakumo (2022). She took a slight at the churches mushrooming worldwide and their outlook. Omoni Oboli, including other investors, produced Love and War (2019): An African woman standing up to her husband in politics. Both movies struck a universal theme as Sir White is. The difference, however, is that the two earlier films were not produced in a rush. They meet Hollywood, Netflix, HBO, and Amazon Prime standards. Sir White ended up with grainy shots reminiscent of the NYO productions almost twenty years ago, when Nkem Awo and Patience Ozorkwo fought on the tube, every evening. And Sam Loco Efe (RIP), naked pot belly, palm wine in one hand, would come between the two fellows. Nollywood has progressed significantly from the low-quality visuals seen in Sir White. Nollywood is a milestone away!
However, we can appreciate the effort made by the new generation of female movie producers, including Mercy Johnson, in Nollywood. Ebele Okaro has led a significant effort for females in Nollywood film production. Recently, many actresses have transitioned to become producers in Nollywood. In passing, I wonder why the earliest actresses, for instance, Genevieve Nnaji, Rita Dominic, Omotola Jalade, Tonto Dikeh, and Jackie Appiah, didn’t veer into production; most of the talents after Appiah all ended up as producers. They acknowledge the fact that the glare of the camera is transient. Visual fatigue occurs.
Kudos Mercy!