Rogbodiyan by Anish O'Cornel

                                                                Rogbodiyan
                                                                   Bakare ojo Rasaki

Plot

                The play is set in the fictional thorp of ‘Koroju’, ‘A land where merit is thrown to the winds…an entity controlled by non-entities…abode of religious hypocrites and political sycophants…(a land) where intelligence means nothing and the academically brilliant is a potential pauper…a land where truth has been hindered and falsehood exalted’{Rogbodiyan 7}.

In the land, the search for a new king is called into question. The regent has decided to bequeath regal authority unto a loyal person from the community. And having made her long causerie on the bequest, she decides to involve the traditional chiefs (Aloba, Eto, Abere and Salotin), into the matter of selecting the right person who will be due for the kingship title.

                Asagidigbi  (the big Eagle) and Gbadegeshin become willing bodies who are ready to take on the kingship post. Probo no  publico, each  of them decide to vociferate their aims and objectives just as it is in the modern-day politics. Soon, Asagidigbi becomes the king immediately after he had bribed the chiefs. However, as a rite to be performed by a new king, he is to be in seclusion for seven days to confer with the ancestral spirits. The seclusion ends with the Oge festival. Also, for this period of seclusion, he is to select a new Arugba Oge, whose duty will be to carry the sacrifice and lead the procession to the shrine on the festival day. So, like the new king, the Arugba Oge must be kept in seclusion at the palace until the day of festival. She must remain pure in body, mind and soul in order for her sacrifice to be acceptable to the gods. All these are the cultural codes for the religious placement of a new king. But the reverse is the case when Asagidigbi-now the king- starts to misbehave, first, by getting himself drunk and later by sleeping carnally with the Arugba Oge, even while both of them are yet to complete their days of separation. Having perceived this malignity, though at the initiatory passage, the Agogo , usually the King’s very special adviser as well as, a curator of the traditions of kingship, stabs himself in the stomach and dies.

                There is climax in the kingdom. The gods have become angry at the people, as a result of the error committed in the palace. Therefore, as a punishment for this transgression, the whole village, including the king, is stricken with different forms of deformities, whose cure can only be procured from river Awogbaarun. The river is situated at Ite-Esumare in the land of the dead. And the one who can go to the land is one who will dress like the king, because, already, the king too is affected by the epidemic.

                Adegbani finally volunteers himself for the service. He successfully gets the water from the river after making negotiation with the king of the dead to always offer a sacrifice to him. Assured that he is going to be made king, Adegbani offers the water to the people to drink. He becomes the king, while Asagidigbi is immediately bundled off and ex-communicated.

The Effect of the Play on the Political, cultural and                      Social Situation of the Country

·         The play pictures the various hierarchies of corruption, maladministration, violence, mis-appropriation, terrorism in all gubernatorial strata of the country.

1. ·         It depicts the widespread level of bribery in all bureaucracies.
2. ·         It features several characters that are archetypes of contemporary political individualists, egomaniacs and diplomats. Such characters are found in the cabinet of chiefs:  Aloba, Salotun, Eto, Abere, the Akigbe and lots more.
3. ·         It also punctuates on the issue of moral decadence which thrives in all aspects of the constituency. For example, the king gets himself drunk and even sleeps with the Arugba Oge who is to remain virgin before the Oge festival.
4. ·         The play portrays a decline in cultural values and normative behaviours.
5. ·         It demonstrates the mordant effects of corruption on the divan of traditional jurisprudence.
   ‘’Aloba: If people like you could enslave themselves to money and allow their conscience to be bought then I weep for the land…’’ {Rogbodiyan 26}
6. ·         In a stringently unimaginable artistic twist, it demonstrates the high level of insecurity, hypocrisy and pretension amongst the leaders of the land. For instance, as you read the strictures of Aloba against the others whom he sees as corrupt (from chapter 18-28), you will think he is such an immovable purist. Yet, he too tends to even be the worst of them all.
7. ·         Considering the allegory of the epidemic, the play reveals to us what happens when corruption has grown beyond its ostensible heights: The economy of the country is affected, thereby leading to mass hunger, poor academic achievement, socio-psychological violence, inflation, suffering etc. Not only are the people affected, especially when the whole thing melts down- the leaders too are affected, because the country- in its entire ramification- becomes totally fruitless and dead.
8. ·         On the positive, the text makes use of proverbs richly plus a goodish reference to the religious artifacts and ritualistic elements of the Yoruba culture. Those applications depict a documentation of the salacious Yoruba-Nigerian cultural heritage which is transmuted into a long-lasting text for a generational reading.

Examples of Proverbs Used:

1.       A cockerel which has been visited by the long knife cannot crow at dawn.

2.       A stubborn goat must be prepared to accept the pot as its dwelling place.

3.       The chicken is saved from cold by its plume.

4.       The crown un-worn is a crown smeared with dung. The staff unheld is a staff buried in the mud. The power unused is a power unworthy of being owned. (pg 12)

Aside from the fact that, these are proverbs, they also serve as wise sayings extracted from the Yoruba language ‘figure’ system.

                Religious Artefacts/ Ritual Elements

1.       The Igba: The Igba (calabash) normally contains some ritualistic concoctions having a mixture of herbs, woods, leafs, water and some other things. It is exceptionally relevant to the ritualistic fete of the Oge festival.

2.       Incantation: The Ese Ifa (a sacred aspect of the Ifa spiritualized poetry) is evident in (Rogbodiyan  44).

3.       Myth: ‘’The Land of the Dead’’.

4.       Opele: check (Rogbodiyan  44).

5.       Names of gods/ deities: Orisa nla, ifa (the oracle of palm nut), Ebu (inseparable companion of Ifa), Obatala (the creation god), Ogun (the god of iron). (Rogbodiyan 45)

Symbolism as a Motif in the Character’s Naming System

                The term symbolism as used above is fully expounded within the context of charactonym.
Charactonym: A name which suggests the personality trait of a fictional character. Such names as used in the drama are;

ASAGIDIBGI (the big Eagle eye) 1.       Pride 2.       autocracy 3.       aristocracy 4.       authoritarianism 5.       Totalitarianism.

GBADEGESIN (to set the crown upon the horse)   1.       subtlety 2.       Sophistry 3.       Brutish democracy

ADEGBANI (the crown saves) 1.       Salvation 2.       Peace 3.       Equity 4.       Justice

Note: The aforementioned items above can also serve as relevant themes which are likely to be found in the drama.