Anita Hogan's Shame
Comfort Obi
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By way of starting this write-up, let me introduce the character
above. Her name is Anita Hogan. She is an actress. And she was one of those who took part in the Nigeria Breweries Gulder Ultimate Search of last year.
I never heard of her before. But that is because I am not a fan of such things as the Gulder Ultimate Search , and Big Brother – be it Africa or Nigeria. And I am not a great fan of the Nigerian movie industry. Most of their story lines are the same. And, not much work is done on them. But most important, the way some of the actors and actresses carry on, puts me off. They have funny accents, all in a bid to speak like Oyibo. They are what I call: notice me or I die.
But I digress. I was talking about Anita Hogan, and explaining why I didn't know her. Well, I now do. Anita has become a “super star.” Her new status hit me on Monday, August 13. My first pick from my bunch of newspapers and magazines that morning was The News magazine. As I browsed through it, my eyes were assaulted by nude photographs of an adult female and male, obscenely displayed. I paused, looked at what I was holding to make sure it was The News. It was, indeed, The News , and I muttered: “God forbid.” As I read the accompanying story, my eyes kept darting at the door, just so nobody enters suddenly, and sees the story I was reading.
Dear readers, Anita Hogan has entered the league of “newsmakers.” This week, she had two competitors – IBB, and his current nightmare, Hajiya Safiya Vatsa, wife of Major-General Mamman Vatsa who was executed in 1986 by the IBB regime over an alleged involvement in a coup d'etat.
It was tempting for me to comment on the Vatsa issue this week. But I found the Anita Hogan shame very compelling. In all my adult life as a Nigerian, I have never seen such debasement of womanhood, as portrayed by this wannabe and The News magazine.
I am not terribly against the publication of the nude photographs by the magazine. But I am angry with the magazine for three reasons. One: It didn't think of the damage those cursed photographs would do to Nigerian women. Two: It didn't think of the youths who read the magazine (I had to hide mine and have not had the courage to bring it out in my house since then). And three: It debased the pages of this serious magazine by flaunting Anita Hogan's nude photographs. On the other hand, however, it probably achieved something: It exposed the cheap article that is Anita. And told the story of what some of our girls reduce themselves to before expatriates.
What is Anita's story? She says those were her nude photographs, taken by her boyfriend or whatever, (whose nude photograph, taken by Anita, was also published) and that she stored them in her personal computer. Anita explained that she sent the computer for repairs. It was from there that the computer engineer and his accomplices down loaded them and she became a subject of blackmail. When she couldn't meet their demands, they threatened to give it to the press. They did. And the rest, as an adage goes, is now history.
For the records, what happened to Anita was an invasion of her privacy. The computer engineer and the persons who hawked the photographs are beneath contempt. They are criminals. And should be so treated. Whatever Anita stored in her personal computer is her business, so long as it does not undermine national security.
Having said that, let me talk about the disgrace that is Anita Hogan. Since I saw those published photographs, I have been wondering what kind of a girl she is. What kind of a woman would gleefully point at her genitals, while a man – boyfriend, lover or husband – snaps away? What kind of a girl would allow herself to be so humiliated, so debased by a man, no matter how important that man is in her life? Of what use were those photographs to Anita? Why would she store such trash in her personal computer? Any man who takes the nude photographs of his woman is sick! And, rightly, thinks the woman is cheap.
Anita has not fully understood the import of what she has done. Or the import of what has happened to her. She is talking about going to court. Let her. But what does that achieve? I am all for punishing the culprits. But does it help Anita in anyway? She says, according to her lawyer, that she has lost her three-month old pregnancy. She should thank her stars that she did. How would that child have felt growing up and seeing her mother's nakedness splashed on the pages of newspapers and magazines? Anita is not remorseful. She identifies her old expatriate partner-in-disgrace as her finance. True? What is his name? Where does he work? Whoever he is, he is irresponsible. Does Anita's family, if she has any, know him? Who and who were there when the so-called fiance “carried wine” on her head? These are cheap lies.
Anita's cock and bull story neither makes any meaning, nor solves any problem. The bottomline is: Are those nude photographs Anita's? She says yes. She says she feels like commiting suicide. Only? I thought her funeral had since been held. Look at her. Those who genuinely want to commit suicide don't make their intentions public. They just do it. Anita should quietly, if she means business, take a large overdose of a poisonous drug, or run into a moving train. Short of that, she should think of leaving the country, if any foreign embassy would give her a visa. Having portrayed herself the way she did, they may, rightly, label her a prostitute, and refuse her visa.
More important, however, Anita Hogan should be banned from acting in the home video. She is bad news to the industry. Our children and our youths watch them. She has painted herself in coal tar. And is no longer fit for innocent eyes. She should go and hide her face in endless shame.
