That “nakedness” should have been a more cogent topic for the First Lady to address, as well as the provision of running water, public toilets, NEPA, food et cetera, et cetera, et cetera!
By Lilian Onoh
Not long after the very successful Nigerian visit of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, better known to the world as Harry and Meghan, the internet was flooded with horrible headlines about the Nigerian First Lady “slamming” the Duchess for her “nakedness”.
Unfortunately, despite the very belated backpedalling by her team following widespread backlash, the words of the First Lady, “We don’t accept nakedness…emulating film stars from America…Why did Meghan come here looking for Africa?” cannot be erased and the only question I have is, “Why?”
Why was it necessary to make such comments so quickly after their visit, which was arguably Nigeria’s biggest publicity coup since Princess Diana’s visit in 1990 and the highest profile visit in the last 21 years – specifically since 2003 when both President George Bush II and the late Queen Elizabeth II visited Nigeria?
With all the wahala in Nigeria, which I don’t need to rehash, was this the most important issue to raise and as a First Lady, is it ever permitted to make such ungracious remarks about your invited guests or even slam citizens of other countries (in this case, America) in what was a horrible diplomatic faux pas? Why mention the Met Gala or Meghan Markle or American film stars (which Meghan was) specifically? The point about modesty in dressing could have been made without singling out anyone or any country. She could have talked about Leah Sharibu and the Chibok girls since she was talking about women. She could have talked about the epidemic of rape and gender based violence in Nigeria. Fashion is not our highest national priority and modesty in clothing is left for parents (or legal adults) to decide, not the First Lady.
Unlike places such as The Vatican and Saudi Arabia, which have enshrined Dress Codes that is always communicated well in advance to all visitors, be you king, queen or pauper, Nigeria does not have a Dress Code for official visitors and in truth cannot do so because the various ethnic and religious groups of Nigeria cannot be forced into one dress code.
The first rule in all speeches by high profile figures, especially political figures, is to avoid referencing specific people or countries when making comments that could cause controversy. In this case, even if the First Lady’s speechwriters or protocol unit failed to vet her speech, she is a former First Lady of Lagos as well as a former high ranking Senator and should have known better.
So, I decided to go back to Nigeria’s recent past and recall the fashion era that I and indeed, the First Lady grew up in.
In the 1970s, the epitome of fashion was the “show-back”. There was also what was called “hot pants” and of course, the standard “mini” – all accessorised with heavy platform shoes of lurid hues and afro hair, which was de rigueur for both men and women. Men’s collars were veritable jet wings and “si’buns” (side burns) was a must. Boogalooloo or bongo trousers cinched at the waist were also high fashion for both men and women.
In the midst of all this was none other than Fela. I still remember the Drum magazine edition that featured Fela flaunting his several dozen female dancers totally stark naked apart from their jigida beads and short raffia skirts, while Fela sported his ubiquitous barely-there white men’s briefs that were briefer than Speedo swimming trunks and never changed his underpants fashion till his death in 1997. And he was from Lagos, the State of the First Lady.
And then there was FESTAC ’77, when Ipi Ntombi came to town and their female dancers had hardly any covering on their bosoms as they stole the show and launched themselves into global superstardom. Nigeria did not ban their performances and it was accepted that that must have been their cultural dance in South Africa. That was also held in Lagos.
In the 70s, being dressed in the “show-back” a.k.a. “Onitsha See My Back” or in modern terms, halter neck dresses or wearing micro-mini polyester skirts or hot-pants was accepted without condemnation as the epitome of fashion and the height of sophistication. Even the Buba and Iro was adapted to be short for much of the 60s and 70s and ladies mostly wore wigs instead of any head covering. Most parents were more alarmed that their sons were wearing high heeled platform shoes under their wide boogalooloo trousers than they were for their daughters wearing minis, hot-pants or the “show-back” worn by Ms. Markle, which seems to have triggered the “nakedness” speech.
The first time that I encountered the “Fashion Monitors” was in mid-1984 after the Buhari Coup. I came back to Enugu from Scotland for a week and met a city under siege by bloodthirsty cruel sadists masquerading as soldiers, whipping women with horsewhips in the streets and to my greatest shock, many were being whipped for the offence of wearing trousers! They would then make these women do frog jumps after being flogged for their “crime”!
After an outcry, they then amended their sadistic abuse by demanding your tax receipt if you were female and wearing trousers. If you didn’t have your tax receipt, you were flogged with their multi-thonged leather whips.
It was a barbaric time, an unleashing of cruelty to pander to an alien ideology and our freedoms were totally decimated under the so-called War Against Indiscipline, which only recorded one success – forcing Nigerians to learn how to queue under pain of horsewhips.
Since that horrendous period (January 1984 – August 1985), Nigeria has not fully recovered from the terror inflicted on it and the entitlement of a certain group to believe they have the right to control all aspects of our lives, including the new norm of politicians dressing as clones of the President, Governors or First Ladies.
The Civil Service, once the epitome of smart, functional clothing, took a turn first into “traditional” clothes on Fridays (in deference to those going to mosques) in the 90s. Then it became a Must to wear “traditional clothes” everyday as a civil servant as a sign of “patriotism” and suddenly, older civil servants, who probably wore minis, show-backs and trousers in their lost youth, took it upon themselves to torture younger civil servants with restrictive fashion rules that they themselves were never subjected to.
For some of these aging fashion monitors, especially those in the Civil Service, nature has taken its inevitable course and rendered their bodies unable to display western style clothing in the best possible light and they act out of resentment and envy of the younger staff. For others, it has given them an opportunity to enforce their religious beliefs whilst claiming that it is apparently our duty to wear Dutch or Chinese “African” prints or brocade, sewn in wild, impractical styles, as evidence of showing off our “tradition”. Never mind that almost all the fabric designers of our “African” prints are Westerners!
In the meantime, it is still not uncommon for many Nigerian men to parade around their neighbourhoods with single wrappers hung under their protruding stomachs, displaying torsos best left undescribed. In fact, the most normal sight around Abuja and all Nigeria is men whipping out their organ to urinate on the roadside and women forced to avert their eyes from the various colours and sizes on public display! That “nakedness” should have been a more cogent topic for the First Lady to address, as well as the provision of running water, public toilets, NEPA, food et cetera, et cetera, et cetera! And there is no need to rush and pass a law to make it illegal if public sanitation facilities are not provided first.
So, on the issue of what is our “culture”, the first is that we never ever disrespect our invited guests. Being gracious to guests is our universal culture – African, Asian, Western.
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Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex came to Nigeria at the invitation of the Chief of Defence Staff. Thus, the First Lady of Nigeria was by extension, their host.
Secondly, The Duke and Duchess honoured Nigeria’s invitation at great inconvenience and risk. And let us be honest, Nigeria right now, is at the very bottom of anybody’s wish list for a visit and is on many countries’ Travel Advisories as a place to avoid at all cost while Nigerians themselves are “Andrewing” their way out of Nigeria in a near-Biblical Exodus.
Nigeria was in desperate need of international publicity that wasn’t centred on deviants kidnapping school children as sex slaves or billion dollar corruption or the plummeting Naira or mass pauperisation of the citizens by the Government when the Duke and Duchess, against all international warnings about the dangers of coming to Nigeria, came anyway.
Their visit put Nigeria in stratospheric positive light at a time that it was and still is practically a pariah nation. The Duchess’s clothing was respectful, elegant and most especially practical.
Her backless “Windsor” dress was full length, loose fitting and airy, as befits a person walking around a hot, very humid country with less available electricity than Heathrow Airport needs to operate!
I was even surprised that she was confident enough that the mosquitoes that killed off hundreds of British colonial occupiers wouldn’t eat her up alive and infect her with malaria, which goes to show that she must have taken the extra care to take her Malaria prophylaxes medication and lathered herself in insect repellent daily before stepping out. She was in fact, the best advertisement for Nigeria for the millions of people convinced that setting one foot in Nigeria is a guarantee for malaria infection.
Nigeria was the biggest winner of their visit – that is, until the “nakedness” debacle.
I am glad that the Office of the First Lady has finally walked back the comments albeit too many days after it went viral. And the sad thing is that the belated denial is not being given the same publicity as the original hurtful comments, which are reprinted right next to the “explanation” from her office.
That whole unnecessary episode soured the euphoria caused by the visit, which could have been leveraged to the country’s benefit in so many ways, especially the Duchess’s vocal declaration that she is Nigerian at a time when so many African Americans, who clearly look Nigerian, would rather claim any other country but Nigeria.
But given the belated explanation, I hope that it is a lesson learnt and one that will never be repeated; and one that will not cause others to shun visiting Nigeria in the future.
To our daughter, Meghan, please forgive. You are welcome home anytime. And in Enugu, you can happily wear your “show-back” or shorts or trousers in peace. D’eje Ada Mazi Igbo.