The do or die affair movie discusses political leadership in Africa. The setting is in Nigeria where the general election is about to take place. The current president is proposing the vice president as the most suited candidate for presidency. Moreover, one of the governors of the states in the country is expressing his interest to run for presidency.
The movie starts with the president outside the state house talking with one of the zonal leaders. This leader comes from an area with a high population density that can favor his chances of winning the presidency. The zonal leader pledges his loyalty to president by promising to support his preferred candidate, the vice president.
The zonal leader is a polygamist who has married three wives. The youngest of the three wives works in the president’s office as the president’s personal assistant in foreign affairs. This leader is a rich man and the other wives are involved in business.
The governor expressing desire to run for presidency appears for the first time and is seen talking to his mother about his worries with regard to stiff competition in the presidential race. The mother is very encouraging and in the end, the governor is reassured of his chances of winning the presidency. However, he faces a tough opponent in the vice president.
From the definition of leadership, the governor seems to be the ideal candidate for the presidency. There is talk on how the state developed during his stint as a governor. The governor is also seen talking to elders asking for their support. Most of the elders support his bid. Nevertheless, all is not well in the house of the governor. Rivalry between the governor’s three wives comes out very clearly when the second wife is openly jealous of the third wife.
The second wife devices a conspiracy to ruin the relationship between her husband and the third wife. To achieve this, she basis her claims on the third wife’s job and the numerous trips she makes with the president as his personal assistant to assert that the wife has an affair with the president. The husband is enraged after discovering that the third wife has an illicit affair with the president. The shortcoming of polygamous marriages is evident.
The governor comes out as a humorous, religious, and family minded person during a press conference. At the press conference, the governor intent is to inform the public of his aspirations to run for president in the next general elections. Moreover, the press conference helps reveal the role of the governor’s mother the son’s campaign and the entire political career. Both the governor and the vice president belong to the same political party.
This is a dilemma, which the vice president plans to solve by meeting the party leaders and securing their support for his candidature. The meeting with the party leaders takes place in the vice president’s office. The party leaders decline to give the vice president express nomination and insist that the presidential candidate for the party is only to be selected by the delegates conference to be held later.
The vice president is infuriated by a decision taken by the party leaders and this reveals how most leaders want their decision to be followed without opposition. The vice presidents express his discontent with the stand of the party leaders and accuse them of supporting his opponent, the governor.
When the attempt to remove the governor from the presidential election through the party nominations fails, the vice president decides to limit the governor’s chances. He uses the power vested in him to sabotage the businesses of the governor specifically the governors airline. Through the ministry of transport, the airline is banned on grounds that the airplanes are under poor maintenance and they do not meet the standards stipulated by the government. This shows that political opponents can destroy political ambitions of each other.
The governor takes the case to the president who remains adamant unless he drops his ambition to run for president. The president is arrogant towards the governor. The president employs blackmail to ensure the governor does not run for the presidency, but he is determined to go all the way, notwithstanding that the political tide is against him.
The vice president seeks the service of a young ambitious journalist to release discriminatory information about his opponents. The journalist declines to take up the job at first but accepts when she is offered a bribery. The governor also meets the journalist as a result of an article she has written on the newspaper that supports the governor’s candidature for the presidency.
The governor and the journalist meet at the governor’s office. The intention of the journalist, though not clear to the governor, is to steal information from the governor’s camp and sell it to the vice president’s side. The governor is attracted to the journalist and proposes to her that she be his mistress citing his willingness to spoil her.
The wife of the governor, worried that the husband’s ambition is ruining the family, talks to her husband requesting him to quit his ambition of becoming president. The mother of the governor walks into the room.
She is so annoyed by the wife’s request, and alleges that she has been paid to discourage her husband from running for office. The governor is worried about his financial situation and at some point contemplates quitting the race. His mother however, encourages him suggesting that he invest in a different country where the opponents cannot influence his business.
The zonal leader is convinced that his wife is having an affair with the president. When the wife returns, she asks her to resign from the job. The relationship between the president and the zone leader is ruined. The zone leader switches his support to the governor’s camp, a move that costs him his life.
The journalist acquires information about offshore accounts that the governor has. She avails the information to the vice president who, together with the president focus on ruining the reputation of the governor. They plan to charge him in court for corruption. The governor however with the help of his new friend, the zonal leader, wins the case in court.
The vice president through his friend Igwe, hires a witch doctor to kill the governor while at his home. The witch doctor goes to the governor’s home and kills the guard. Before he can get into the house, the witch doctor encounters the mother of the governor who also seems to posses magical powers.
After a brief showdown, the witch doctor is arrested and the plot to kill the governor thwarted. The retired military personnel feel that one of them should be the one to hold the highest office in the land. They attribute this decision to the numerous many sacrifices they have made for the country while the politicians take all the credit. The plan they have in mind is for them to rule for the next 30 years.
The military personnel meet with the president to inform him of their view and ask for his support. The president promises to consider the matter and provide his answer at a later date. While the president meets the retired military personnel, he misses a meeting with the vice president where he was to endorse his candidature. This reveals that politicians are sometimes untrustworthy.
Conclusion
The movie presents three main candidates each with their own traits. Of all the candidates, the governor is the most suited and the best example that African leaders should strive to emulate. The governor has a track record of development in his state. He consults with the people he led as seen when he meets the elders to inform them of his aspirations and ask for their guidance.
The governor unlike the other leaders does not engage in abuse of office to ensure that personal goals are attained. The other leaders, especially the vice president are seen to use wealth and position in the government to ensure that the governor does not run for presidency. This is achieved by ruining his businesses, using witchcraft, and killing the zonal leader via the vice president’s security guards.