…A tribute to Francis Duru
I opened my phone and saw very scathing comments and belligerent responses to what he had said about the origin of filmmaking in Nigeria. Some alleged that ethnic bias fuelled his conclusions, while others vituperated that he spoke out of wilful disrespect for established industry memory.
Whatever motivated the fallacy he allegedly spewed, I, as usual, became consumed with the passion to put the records straight, for the sake of our students, the learning public and the little ones growing in the industry. This is one industry in which a high percentage of what is documented about its history and development is half-truths told by unpatriotic louts and written mostly by lazy foreign researchers who came into the country, invited those they knew to wine joints and recorded their voices as authentic data on the history of the Nigerian film industry!
As one who has been part of the industry since 1981, with his first appearance in Hubert Ogunde’s _AROPIN N T’ENIYAN_, and who has served the industry at different levels since then, I have joined forces with stakeholders of like minds who are quietly working to ‘write away the wrongs’. Therefore, I was going to join the bandwagon and challenge this new untruth. As I picked my pen and scribbled the first few lines, I sensed a struggle within me.
What Sigmund Freud described in his structural model of the psyche as superego took over. The superego is the moral and ethical component of the human personality that incorporates societal values and functions as the inner critic. This inner critic overwhelmed me and gave me several reasons why I should not openly criticize a close friend and collaborator of twenty-eight years.
What if the statement credited to him is not true? What if he was quoted out of context? He has been close to you since 1998, you have done professional things together and you are just a call away from him. Why don’t you have a personal phone conversation with your brother instead of joining a band of online mutilators? The voice questioned and instructed me from the inside.
I dropped my pen as my mind journeyed back in time.
In 1998, I functioned as the lead adjudicator for the grand finale of the NYSC National Drama and Dance Competition. Francis Duru was then a youth corps member in Oyo State; he played the lead character in their drama entry. Although Oyo State came third in that competition, I found Francis the most convincing role interpreter and consequently declared him the winner of the Best Actor prize.
Since then, I have had both a personal and professional relationship with him. He relocated to Abuja around the same time I did. I was his regular resource person when he was organising training programmes for members of AGN in Abuja. He joined me to organise workshop programmes for my students at the University of Abuja. We did productions together: _Drums of War, Etutu,_ etc. We both worked with Sam Dede in the glorious days of CARNIRIV in Port Harcourt.
He is not a rabble-rouser. He is not an ethnic jingoist, he is never biased, he is a genuine believer in the spirituality of Jesus Christ, he is selfless and always looking for a way to contribute to the growth of others, especially young people. I can say of him: Standing here is a complete gentleman, respectful and honest. A consummate creator and performer of the arts.
By the time I returned from the flashback, it was over. I was not going to proceed with the rejoinder I was writing. Instead, I called his number. The voice from the other end told me he was sleeping and would call me back. I awaited that return call until I read of his passing a few days ago.
God of all good things! How thankful I am that I listened to that voice of caution. Kai, maybe we should begin to be less critical and judgemental but invest more in our relationships. Our relationships as friends, colleagues, church members, neighbours, etc., should matter more than other things. It makes life more enjoyable, more meaningful and can even add to the number of our days.
I mourn you, Franco Lee, as I and Kayode Aiyegbusi call you. I pray that God will grant all of us, including Ovunda, Fidelis, Sam,Otoro, Julius and your darling wife and children, the fortitude to bear the loss. May your kind reincarnate.
**Prof. Bakare, Scholar, Performing Artiste, and Public Commentator, writes from Ado-Ekiti.
