‘KWAME-NIS!’, NKRUMAH’S LEADERSHIP DYNAMICS, A FACSIMILE OF PLAY DIRECTING IN OSIFISAN’S NKRUMAH-NI!…AFRICA-NI!: PANACEA FOR NIGERIA LEADERS

Abstract

This paper explores “Kwame-nis!”, Kwame Nkrumah’s leadership dynamics, exemplified in Femi Osofisan’s Nkrumah-ni!...Africa-ni! The approach is seen a facsimile of the conventional method of Play Directing, theatrically accentuated in the play. When “Kwame-nis!” is juxtaposed with play making methodology, it is a replica of the conventional play directing approach, which this paper advocates as a leadership loom for Nigerian leaders. A qualitative research design approach, complimented with the tool of descriptive and textual analysis were the methodology through which the primary data of this work were drawn. Transformational Leadership Theory of James MacGregor Burns (1978) is employed to analyse the visionary disposition of Kwame Nkrumah leadership dynamics, juxtaposed with the conventional directing style in the dramaturgical analysis of Osofisan in Nkrumah-ni…Africa-ni! The paper finds that in play directing are deeply seated leadership model the replica of what Nkrumah’s “Kwame-nis!” leadership style typifies for leaders’ world over. The paper therefore, concluded that play directing is a lens through which the concept of leadership is exponentially made visible to the world. It, therefore, recommended that more professional registers should be explored as a medium of communication and pathways to demonstrating ethics in governance for leaders in Africa.