THE SOCIO-POLITICAL CARTOONS OF MOOYIWA ADETULA AND AKILA JIBRIN IN NATIONAL DAILIES OF NIGERIA 2007-2014
THE SOCIO-POLITICAL CARTOONS OF MOOYIWA ADETULA AND AKILA JIBRIN IN NATIONAL DAILIES OF NIGERIA 2007-2014
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Date
2016-11
Authors
SULEIMAN, Ibrahim Alhaji
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Abstract
Cartoon is a visual art that complements news media in artistic form. It has not been
given much attention in the Nigerian newspapers. Probably because people do not seem
to understand the messages the cartoonists try to pass across to the public. Many of the
reading public just laugh over the caricatures that contain mostly distorted, exaggerated
and funny figures of characters displayed, without contemplating the content. Since the
reading public do not seem to understand the messages of cartoons, the study attempts to
describe, analyse and interpret the works of two selected cartoonists, Mooyiwa Adetula
of The Nation and Akila Jibrin of Daily Trust newspapers. The work of these cartoonists
have not received scholarly attention, hence the need to study and document their work
on socio-political issues in Nigeria from 2007 to 2014 for academic and historical
purpose. The study adopted conceptual and theoretical framework. Conceptual
framework was adopted from Sander in Jari (2007) who posits that, researches that are
historical in nature should adopt qualitative method, especially if the analysis of the data
collected would feature descriptive discussion and interpretation. This concept provides
an analytical base for describing and interpreting the two cartoonists‟ works. MacHovec
in Sani et al (2012) explains various theoretical perspectives of humour and its functions.
These are Superiority, Relief and Incongruity theories. Superiority theory is adopted and
is mainly concerned with self assertion. The relationship explains how things appear
funny naturally. People laugh at others when they feel superior in one way or the other.
This is why cartoonists use laughter from this perspective to satirise and ridicule
politicians. The two studies reviewed on conceptual framework confirm the choice of
qualitative method of research on which this study relied. Chapter two deals with reviews
of related literature taking into consideration concept of cartoons, historical development
of cartoons, satire and humour, impact of cartoons on political leaders and cartooning as a
form of visual art expression. Low‟s (2006) article on William Hogarth (1697-1764),
Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1828) and George Kruishank (1792-1878) discovered that
their cartoons focused on wickedness and man‟s inhumanity to man. Onakpa (2014) and
Onoja (2015) explain the value of cartoons as satirical in nature by using wit and
criticism to checkmate wrong doings. Various other writers based their review on sociopolitical
and economic nuances in their countries. Chapter three is on methodology. The
qualitative research design with historical, descriptive and interpretative bias was
adopted. Face-to-face interview structure was used to collect information from the
cartoonists. Chapter four describes, analyses and interprets seventy two selected cartoons
produced by the two cartoonists and the following are the findings made: (a) Mooyiwa
and Akila are naturally talented in the field of art which they developed from childhood
up to higher level of education. (b) Their cartoons recorded episodes and documented
historical issues and events in Nigeria. (c) They used cartoons as visual weapons to
criticise government. (d) Their works graphically portray endemic corruption that thrives
in Nigeria. (e) Their subject-matter focuses on socio-political issues such as poverty,
inflation, unemployment, stealing, robbery, corruption, political crisis, political deceit,
political vendetta and insecurity. (f) In terms of style, technique and medium, both artists
use black and white and colour rendition to produce their works. Conclusively, cartoonscomplement the news media to educate people graphically, especially in Nigerian
newspapers. Through cartoons, Akila Jibrin (Briskan) and Mooyiwa Adetula have
exposed corruption and its negative effect in Nigeria. The effect of corruption, according
to them, leads to societal decay and stifling of development. Based on the findings of the
study, the following recommendations are made: (a) Establishment of cartoon as a subject
of specialization in the school curriculum. (b) Government should tackle insecurity and
criminality headlong and at the same time create job opportunity for the teeming
unemployed youth and (c) There should be political reform in order to sanitise politicians
and polity for Nigerian democracy to survive.
Description
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE
STUDIES, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, NIGERIA
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE AWARD OF DOCTOR OF
PHILOSOPHY (PhD) DEGREE IN ART HISTORY
DEPARTMENT OF FINE ARTS,
FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN,
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY,
ZARIA
Keywords
SOCIO-POLITICAL CARTOONS,, MOOYIWA ADETULA,, AKILA JIBRIN,, NATIONAL DAILIES., NIGERIA 2007-2014