Trilogy:The Burden Of the Giant

Trilogy: The Burden of the Giant

Part I: The Mirage of the Peacekeeper

The Energy: High-stakes, political, cynical.

The Plot: Set in a fictionalized version of a regional conflict (like ECOMOG in Liberia). A Nigerian General leads a peacekeeping mission to restore democracy abroad. While he receives international medals for "Pax Nigeriana," his soldiers at the front haven't been paid, and back home, his own village is being razed by bandits.

Key Conflict: The General must decide whether to use his elite battalion to save the foreign capital or desert to save his own family.

The "Problem": Prestige vs. Reality. The nation spends billions on external image while internal security collapses.

Part II: The Glass House of Asokoro

The Energy: Claustrophobic, satirical, dark comedy.

The Plot: A group of "National Dialogue" delegates are locked in a room to finalize a new constitution. Outside, the city is paralyzed by a general strike. Inside, they argue over the "Federal Character" of the lunch menu and the ethnic origin of the air conditioner repairman.

Key Conflict: A young, idealistic researcher finds a "Redemption Script" that could fix the nation, but the elders realize it would strip them of their immunity and pensions.

The "Problem": Bureaucratic Inertia. The refusal of the "Old Guard" to evolve, preferring a broken status quo that benefits them.

Part III: The River Niger’s Wake

The Energy: Poetic, surreal, hopeful.

The Plot: Set 20 years in the future. The "Pax Nigeriana" has failed, and the nation has fractured into small, warring city-states. Three strangers—a doctor from the North, a farmer from the East, and a tech-head from the West—meet at the confluence of the Niger and Benue. They are all carrying pieces of a legendary "Peace Map" their grandfathers hid during the civil war.

Key Conflict: They must overcome generational trauma and deep-seated suspicion to rebuild a bridge (literally and figuratively) across the water.

The "Problem": Historical Trauma. The need for a grassroots "Pax" (peace) that comes from the people, not the government.

To give this trilogy teeth, let’s dive into the dialogue and stagecraft. Here is a breakdown of the opening scenes for each part, focusing on the friction between the "Great Nation" myth and the gritty reality.

Part I: The Mirage of the Peacekeeper

Setting: A bombed-out school in a foreign capital. General BAMAIYI is being interviewed by a foreign journalist while his ORDERLY tries to hide a leaking roof with a national flag.

Bamaiyi: "Nigeria is the lung of this continent. If we do not breathe peace into this neighbor, Africa suffocates."

Journalist: "General, reports say your men are trading their boots for bread in the local market. Is the 'Giant' hungry?"

Bamaiyi: (Laughs coldly) "The Giant is simply fasting for the sake of his brothers. Next question."

The Action: A radio crackles. It’s not a military update. It’s the General’s wife on a satellite phone, screaming that gunmen are at their gate in Kaduna. He must choose: maintain the "Pax" for the cameras or order a drone strike on his own soil.

Part II: The Glass House of Asokoro

Setting: A lavish boardroom. CHIEF OKORO (representing the East) and ALHAJI MUSA (representing the North) are arguing over a map.

Chief Okoro: "If the oil flows from my backyard, why is the refinery in a place where only sand grows?"

Alhaji Musa: "Because, Chief, the sand is stable. Your backyard is a swamp of agitations. We provide the peace, you provide the grease."

The Action: A YOUNG INTERN enters with the "Redemption Script." She points out that the map they are fighting over is 50 years out of date—the rivers have changed course, and the people have moved. They ignore her, arguing instead over who gets the larger swivel chair.

Part III: The River Niger’s Wake

Setting: The Confluence at Lokoja, year 2045. The stage is split—one side is scorched earth, the other is lush. AINA (a tech-survivor) is trying to hotwire an old radio.

Aina: "My grandfather died shouting 'One Nigeria.' I’m just trying to find 'One Signal.' Does anyone hear me?"

Voice (from the dark): "I hear you. But I’m carrying a Northern flag. If I cross the water, do you shoot or do you share?"

Aina: "I have the map, but I don't have the key. The key is buried in a town called Asaba. We have to go back to the beginning to find the end."

The Action: The three strangers don't shake hands; they trade items—a seed, a battery, and a book. The "Pax Nigeriana" is finally born, not through a treaty, but through a trade of necessities.

Should we flesh out the dialogue for the General’s breakdown in Part I, or should I draft the final monologue for the Intern in Part II who watches the leaders fail?

To drive the knife deeper into the heart of the "Pax Nigeriana" paradox, let’s script the climactic confrontation of the trilogy. This is the moment where the "Big Brother" mask slips entirely.

Part II: The Glass House of Asokoro (The Climax)

Setting: Midnight. The boardroom is littered with half-eaten takeaway and crumpled drafts of the Constitution. The power flickers—the "Giant" cannot even provide light for its own rebirth.

Characters:

CHIEF OKORO (60s): Wears a heavy coral bead necklace that looks like a yoke.

ALHAJI MUSA (60s): Clutching a leather-bound briefcase like a shield.

AMAKA (24): The intern. She is wearing sneakers and a backpack, looking like the future they are ignoring.

[SCENE START]

CHIEF OKORO: (Slamming the table) We have sat here for six months! We have defined the "National Interest" until the words have no meaning. My people want a percentage of the soil!

ALHAJI MUSA: And my people want a percentage of the security! You cannot eat soil when the roads are ruled by ghosts and bandits, Chief.

AMAKA: (Softly, from the corner) The roads aren’t ruled by ghosts. They are ruled by the children of the people you forgot in the last National Dialogue.

ALHAJI MUSA: (Without looking at her) Be quiet, daughter. We are discussing the architecture of a superpower.

AMAKA: (Walking to the window, pointing at the dark city) Look out there. There is no architecture. There is only a "Pax" of silence. We call it peace because the people are too hungry to scream. You are building a skyscraper on a swamp and wondering why the windows are cracking.

CHIEF OKORO: (Sneering) What do you know of "Pax Nigeriana"? We kept the peace in Sierra Leone. We settled the fires in Liberia. We are the protectors of the Black Race!

AMAKA: How can you protect the race when you cannot protect the girl walking home from your own university? You are like a man who buys a designer suit for his neighbor’s wedding while his own children are naked at home.

[A loud explosion is heard in the distance. The windows rattle. The elders freeze.]

ALHAJI MUSA: (Whispering) Was that a bomb? Or a transformer?

AMAKA: (Extracting the "Redemption Script" from her bag) It doesn't matter. To the person in the dark, they sound exactly the same. Here. This script doesn't talk about "Federal Character." it talks about "Human Character." It says the only way to have Pax Nigeriana is to have Pax In Nigeria.

CHIEF OKORO: (Reaching for it, then hesitating) If we sign that... we become ordinary citizens. We lose the "Excellency."

AMAKA: No, Chief. If you sign it, you finally become ancestors worth remembering. If you don't, you're just the men who turned the lights off.

[SCENE END]

The Dramatic Resolution

The trilogy concludes by suggesting that "Pax Nigeriana" is not a military doctrine to be exported, but a social contract to be negotiated at home.

Do you want to see the final stage directions for Part III, where the "New Nigeria" is physically built on stage, or should we develop a villainous monologue for the "Old Guard" who refuses to change?

[The lights go out completely. Only the glow of Amaka’s tablet illuminates the "Redemption Script" on the table.]

continue

To wrap the trilogy, we move to the final movement of Part III: The River Niger’s Wake. This scene provides the "Redemption" the trilogy seeks, moving from the political decay of the past to a radical, grassroots future.

Setting: A misty morning at the meeting point of the Niger and Benue rivers. The stage is bare except for a rusted, skeletal bridge frame. AINA (Tech-survivor), MUSA JNR (Northern Doctor), and EFEOBI (Eastern Farmer) stand at the three corners of the stage.

EFEOBI: (Holding a bag of seeds) My father said this soil was cursed by the blood of 1967. He told me never to plant here. He said the river only remembers how to drown.

MUSA JNR: My father said the same of the wind. He said it only blows secrets and dust from the North to choke the South.

AINA: (Adjusting a solar-powered transmitter) Our fathers were cartographers of pain. They mapped out every reason why we should stay on our own side of the water. But look at the river... it doesn’t have a border. The Benue doesn't ask the Niger for a visa.

EFEOBI: (Stepping onto the bridge frame) If I plant these seeds on your side, Musa, who owns the harvest?

MUSA JNR: The person who is hungry owns the harvest. That is the only "Pax" that matters now.

AINA: (Tapping her device) I’ve found the signal. It’s not a government broadcast. It’s a pulse. A heartbeat. It’s coming from Asaba, from Kano, from Lagos, from the creeks. The people aren't waiting for the "Glass House" to give them a nation. They are building it with their hands.

EFEOBI: This is heavy.

MUSA JNR: It is the weight of a giant.

AINA: It’s only heavy because we’ve been trying to lift it alone for eighty years. Together, it’s just wood and iron.

[As they lift the beam, the stage lights transition from a muddy grey to a vibrant, golden sunrise. In the background, the "Old Guard" from Part II are seen as silhouettes, slowly fading away like ghosts.]

AINA: (Looking into the audience) The "Pax Nigeriana" isn't a treaty signed in a hotel. It’s the silence that happens when the guns stop because the stomachs are full. It’s the peace of a house that finally belongs to its children.

[They set the beam in place. A loud, resonant "thud" echoes through the theater—the sound of a foundation being laid.]

[BLACKOUT]

Thematic Summary of the Trilogy

The Mirage: We cannot save Africa if we are losing our soul.

The Glass House: Our leaders are trapped in a loop of ethnic ego.

The Wake: True peace is a collaborative technology, built from the bottom up.

Would you like to focus on the costume designs that reflect these different eras, or shall we draft the Director's Note that explains the symbolism of the River Niger in this play?

Part III: The Final Scene – "The Confluence"

[The three characters meet in the center of the bridge. They don't shake hands; they join shoulders to lift a heavy, fallen beam of the bridge.]