Profiting from pain: How skit makers promote discrimination against PWDs for online fortune

In this feature, VICTOR AYENI examines how the rapidly growing and profitable skit-making entertainment industry uses persons with disabilities as a grist for comedies and jokes which consequently deepens the discrimination they face in society

The skit played out like a typical slapstick comedy, except that it was video content that was made to look like a real-life scene.

In the prank video produced and shared by a popular TikTok comedian known as Skeske, an excited lady dressed in a white t-shirt and blue jeans is seen enthusiastically entering a gated compound.

After embracing a young man, presumably her lover, who was seated in a wheelchair, the unnamed woman suddenly stepped back, her joyful expression swiftly shifting to one of anger.
“What’s this? No, you can still stand up, get up,” the lady said as she grabbed the young man by his arms, trying to make him stand up from the wheelchair.

Noticing his reluctance to stand, the woman abruptly shoved Clement out of the wheelchair, nearly causing him to fall. Fortunately, the comedian and another woman nearby quickly stepped in to physically support him.

“You wait for a guy for over five years and you have been talking to him, you are doing video calls but he didn’t tell you that he is a cripple.
“And you don’t have any other person that you are dating in Nigeria, and you are telling me to calm down,” the visibly angry lady retorted in the video seen by Saturday PUNCH.

Insinuating that the man’s physical disability is a result of a witchcraft spell, she added, “God forbid that I will ever have anything to do with your witch mother. How sure are you that she wasn’t even the one who put you in this wheelchair?”

Later in the video, the young man, now standing beside Skeske, introduced himself simply as Clement. He revealed to the comedian that he planned to prank his girlfriend by pretending to be disabled, as a way to test her loyalty.

Although the 20-minute-long skit was scripted to entertain its viewers, not everyone who saw the video which has now been viewed by over 25,000 users since July 24, was excited.

“I hoped that I would see something entertaining, not appalling!” a Facebook user, Maxine Smith, wrote in the video’s comment section.

In a similarly alarming scenario, another skit video posted by Skeske in September featured a woman in a wheelchair being roughly shoved to the ground by an enraged opponent.

These skits represent a trend of Nigerian social media content creators and comedians who mine comedy out of the experiences of persons living with disabilities and use their conditions as grist for jokes and pranks.
Despite the Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act enacted by the Federal Government in 2018, in reality, many persons with disabilities in Nigeria are still cruelly targeted with mockeries, derogatory remarks, negative stereotypes, and destructive superstitious beliefs.

According to the United Nations Development Programme, PWDs endlessly struggle with “insufficient supportive services, limited access to services and information, discriminatory practices, and challenging economic and social conditions.”

Near-death experience on a highway

Describing himself as one who was not proud of his disability, a visually-impaired social advocate, Ademola Adeleke, said he carefully tried to shield his status from other passengers whenever he boarded a commercial transport.

The 31-year-old was forced to change this one day when he boarded a taxi in Ibadan, Oyo State, and was nearly killed when he was helplessly dumped on the roadside by the driver.

“I had gone out that day, attired in a standard English regalia,” he told Saturday PUNCH. “I had no guide cane or human guide and as I was returning home, I boarded a taxi and was seated next to the driver.

“There was only a passenger at the back seat before I entered, meaning only one passenger would be privy to my jealously guarded anomaly. Two more passengers came on board shortly and the driver was in motion.
“On our way, I quietly told the driver the exact spot where he would drop me off, explaining to him I would be taking a bike from there. I didn’t want the other two later passengers to learn about me.

“All I needed was the driver to stop at the spot I had told him, then I’d step out of the taxi and into the hands of the many commercial motorcyclists scavenging for passengers at the roadside.”

A few minutes later, the driver stopped the taxi and told Adeleke that he had arrived at his destination.

Feeling slightly dazed, he stepped out of the vehicle, but instead of the calls of the commercial motorcyclists and their hands nudging him to come with them, all Adeleke could hear was the blare of trucks honking and some human chatters.

He recalled, “I was confused and didn’t know what direction to go. The place was noisy, being an express road, and the sounds of vehicles speeding past and traders calling for buyers were disorienting. The taxi I came in had sped off immediately after I alighted.

“Realising my helplessness, I decided it was best to get a passer-by to orient me to my surroundings and take me to my desired destination. I was just about to turn around to listen for footsteps when the human chatters took an intelligible form.

“‘Ah! Ah!! This one is mad o! Leave that place!’ People yelled at me in the Yoruba language. It was then I realised I might be in some kind of danger. Still not sure whether the yells were for me, I took a hesitant step forward, then another, and another. Just after the third step, I heard a trailer closely zoom past behind me, exactly the spot I had left a heartbeat ago.
“My narrow escape from death was followed by a new stream of expletives. Realising I had been standing very close to one of the lanes, I trudged forward blindly, stumbling on a few stones and having the heel of my left foot stepped on by an oncoming taxi and I sustained a wound on the heel of my foot.”

Eventually, Adeleke escaped to safety as he was pelted with insults from bystanders who thought he had posed in the middle of a highway for a photo shoot.

Adeleke, now the founder of a non-governmental organisation, Aiding the Blind Foundation, explained that he receives support from a sight loss charity in England, Bradbury Fields, as well as his Board of Trustees and friends to support visually impaired persons in Nigeria.

“Nowadays, before alighting from a commercial vehicle, I speak loudly to the driver about my condition – loud enough for all the passengers to hear, many of whom will roast the driver alive if he attempts to drop me off at a dangerous spot,” Adeleke added.

Almost thrown away as a toddler

Also recounting his experience growing up, a polio survivor, Jemilu Akpa, who hails from the Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi State, said his disability began at the age of two.

“According to my mother, I felt sick at night and was rushed to a nearby hospital where I was wrongly injected and it affected my bone. It caused some bleeding and I was taken from one hospital to another.
“After some weeks, they discovered that I was affected by the injection, which led to my disability. In the traditional setting where I come from, they believed I came with bad luck. They suggested that I be thrown into the bush for the gods to consume.

“But some individuals who believed a child living with a disability could become anything in life motivated my father that I could become great in life. I started school, sat on the bare floor, crawled to school and crawled back. I couldn’t crawl back in the afternoon in the scorching sun so would often wait until around 5 pm or 6 pm when the sun went down before going back home,” Akpa told Saturday PUNCH.

Job lost, deserted by friends

Like a whirling pool, Emmanuel Johnny did not expect that he would lose his sight and become finally hampered by his physical disability.

Speaking with Saturday PUNCH in a dejected tone, the 31-year-old who hails from the Nsit-Ubium LGA of Akwa Ibom State, said he became visually impaired last year and since then life has never been the same again.

Johnny said, “I was a civil security personnel in Lagos and managing my life until I just woke up one day and saw that my sight was blurry. That was how I became visually impaired such that I couldn’t recognise people at all. I can’t see people’s faces, I only recognise them through their voices.

“The doctor said the problem is with my retina and after some tests they said they can’t tell what exactly is wrong with my eyes. I tried herbal concoction which was affordable, but nothing changed. I lost my job since our sight is key to our work as security officers. I cried and begged them to take me back but they told me to go take care of my eyes.
“I ended up curled up in my room, without friends, money and couldn’t even go to church anymore. Several of my friends, some of whom I was there for when they had problems, deserted me and even stopped taking my calls.

“I couldn’t even read messages or engage social media to ask for help. But I had to beg for money from some kind-hearted friends to pay my rent. My condition made me depressed. I believe my experience is what many people with physical disabilities experience. It messes up one’s mental health.”

Johnny added that his experience in the past year made him understand people’s misconceptions about PWDs and how helpless they are.

“You have to beg people for basic things. People think because I have two legs and hands that I’m lazy and don’t want to work. This narrative can be painful. Being a PWD is not a joke or a thing of comedy,” he added.

‘An eatery denied me service’

In March, the son of a former Ogun State governor, Adebola Daniel, said in a lengthy post on X.com (formerly Twitter) that he was ordered to leave a KFC outlet at the Lagos airport because of his wheelchair.

Daniel described the incident as “the worst sort of public humiliation” he had ever experienced. “Today I felt less than human, like a guard dog not allowed into the house. Lonely and isolated.
“I have never been the type of person to make a fuss or complain about my disability. But to be disabled in Nigeria is to be undesirable, unwelcome, and unaccepted. It’s a lonely, scary, and isolated place,” he wrote.

He alleged that the manager of the KFC outlet at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos denied him service despite multiple pleas from his wife and two brothers, who also travelled with him.

“She refused to listen to reason and stood her ground that at (KFC) Murtala Muhammed branch, wheelchairs and wheelchair users of all shapes and sizes were not permitted in the premises and we should leave immediately,” Daniel wrote.

In an audio clip taken after the incident, Daniel’s wife could be heard complaining to a female worker, presumably the manager, that they “could have handled the situation better.”

“When you guys came in, we should have told you guys that wheelchair is not allowed. People know that wheelchair is not allowed,” the employee replied, suggesting that the restaurant’s policy barred wheelchair users.

Following the outrage which greeted Daniel’s post, KFC Nigeria in an X post apologised to the son of the former governor and announced measures to address the situation, including training its employees on inclusion and empathetic customer service.

“We deeply regret the frustration and distress experienced by our guest and extend sincere apologies to those affected,” the KFC wrote.
The statement followed the restaurant’s closure by FAAN and the authority’s order for KFC to apologise to Daniel.

FAAN also ordered the fast food chain to display a non-discrimination policy at the restaurant as a condition for reopening.

Unfunny comedy

Despite the deep-seated discrimination that many PWDs experience in Nigeria, on social media platforms, their pain is often minimised and mined into a means of revenue.

Saturday PUNCH gathered that comedy skit makers can earn between N15m and N20m per month due to the endorsement deals, brand collaborations and physical appearances that come with heavy digital views and engagements.

According to a report, skit-making is the third-largest entertainment industry in Nigeria worth about N50bn and has evolved to become a global phenomenon.

However, checks by our correspondent showed that some of the ableist content produced by Nigerian content makers are ideas borrowed from across the Atlantic.
For instance, a 35-second video skit shared by PoloMan (@polo_man404) last week Sunday and seen by our correspondent, has been viewed by over 18 million X users as of Thursday morning.

In the video clip, a man pretending to be blind, wearing dark shades and walking with a cane could be seen smacking the buttocks of a curvaceous lady in a public space.

When the lady protested, a Caucasian man who was with the man explained to her that he had a disorder.

“He has a disorder, he can’t see. He couldn’t see ma’am, so he couldn’t tell. Sorry,” the man said as he led his companion out of the place.

Reacting to the video, a disability lifestyle expert, Ola Ojewumi, flayed the comedy skit adding that disability is “not a costume and cosplaying disability for likes, views and to go viral harms” PWDs who are not believed.

“This isn’t funny,” she wrote. “I’m disabled, and abled cosplaying disability for social media content like this is dangerous. It teaches that disabled men are incapable of sexual assault against women and that being a disabled man is a get-out-of-jail-free card for sexual harassment.”

She added, “It’s funny when a black woman’s bottom is smacked by a man pretending to be blind. Had it been a white woman, this video would never have made it to social media.”
Mocked for seeking a relationship

A popular shoemaker and PWD, King Oluwatimilehin, was subjected to mockery on X after he expressed his desire to be in a serious relationship.

“Please, I’m single and searching, I’m AA. An Aquarius based in Abeokuta business owner 30++. I am physically challenged and ready for a serious relationship. Apply within,” the post dated November 26, 2023 said.

The post received over 500 replies some of which were troll remarks which forced Oluwatimilehin to eventually restrict his comment section.

“Do you do men? Asking for a friend,” an X user ‘Everybody Hates Ebenz’ asked in the replies.

“No, I love breast,” Oluwatimilehin responded, in a tweet which has since garnered over 1,000 likes.

Replying to this, another X user named Obaibueku wrote along with a laughing emoji, “You dey throw away crutches handle breast.”
Another user, Master B Squads wrote, “Any which way one thing must hold man either breast or crutches.”

Reacting to the mockery, Oluwatimilehin threatened to place curses on the trolls.

“If you are stupid enough to drop a stupid comment on my post I will swear and curse you,” he wrote.

In a later post, he stated, “I always remind myself that I am unique just like everyone else, even if my physical appearance is disabled. My state of mind remains strong and stands firm because I believe in no man but God.”

The Executive Director of Feet of Grace Foundation, Dr Irene Olumese, pointed out that PWDs face discrimination even from the families of their in-laws due to a lack of sensitisation.

“Some ladies want to get married and there’s a whole lot of discrimination against them. Once they see she’s an amputee, the in-laws begin to say this man has not found the wife that he wants to marry.

“So, there’s a whole lot of work that needs to be done. There’s a whole lot of sensitisation that we hope will go on. Let Nigeria become disability friendly. Inclusion matters. We need to be included. We don’t want to be excluded from the basic minimum things that we can accomplish in Nigeria.
“I believe that every woman, every man with a disability can contribute to society and make a difference. I know there has been legislation that has been done, but we need it to be widely implemented,” she stated.

Skit makers’ representations

Commenting on the series of comedy skits that are aimed at mocking PWDs, the Executive Director of Disability Rights Protection Initiative, Chikwado Chukwu, described such content as disgusting.

“The Nigerian entertainment industry, especially those who are into comedies, are taking their jokes too far. As a disability rights advocate, it’s something I and other well-meaning Nigerians should personally condemn in its entirety.

“Nigerian comedians are now using PWDs to make jokes and pranks. I have seen some of these comedians go to the extent of using wheelchairs and crutches but in the real sense, they are not PWDs. They will sit in the wheelchair and prank a lady to believe that they had an accident and are now restricted to a wheelchair.

“At the end of the joke, they will stand up from the wheelchair and say, ‘It’s just a prank.’ Why use a wheelchair, when you know that this is a device that PWDs who need mobility use? Why should we go to that degree of using a device used by PWDs?

“When they put this content out there online, you find people in the comments section cheering them up, saying that the skit is great. Please what is great about people using wheelchairs to indirectly mock and abuse who are with disabilities in the real sense?” Chuwkwu queried.
Chukwu lamented that such skit makers failed to take into consideration the feelings of PWDs when they produced their ableist content.

Explaining further, he noted that many PWDs already struggled with lack of employment, discrimination and loss of financial self-reliance in the country and did not need a wrong impression from social media skits to deepen their misery.

“I got a video from SirBalo comedy, he has over 13 million followers on social media, but look at what he uses his Facebook page to promote. He pretended to be blind and made her believe he was a blind man in need of help, and in the process of the woman helping him, he was pressing her buttocks. When the woman asks him to stop, SirBalo in that comedy blames it on his blindness.

“You are creating a wrong impression about the disabled community, you are pretending to be blind and using that to press somebody’s bum. You are already making your money through that video, what an insane society!” he exclaimed.

On his part, a screenwriter, Nelson Chigozirim, stressed the importance of content creators approaching content that portrayed disability of any kind with sensitivity and respect.

“Without these two, skit makers in their effort to show authentic characters end up creating a caricature of the said character they’re portraying. These caricatures do not only pander to the dark humour of its audience to sell.

“They also mimic a one-sided reality that is offensive to PWDs. Humour can be used to create awareness but skit makers should avoid content based on stereotypes of PWDs or content that pokes subtle or obvious fun at their deformities,” he told Saturday PUNCH.
‘Stop discriminating against PWDs’

Speaking on the importance of inclusion, the General Manager of Lagos State Office for Disability Affairs, Mrs Adenike Oyetunde-Lawal, urged the need for initiatives that would raise awareness, give people of special needs a sense of belonging, and break down stereotypes in society.

“Society needs to support more PWDs; their creativity and potential are boundless especially when the right opportunities are provided. There is a need to end discrimination against PWDs and ensure that the environment is enabling of talents and recognises their contributions.

“You will agree with me that PWDs excel in their fields despite their challenges. Let us embrace inclusivity and provide wide opportunities. Let us bolster their confidence and allow them to thrive,” Oyetunde-Lawal added.