Presidents Trump and Obonjo in happier times…
Benjamin/Obonjo as himself this morning
Malcolm Hardee Award winning British comedian Benjamin Bankole Bello has been performing as fictional African dictator President Obonjo of the LAFTA Republic for almost 12 years.
For the last five days, he has been trolled by both Trump supporters and Trump opponents on the internet.
I talked to him this morning…
JOHN: So you did your comedy show at this month’s Edinburgh Fringe…
BENJAMIN: Yes, I took my show African Zelensky up there for ten days. So many things happened. I lost my luggage; I found it again; Ukranians came to the show; one Ukranian wrote back with a 3-page document about my show; then I had Russians come to the show who said they were going to tell Putin I was supporting him and I said No No No…
I didn’t go to Edinburgh to impress or get reviews. I went there to test my show. And it went very well.
Obonjo re Trump arrest on TikTok
Then, of course, Donald Trump got arrested so one morning, in my bedroom, with two flags behind me, I did a TikTok video saying basically I’m a friend of Donald Trump. I’m very worried about the state of democracy. I pretended I didn’t know he had been released and I gave the American government an ultimatum: RELEASE HIM IMMEDIATELY! THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO SILENCE YOUR OPPONENT!
I just uploaded it to TikTok and thought that was it.
But, within a couple of days, the video had gone viral and got almost a million views.
I thought: Oh, OK…
But, a couple of days later, someone called Melissa Tate, a Right Wing Conservative blogger with about half a million followers on Twitter, blogged to say an African president supports Donald Trump.
Before I knew what was happening, there were about 60,000 reTweets – some from black Trump supporters, some from people who don’t support Trump but think MAGA supporters are stupid.
Some of the non-MAGA supporters did some fact checking on me to see if I am a real president and it is hilarious. The comments are just comedy gold! There is a debate going on between MAGA supporters who are for Trump and those who are not for Trump and people within the Republican Party who are saying: How could you have reTweeted a fictional dictator? It shows you guys are stupid.
I have had people confuse me with President Obasanjo of Nigeria and President Ali Bongo of Gabon. Some people even confused me with President Obama… They don’t even know what their ex-President looks like!
They’ve been visiting my website and yesterday Reuters got in touch to find out who was behind my video – Am I a comedian? Am I a president? They could see there’s a comedian Benjamin Bankole Bello who plays the character of President Obonjo. But can you clarify? Because people online are taking the video seriously…
Someone calling himself Ford News with around 100,000 followers posted that I “was never a voice of democracy and ran out of his country. He was a brutal dictator.”
I wrote back saying “I want you to tell me within 24 hours where you got the information that I am a brutal dictator and that I fled my country and came to the UK or I will contact my lawyers.” He deleted the Tweet.
Unbelievable! The key thing for me, John, is that, in terms of social media … I am sitting in my bedroom with two flags behind me, I am broadcasting to the world and people believe I am a real African president. It shows that social media has blurred the line between what is true and what is false.
Then there’s the racism. Confusing me with other black presidents in Africa. Crazy. Absolutely crazy.
JOHN: Do Presidents Obasanjo and Ali Bongo look anything like you?
Presidents Obasanjo of Nigeria (left) and Ali Bongo of Gabon (right)
(Photos: Helene C. Stikkel/US Department of Defense + US Department of State)
BENJAMIN: They look nothing like me. Ali Bongo has been in power for years and he has had a stroke. He doesn’t want to leave office. They are both older than me and one of them has had a stroke. A stroke! (LAUGHS)
JOHN: Well, you are very convincing as President Obonjo.
BENJAMIN: There was a review of my Edinburgh Fringe show which said it was “so convincing it almost broke the walls of satire”.
Americans have been trolling me for the past five days. Including black Trump supporters. They’ve tagged Donald Trump about me. I don’t know what Donald Trump thinks. They have tagged Kevin McCarthy, the House Speaker. They have tagged Tucker Carlson, the guy who used to work for Fox News. Someone told me “You have trolled the entire GOP from your bedroom in Britain”.
Despite the fact some people have said, “Oh, he is a comedian,” people have still said, “Oh, I don’t care. He’s actually speaking the truth as a President.”
JOHN: Perhaps you could be the compromise presidential candidate for the Republican Party. You could claim you were born in the US. There’s a chance no-one would check.
BENJAMIN: You’re pushing me to go to America.
JOHN: Seems reasonable. If democracy crashes there, they will need an experienced dictator. You walk the walk and talk the talk convincingly.
The day after this blog was posted, there was a coup in Gabon, overthrowing President Ali Bongo – see my blog HERE
SO IT GOES - John Fleming's blog 
Hahahaha..
Great laugh first thing in the morning., while I’m standing in line to do my clothes washing at the municipal laundry !
Président Obongo would have a good chance to become Président of the USA but I dont know why anyone would even go there.