Hearts And Ballots

Welcome to Araka, where love is the ultimate campaign strategy. June’s life is a daily humiliation: waking at dawn to hustle while her boyfriend "T-Money" Anthony lounges in designer knock-offs, demanding imported oatmeal she can’t afford. One frustrated supermarket dash changes everything. She collides with David Rowland—rich, principled, and disastrously stiff on the campaign trail. Someone films it. The clip explodes. Nigeria ships "#DavidAndMysteryGirl" harder than any manifesto. David’s team smells victory. Offer the broke girl 30 million Naira to play perfect girlfriend until the votes are counted. June signs faster than you can say "financial freedom." Anthony signs too he smells even bigger money and thinks he’s her pimp now. Glam makeovers, market walks, candlelit dinners for the cameras; the nation swoons, the polls flip, David is suddenly unbeatable. But scripts don’t account for midnight horse rides, quiet poolside confessions, or the way David looks at her like she’s gold instead of garbage. The fake smiles turn real. The staged kisses linger. They fall hard, messy, true. Anthony watches his ATM slipping away and flips. He storms David with an ultimatum: 50 million in 72 hours or he leaks June’s private nudes and screams "FAKE!" to every blog in Nigeria. David, the man who hates lies, prepares to torch his own campaign at a press conference to protect her name. June beats him to the punch. She marches into Anthony’s flat, looks her nightmare ex in the eye, and dares him: "Leak them. I survived you with nothing. I’ll survive you with the world watching". She walks out forever. That night she finds David, stops his confession, and kisses him in front of the flashing cameras no script, no contract, just two people who accidentally saved each other. The election is tomorrow. The scandal never comes. And somewhere in Araka, a deadbeat named T-Money is crying over 30 pieces of silver he’ll never touch. Love wasn’t on the ballot… but it just won.