By Anote Ajeluorou
When a young man finds himself in a foreign land, as most
Nigerians in the 1950s, 60 and 70s did when they’d had to study in England, a
little indiscretion on the side could change the direction of his life either
for good or bad. As was most often the case, some of these young men came with
foreign, white (oyinbo) wives while
some simply had children sired by these women. This is the story of Prof. Bode
Lucas’ The Split Image
(Stirling-Horden Publishers Ltd, Ibadan; 2014).
The life of Sunday
Dojo Ajiteni, a citizen of Songa, wasn’t any different. A brilliant young lad
from Oke-Odo, who joins the civil service after secondary school at Doma, as
printer, goes for further training in England and gets into a love tangle with Angela
also from Songa. Dojo is already married to Jade; they have three girls. Brief
though it was, his liaison with Angela results in a son, but Dojo is ignorant
of it, having returned soon after. Angela’s marriage collapses when she is
unable to get pregnant for her husband who soon realises that his wife, Angela,
has played a fast on him. He resorts to physically assaulting her; she
eventually sues for divorce.
After completing her
secretarial studies, Angela returns to Songa to get a new start. But some 12
years have elapsed. She traces Dojo to Doma and tells him about the fruit of
their illicit act, Joe. On the evening when Angela arrives the bar where Dojo
and his friends are drinking, Dojo’s mind is in a tumult when he notes the resemblance
between him and the young boy with Angela. He gets home that night and goes to
his box to search out a photograph of himself taken when in primary school.
The following day at
his office Angela arrives to tell him about their son, Joe, thus sealing Dojo’s
suspicion about the boy being his son. But things get complicated for him; he
cannot tell his wife who is yet to have a son for him; yet he cannot deny his
son, as a typical African man. He doesn’t want to betray her love yet he has to
start acting responsibly towards Joe as father. However, the bubble bursts when
Dojo’s wife Jade incidentally finds out about payment receipts for Joe’s school
fees. She is heartbroken by Dojo’s deceit and betrayal and forces a temporary
separation, as she moves back to her parents’ place.
Dojo is a frustrated
man, but he manages to keep his head. In time this travail blows away and his
wife returns. Angela moves to the capital city after securing a job with a
multinational company. Joe, like his father, also turns out a brilliant chap;
he caps his academic brilliance by securing a scholarship to study at Oxford,
where he meets Clara, falls in love and plans to marry her. But a complication
arises; Clara and Joe are first cousins and it becomes tabooed love that should
lead nowhere.
Joe’s father, Dojo
and Clara’s father, Ojokoto are brothers. This impending abomination is brought
to light when Ojokoto visits Dojo to find out how to send his present to his
daughter about to marry. Efforts to abort the marriage fail, as the two
lovebirds, particularly Joe is adamant. But the marriage records initial
failure, as Clara has one miscarriage after another until Ojokoto performs
necessary sacrifices to appease the offended gods and ancestors.
A twist of fortune
follows. Joe, as United Nation’s staff, is appointed a minister by the new military
junta. This lifts Dojo’s profile in Doma and Oke-Odo. It also spells doom a few
years later when Joe is implicated in a coup against the military ruler. Joe is
away and so his father Dojo is made to suffer for his son’s sins. Dojo is
imprisoned for three months in place of his son…
Lucas’ The Split Image is a straight-forward,
simple narrative of Dojo’s personal journey in a country also in transition.
Metaphorically, Songa, as a country has a split image, as its innate
capabilities lie buried by its leaders while its ugly side is exposed. Lucas’
Songa country is Nigeria, with its checkered history. The Split Image is an easy read and is written in colloquial tang. Although
a commendable first novella, it should have been more tightly edited.
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