By Anote Ajeluorou
NIGERIA is certainly ripe for a revolution. But what kind of
revolution should it be? Who spearheads the revolution that will usher the
country into an era of infinite possibilities and opportunities it has missed
so far since independence in 1960? These are some pertinent socio-political and
economic questions a writer poses and provides answers in the quest for a new Nigeria
that is the dream of a majority of the citizenry.
But is this revolution mere utopia in the
fictive imagination of its author, Mr. Anene Nwuzor? His novel, Revolution in Wazobia (Ann’s Indulgence
Limited, Lagos) published in 2013 provides futuristic vision of a fictional
country called Wazobia and events leading to its election in 2019. It is
politics of ‘change’ envisioned long before All Progressives Congress (APC)
‘change’ mantra came into popular imagination. But Nwuzor anchors his visionary
politics of change on two cardinal points – a cultural revolution championed by
a woman!
Nwuzor’s fictive
country, Wazobia, is, in every respect, the Nigeria of today with all its
dysfunctionality, a place where nothing works and corruption a byword for
governance. Indeed, the current government looks every inch like the past administration
of Goodluck Jonathan. For Nzuwor, lack of ethical values and moral turpitude are
the hallmark of Wazobia’s failings. Efforts to change, as envisioned by the
change agent, a woman, Andora Addoh-Ochakpam (simply known as Andora), can only
come through a cultural revolution in which Wazobians must imbibe a new mindset
and a new way of being from its corrupt past, a country where things are done
correctly and properly.
Having summed up all
the problems besetting her country before like minds in a meeting she convenes,
Andora unveils the Cultural Revolution association that will reverse the
negatives her country has become infamous.
She argues that there are no real heroes of
worth for young people to emulate, as she affirms, “My dear colleagues, we are
now at the real crux of our gathering here, and that is, our role in the
regeneration of our very sick country. After carefully considering everything
involved, including what I consider is within our ken – our understanding and
ability – I think our role is to take up a crusade, a mission of Cultural
Revolution in our society”.
A university
teacher, Andora embarks on a course of action that will rescue her country from
the cabals that hold her hostage and put it on the path of recovery. But it is
no easy task, as Andora and her soul mates come face to face with the antics of
those for whom change is anathema. To further amplify her regenerative crusade
of values’ reorientation in Wazobia, Andora launches a seminal book Up for Cultural Revolution in Wazobia
both to raise awareness and raise funds to run her organisation.
The central thesis
of the book is “to tackle the basic issues of national values, the neglect or
absence of which has left our country a sick society,” and Andora assures all,
“We shall walk what we talk, to be models of our nation’s cultural values,
based on patriotism and loyalty to our nation, in a transparent show of
integrity, financial probity and selflessness”.
Although premised on
apolitical foundation, Andora’s Cultural Revolution couldn’t avoid joining the
political fray when it seems obvious that Wazobia would slide farther into
anomie if good people and organisations like Andora and her group sat back and
merely watched. Gradually, the tenets of Andora’s Cultural Revolution -
integrity, values and patriotism – seeped into the fabric of society –
especially among the youths who seem more at the receiving end of the misrule
that characterize leadership of Wazobia.
MEANWHILE, the president of the country is having serious crisis
of leadership and internal rebellion in his party. He is perceived to be weak; the
electoral umpire has planned to introduce an innovative nanotechnology machine
that would make election rigging a thing of the past and Mr. President’s party
members are up in arms against it. Rigging has been the ruling party’s byword,
and members feel threatened. The electoral umpire is being hectored into giving
it up, but he is adamant. Unknown to the party members, Mr. President will not
seek a second term and wants to leave a legacy of a strong electoral reform
which the nanotechnology machine would guarantee.
So, although the old
political rogues are against Andora and her Cultural Revolution, they fear the
popularity it has begun to gain among the populace. Ten years down the line,
Andora’s organisation gains immense ground and rumour of it becoming a
political party sends jitters down the spines of the old politicians in the
other parties. The reality of those fears becomes palpable soon enough at the
launch of Andora’s New Age Democracy Party (NADP). She wins at the general
elections and begins the task of engineering a new a Wazobia.
Revolution in Wazobia plies a thin line between dredging up real-time
socio-political issues plaguing Nigeria and Wazobia’s imaginary ones. The line
is so thin that it a fictional rereading of what is generally known. However,
Nwuzor introduces a new element into his narrative. He places a woman at the
heart of the ‘change’ that seeps through Wazobia society; it somewhat echoes Achebe’s
‘mother is supreme’ maxim when mothers come to the rescue of society when men
have failed irredeemably.
The values Andora
entrenches in society are those that ordinary Wazobia citizens desire, but
which its high and mighty politicians reject for their personal gains. When
illiterate motor park union godfathers like Chief Ononikpo support a former
killer like Etoh Ikenga for political office, surely such a country is doomed.
They fight dirty to retain their lavish lifestyles gained at the expense of the
poor. But unwittingly, they provide a fertile soil for a revolution to happen
like it does in Wazobia.
Is such revolution
in the making in Nigeria as Nwuzor’s fictive narrative forecasts? Who is
Andora’s equivalent that will spearhead the needed cultural revolution? When
will the electoral body be firm enough to rid the country of electoral fraud? Does
Nwuzor’s fictional narration approximate Achebe’s A Man of the People that presaged change of government back in
1966, with a ballot revolution come 2019 election?
Clearly, Nwuzor
narrative threads on a thin ice in separating fiction from reality, sometimes
blurred with striking resemblances too close to call. Trending on contemporary
issues sometimes makes it tedious, with the faction not being too cleverly,
subtly subsumed in fictive narration. For most of the time, Revolution in Wazobia reads as though
one is reading the day’s newspapers headlines in today’s Nigeria. Perhaps,
allegorical characterization and setting might just have served Nwuzor’s narrative
much better than the linear equivalent.
Nevertheless,
Nwuzor’s Revolution in Wazobia is a
fine attempt at polemical fiction that is clearly lacking in the country. It
provides a fine starting point for writers to explore polemic fictional in Nigeria.
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