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Over the recent times contemporary
Nigerian literary texts have shifted attention from being completely narrowed
down to general stereotypical discourses in terms of thematic focus, and by
doing so creating a nucleus of political consciousness and assuming the social
political responsibility- a strong revolutionary engine room- that challenges
the predominant economic cum political factor behind the tyrannical display of
power and total abuse of economy by the diminutive but influential and potent people
of power – the class of bourgeois.
This drastically political
dimension and movement in literature which is Marxist in nature (a radical
perception of human society) could be said to be a pivotal projection of angst
and antagonism, since literature mirrors the society, with a view to subjecting
the philosophy of power management to criticism, thus advocating for crucial
and balance fundamental change in the societal polity and its economic
structures within the existing classes.
As Ngugi Wa Thiog’o
would put it: ‘a writer is a member of the
society. He belongs to a certain class and he is inevitably a participant in
the class struggle of his times.’ Contemporary African writers have inevitably
come to an age of active revolutionary involvement and total political activism
due to the quite lamentable, migraine-giving and completely untenable condition
they find themselves in the hand of the political capitalist cabals and human
materialists.
They cannot arm–fold themselves
in silence in the face of terror. Consequently, their works have become
reactionary with thematic signpost of revolutionary appeal against the
burgeoning acute leadership failure and draconian display of vainglory. The
burdening memories of agony and social malice, coupled with unparalleled resistance
against the bane placed on the bosom of the poverty-ridden, hunger-stricken and
hapless populace by the ruling class breathe life to the expedient demand and
open agitation for authentic African imagery and invocations that spin through
the political and economic hierarchy.
A further and
more explicating reason behind the sudden shift and metamorphosis of African writing
into full political activeness is what Nigerian poet Niyi Osundare tries to
re-echo when he posits that writers: ‘cannot keep quiet about the
situation in the kind of countries we find ourselves in Africa in which when
you wake up . . .the image of the ruler you see is that of a dictator with gun
in his hand. . .’
And of those writers- either radical Marxist
or rational-Marxist or others- whose targeted goal is the pursuit of sane society bereft of political pollution or economic
plague is Gege Baseran (his pseudonym), a poet and playwright who tries to
create a scenario of societal conflict between the poverty-ridden, gullible and
subservient, destitute but resolute and resilient class of proletariats that take
the larger share of the societal populace, and their wealthy, capitalist
counterparts through the text Armattan of
Venom.
Armattan of Venom, a synonymously allusive metaphor for exploitation and
tit-for-tat throw-back of vengeance, mischief, repercussion, law of karma is a
Marxist reactionary text that revolves around social injustice, economic
imbalance and abuse of power by the upper class dominated by the egocentric
political killjoys and repressive economic oppressors against the hapless common
men. It tries to portray the struggle for the survival of the fittest among the
over-crowded paupers, without shadowing the high level of political consciousness
and reactionary sense of grievances in them, while also presenting intimidation
as a strict and draconian agenda maneuvered by the upper class to silence the
people below. And this as exemplified in Baba Olowo’s horrible
statement when he says:
“. . . Aside the fact that I am an Honourable Councillor, Eminent Chairman and Grand Commander, Makoko Landlords’ Council, Life Patron, Makoko Eminent Citizens, I have two friends in the Military; I have two friends in the State Security Service; I have two friends in the State Anti–Robbery Squad; two friends in the State Investigation Bureau; two friends in the Civil Defence. . . No Court of Law in this country will give you, a fiendish pauper or your case a hearing. . . A kobo it will never cost me!”
Tragic, comedic, satirical,
encompassing and didactic, also laced with humorous projection of the contemporary
political dispositions and general verities, the drama text which has an
anti-climax action movement with ostensibly organic plot structure centers on
the social clash between the visible social classes of Makoko town (a metaphor suggestive of a common African society)
with the ruling class ably represented by the characters of stingy chief-capitalist
Baba Olowo, Machiavellian political gladiator Senator Stephen Santos, self-centered
materialist Chief Agboworin, and the lower class- the class of exploited made up of Ramoni and his wife Ladun, Badejo, Saamu
Rebecca, Ladi , Adigun and the likes.
At the execution
area of Makoko, five criminals (what
the playwright describes as KRIMINARS) are
to be executed for taking the law into their hands by committing murder by
violence, sending some important personalities of the upper classes to the
gullet of their grave out of their annoyance.
For Badejo, his successful public murder of Senator Santos at a campaign
ground is borne out of revolutionary concern, as he (Santos) belongs to the ‘leagues of
looters. . . in a country vilely characterized by reckless leadership failure,
untamed followership disorientation,
twisted social psyche, murderous quest for power and material wealth, pervasive poverty, religious
bigotry and fanaticism, rancorous tribalism’.
Rebecca, a
well-known psychotic woman is condemned to death because she strangles a
revered government contractor, Chief Agboworin in retaliatory act of vengeance
to death. Her husband, until his death
was ‘ a committed, honest and hardworking Director in the Ministry of Works’ who is said to
have been assassinated by the Chief, which consequently ruins her matrimony and
psychological well-being. For Ramoni, he deserves execution just like others
because he deliberately kills Baba Olowo in an attempt to save his wife from being
sexually assaulted and abused. Ramoni is a ‘slothful scoundrel’ born into
Ajegune- a gutter of groan. He’s a best instance of commoner and a pauperized tenant, always
subjected to threat of evacuation and spirit-waning verbal abuses by Baba Olowo
because of his futile attempts to meet his monthly rent.
Ironically, they
never regret their act of murder as being destructive and atrocious in a land
of ‘(mal)-functioning’ law, despite the public sympathy and human concern generated by
their execution. Rather, they see themselves as catalysts of pivotal change
towards saving their society from the loin of justice endangerment and politics
of massive ineptitude. They see their act as being equitable and expedient in
the face of class oppression, thus ready for the consequence and prefer to die
as revolutionary heroes and martyrs. No wonder Badejo tries to justify his
deadly act when he says:
". . . but let me say that my action was, in no way, murderous. But if you insist that it is, I should accept that I have committed it for a positive change, for redemption and for enthronement of truth and justice in the land that is in dire need of liberation. . . the more revolution is postponed in this land, the thicker and longer the web of oppression and institutionalised injustices becomes."
Taking it from the
purview of critical appraisal, it can be said that the book challenges the
societal conscience and consciousness in a view to re-awakening the common interest
and spirit of the masses towards a revolutionary need. Vastly marxist in
expanding scope and heightened in language, the text sees revolutionary
struggle i.e. harsh and (de-)constrictive criticism, `random violent response,
light internal aggression etc., and political activeness as panacea to the society
deluged by class oppression and continuous economic cheat.
With the diction so
superb, powerful, real, grandiloquent, very concrete and transparent, poetic
and embellished, Baseran does not only understand the nature and the language
of corruption in African society and present it in a way that is very clear
with sound imageries through the use of sarcasm and irony, but also create
several instances of amusement and satirical condemnation of the capitalist
agenda.
For instance, the names of the
arch-villains in the book do not only seem to be amusing, but also a strong projection
of the role they really place in the text. Chief Agboworin, for instance is
seen carrying money around, philandering with harlots with the hard-earn wages
of public labourers. Similarly, the vainglorious bravado of Baba Olowo as shown
in his verbal flatulence portrays him as a replica of the rich men in the real African
context, while the character of Senator Stephen Santos represents the common
political gladiators whose political ambition is usually achieved on the
thoroughfare of bloodshed and die-hard politics.
Without any iota of doubt, Baseran’s use
of subtle irony to lampoon the political realities, with keen focus on
inequality and corruption as predominant factors for the evolution of
revolution is worthy of attention. A very awful situation in which a well-known
corrupt political brigand and intellectual opportunist, Senator Santos is being
over-eulogized as ‘a friend of the friendless, father of the fatherless,
senator of the sick and the silent, a rare mentor and benefactor, only one chosen
to wear a crown of thorns. . .’, shows
how visible facts do no longer seem relevant in the course of stomach
infrastructuralism –a act displayed
by the MC, another character in the book.
Another significant point of contact in
the text is the candid depiction of rustiness of faith, crucifixion of
conscience in the religious hierarchy. This is undeniable fact, even at the
global scene where religious leaders have forsaken the Divine and kowtowed for men
in power for the crumbles of bread that may fall off the master’s table. One
also needs to commend the role of Arts in the criticism of the society as
portrayed in the character of Awobi, a self-acclaimed dramatist.
Although Baseran deserves applause for
his beautiful language management, he has failed to present a simple message in
a simple form of communication. The language, on personal note, should be
pedestrian to make the message easily explicable to ordinary common man who the
book is concerned about his plight. The language, jaw-breaking and poetic,
makes the text totally hard and elitist.
Similarly, there is a problem with the
presentation of Marxist ideology and revolutionary spirit in the book. It can
be said to be crude, primitive, extremely violent and highly destructive. The
question we need to ask
ourselves is: Are revolutionaries really patriots? Is there anybody that would
be put on horse without shrugging shoulders at those on ground?
The statement:
‘He who fears to destroy never dares to
create. True peace resides in war! He who desires peace must at all times
prepare for war!’ credited to Badejo, the arch-revolutionary of the text may
be paradoxical but not genuinely real. Deliberate advocation for anarchy as an
antidote to societal imbalance does not bring any change rather than ruin and waste
of both human and natural resources. Marxism, even his two proponents- Fredric
Engel and Karl Marx – never believed in violent demonstration of anger. What
they were after was a society with common political and economic goals.
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