What’s the big deal about Satans & Shaitans?

Book in Review:         SATANS & SHAITANS

Author                        Obinna Udenwe

Publisher                    AMAB BOOKS 2016 (First published: JACARANDA BOOKS, 2014.)

No of Pages               292

If a fellowship of masters of intrigue in Nigerian literature exists, Obinna Udenwe should definitely be a senior fellow. His dexterity at infusing crime fiction with this tale of terrorism is truly ingenious.

The book SATANS AND SHAITANS, is a page turner that kept me on the edge of my seat (or table; as the case was at some points), and had me holding my breath in anticipation till the last page.

The story has an intense plot, with shriek-inducing twists that shocked me no end; I felt myself guessing the next move unsuccessfully, and being pleasantly surprised— chapter after chapter.

S & S AMAB Cover

Power, a pernicious occult movement, and the quest to overthrow the government of the day form a dangerous triad in this novel. This tripod is the basis upon which killings and attacks are carried out; all under the guise of forming an Islamic state in a country as multi cultural and multi religious as Nigeria. In this instance, the author may have hit too close to home, and may run the risk of inciting further mistrust from his people, but then, do we not all learn that art mirrors life?

The Sacred Order has members from all over the world and in Nigeria, their top officials include the world renowned Evangelist Chris Chuba, the extremely wealthy industrialist Chief Amaechi and a couple of people in government. The order does not smile at members who disagree with status quo, so killings are rife. Deadly as they are though, they are unable to envisage that the jihadist movement which they set in motion will turn around with an agenda of its own. This author is very adept at showing that human nature is the most slippery substance. Not to be trusted and definitely not to be underestimated.

Beneath all the dark machinations of terrorism is a painfully beautiful love story, between the young children of two senior members of The Sacred order. Children who have each endured sheltered lives till their eyes meet and love pushes them to break down the barricades meant to ensure physical and social order, but which have nothing on their hearts. But, in the words of the poet Toni Kan, ‘What is temptation, if you do not fall?’

Their love is so beautiful— as the young couple falls, you fall along with them and hope their love never ends. But this is a rather hazy dream because the book starts with a painful discovery that the girl is missing. Your nerves are not calmed either when you read that her head is wanted by the order as requirement for her father’s continued rise. But the order does not have her, so you keep wondering; who does? And so the suspense continues, you keep hoping Adeline will appear and continue her love with Donaldo, and then you find out she was killed – and in unbelievable circumstances too.

Obinna Udenwe sure knows how to twist a tale!

This is one fast paced story and even though this novel is quite ambitious, the writer’s ability to pace the story well and create unforeseeable plot twists adds immensely to the suspense and joy of reading.

Early in the book, I recognized one thing; this author has a thing for hair.  If this craze did not come to the fore with mostly male characters, this reviewer would have declared it a ‘fetish’. Well, maybe it is a fetish afterall.

Of Chief Amaechi, we read in page 165 ‘… his full hair was well combed’. In page 51, we read ‘A big man with fine combed, bushy hair and a clean shaven face was standing beside the sheik’. The instances go on with other characters in the book.

The assassination of the Minister of Justice left me in doubt though. It came off too easy, with no resistance from armed security personnel who were not said to be part of the plan. It is highly implausible that one man could bore a hole big enough to contain an adult male, into a concrete fence in the quiet of the night without arousing any interest, or that a handsaw would work its way through a metal grille without the sounds waking anyone up. But hey, maybe I’ve seen too many spy movies.

 S and S Jacaranda cover

The book is interspersed with quotes from the Holy Bible and references from the Holy Qur’an. Suffice to say it is difficult to place the author’s religious allegiances- if any- judging from the book.

Have I mentioned that the author is blood happy? So many characters die in the book (and no, I don’t mean victims of bombings or other acts of terrorism). I suppose in certain ways this could be a plus. Not many writers have the surgical capacity to kill off a character when they outlive their usefulness, or to buttress the fact of another character’s psychological state.

Now that the book has finally been published in Nigeria and thus made more accessible to the Nigerian reading public, I hope you all go out there and buy it. It is a must read!

B is for Blom Blom – Identity Crisis in Bokoru’s Memoir

THE ANGEL THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE. 141 Pages

Publishers:   PARRESIA, NIGERIAN WRITERS SERIES. 2014

Author:  JULIUS BOKORU

Attempting to write a memoir at the tender age of twenty five is an ambitious endeavour, but Julius Bokoru has told a tale in this book that is quite memorable.

In the early chapters we are introduced to the fishing village of Ikibiri in the Niger Delta, where we are swept into the village life and plush scenery. This writer has an eye for detail, and he employs it keenly.

Bokoru’s narrative gets assertive at some points, ‘… men began to give her way, for the greatest embarrassment a man could have, after a shrunken manhood was to be beaten by a woman.’ 
This was a reference to his maternal grandmother, Kenan.  He came from a line of strong women as his mother was equally reputed to out-fight men and women in her teens. Even his dedication attests to this: Hetty Lewis, though she is no longer around. Mother, Tigress, Angel.

Bokoru- Memoir

This is a story of a tigress who was sorely scratched by love’s claws. It is the early 80s, she is in the beginning of a nursing career and in the heat of a relentless wooing, the beautiful, light skinned Hetty chooses her 'Baltimore' suitor over her town’s man.  Their romance buds and blooms with the fervour of a rose bush, but less than a decade later, the stalks of this nuptial tree begin to wither and decay. 

Bokoru shows us that through the rot and decay, his mother stood tall to give her children a good upbringing.  The author shows an uncanny sensitivity for the trials of a single mother, his avid eye for detail helps us appreciate her not as a wayward woman as many people are wont to conclude, but as a human being whom circumstances got the better of.

The book is written in two voices, that of the narrator and the inimitable voice of one who is no longer there. Of his conception, we read: ‘We were both blue and brokenhearted, and when a woman is brokenhearted, the only man that could have her easiest was an equally  brokenhearted man. Because shared disappointment creates trust, trust creates preference, and preference opens every heart, whole or broken.’

It is incisive to note that Bokoru situates every chapter in the context of world happenings for the given year or period. This is not a bad technique, except that it does not so much establish relevance within the character’s lives as much as it gives the story a plausible timeline.

A recurring thread in the book is the search for identity. Beginning from when they move to Marine Base, the author says: ‘If poverty could assume an ethnic concept or nationality or identity, then those of us in Marine Base, including my family, would be povertarians’

It is here that one gets intrigued and sometimes moved to tears as a young Julius starts school for the first time, and learns the alphabets with Aunty Eunice(their pastor’s wife) who taught the nursery one pupils that A is for Akamu B is for Blom-Blom, C is for Canoe, P is for Papa and so on! 

Ingenious examples, yes. But the real mover is young Julius’ inability to say what PAPA stands for.  His confusion only gets worse when he asks his mother who a daddy is. If daddy is the head of a family, is he like Jesus? Or is daddy a way of addressing any older male? Recognition comes to Julius throughout the book in painful installments, including an episode in school where children are asked to state which of their parents they resemble. Oh, the dilemma of claiming to look like a daddy he has never met as opposed to a mummy whose complexion is as distinct from his as night is from day!

We also learn of our character’s love for his homeland. The Ijaw and Calabari tussle is mentioned with more than a fleeting glance, and we see that the author evolves into his identity as a native of Ijaw land. We learn of the creation of Bayelsa from the three major towns Brass, Yenagoa and Sagbama, and the impact that this has on his family.

When his family moves to the new Bayelsa, it is unclear however how they transition from ‘povertarians’ to becoming property owners whose tenants come to bid farewell with an offering of a basin of meat. Small thing, certainly; if an editor had taken enough time to work on the book.

The Angel That Was Always There is a beautiful and touching story with so much potential; no doubt the reason why it was selected as one of the ten novels published under the Nigerian Writers Series in 2014. I am saddened that Parresia publishers could do themselves and this young author the injustice of not being thorough. The book is riddled with typos and other errors. I have no doubts that this book may not be the best marketing tool for Paressia. 

The cover is absolutely fantastic though; Victor Ehikhamenor never disappoints in that regard.

In spite of the flaws, I have no regrets about reading it.