Since my two-part critique of Prof. Sophia Obiajulu Ogwude's book Critiquing the Nigerian Socio-political Space In Prose Fiction appeared in this newspaper under the title "Sophia Obiajulu Ogwude's Discourse for All Seasons," I have earnestly directed my attention beyond the fictionalised predicaments of our fellow citizens and the excoriation of their benighted leaders, to the exploration of aspects of the myriad existential blights with which they have been daily grappling in our society. The series having, however, roused the interest of a reader Reginald Facah beyond the ordinary, we deem it necessary to once again return to Prof. Ogwude's book. But in this case, fresh perspectives are offered on the series and the book by Facah, who was once my student in the university.
Please encounter Ogwude afresh in Facah's piece entitled "Prof. Afejuku's Elbow Jolt: Critiquing Sophia Obiajulu Ogwude's Critiquing the Nigerian Socio-political Space In Prose Fiction":
"Sophia Ogwude's latest offering, Critiquing the Nigerian Socio-Political Space in Prose Fiction was my first gift this year. Precisely on the 10th day of January 2026, the matronly senior citizen, Professor Sophia Ogwude autographed and presented a copy of the book in the presence of my wife and children. It was a New Year visit and we were well feted by our motherly hostess. However, no sooner had I taken a cursory look at the work than I promptly left it in my study – until the jabbing elbow jolt from Prof. Tony Afejuku. Indeed, it took the two-part series published in the Nigerian Guardian Newspaper of 27th March 2026 by this ex-old student of St. Peter Claver's College, Aghalokpe, Delta State, where I also schooled; Professor Tony Afejuku, my Prose Fiction lecturer in the English Department at the University of Benin decades ago and my senior Safi bros, to jolt me from my literary forgetfulness. Poor me, how on earth can I forget that I should have done a review of the Ogwude work and published it in newspapers or journals. Now, I have to contend with meeting up with the standard set by Professor Afejuku's lofty review of the book as published in the Nigerian Guardian Newspaper – a daunting task if there is one! But as the Safi saying goes: all die na die! And this Prof. is my senior paddy for jungle too.
"Published in the standard and very handy A5 size made popular by the now defunct African Writers Series (AWS) novels, Ogwude's Critiquing the Nigerian Socio-Political Space in Prose Fiction is basically a book on literary criticism in the real sense of the phrase than a sociological treatise that the title seems to suggest. It presents a compendium of in-depth critical exegesis from the literary mind of the author over the decades. The central thrust of the collection is the simple yet salient truth that literature is not written in a vacuum, but is foregrounded by its own or other human societies. In other words, a society is only as worthy as its literature and vice versa. The writers' determined thrust to highlight and right socio-political and economic wrongs over the decades is another gentle nudge of the work; leaving the reader to hazard a guess as to the success of the venture – the writers' not the author's!
"In the work, Ogwude literally and literarily explored issues of leadership and governance failures and their concomitant effects upon the Nigerian polity. Picking and choosing several literary works of diverse subject matters and themes, Ogwude was able to help the readers form an opinion on the paucity of good governance and leadership in the Nigerian context. Satire, sarcasm, innuendos and subtle gaslighting are definitive tools in the work that ripped open the underbelly of corruption, nepotism and such malfeasances in the socio-economic as well as political configuration of the house that Lord Fredrick Lugard built. Achebe's well received essay: 'The Role of the Writer in the Society' comes to play here and the writers' often futile (?) mission to right the wrongs of society by way of his writings enter the fray also. Tony Afejuku's essay: 'Sophia Obiajulu Ogwude's Discourse for All Seasons,' quoted the book's back page blurb that succinctly captures the depth and breadth of Ogwude's work, when he submits that the book: 'analyzes 23 prose works by 17 authors, (while treating) Nigerian fiction (and related prison narratives) as a diagnostic tool for the socio-political situation [that] has remained the bane to our growth and progress.'
"Like a cloth weaver wielding her pins across several woolen spools of diverse colours, Ogwude does a prosaic survey of Nigerian texts from D.O Fagunwa to Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Festus Iyayi and Ben Okri down to the more recent Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Nnedi Okorafor. The subject matters cut across the entire tapestry of the Nigerian nation while the themes are as diverse as they come. Essentially, Ogwude by way of these texts critiques the endemic corruption in Nigeria as well as its impact on the people, leadership and society. Poverty, religiosity and inequality in the Nigerian prose fiction polity were also clearly highlighted. Themes of fear, violence, insecurity and ethnic tensions including pogroms explored by these Nigerian prose works were aptly analyzed. Patriarchal structures equally received their own bashing as Ogwude reveals how greater gender sensitivity would have made the Nigerian state a better place for everyone and the Nigerian enterprise a more profitable venture.
"Her critical temper aside, Ogwude was, however, able to subtly remove the often unfriendly stiffness of regular critical writings to make her work readable like a regular prose work. She deftly handles the English language with flourish to push her arguments forward. It is however surprising that the epic work Equiano's Travels got no mention here, given its foundation works on what could be termed one of the earliest Nigerian prose activity. Her critical needle work spins from political oppression, repression, and dehumanisation under poor leadership, both civilian and military, as well as the socio-economic disillusionment that came in their wake. Environmental and 'medical satanism' – succinctly picturing how governance has turned basic needs and public health into tools of control by way of the decay in those departments. The physiological, socio-economic and psychological, as well as the spatial and temporal ravages of the transnational migration, retarded parenthood, dysfunctional family structure and functions as well as open corruption and warped political ideologies are all part of her repertoire. Her methodology is videographic as she pans her critical klieg light and camera lenses over the Nigerian prosaic landscape, subtly mixing the images and writing scopes of male and female prose stylists, the ancient and the modern prose offerings, historical realism and real-time realism, fantasy (anime-like fiction) and science fiction to create an active montage of wicked mindless leaderships and the sheer ennui of the Nigerian society. Instructively, she bridges the pre and immediate post-civil war cum military era to today's social media democratic-era Fuji House of Commotion scenario to deftly reveal that our challenges are neither military nor civilian driven but structurally, politically and religiously maladjusted. Surely, we (you, I and them) and not the gods are to be blamed.
"In all, however, she steps back slightly by not doing too many close ups but rather pans her critical camera and allow the reader form their own world view in line with the back page blurb of her book which encapsulates her ultimate design with the work: 'the ultimate goal of criticism as with satire is to urge a change' by helping readers 'arrive at informed decisions.' Indeed, the paradox of the Nigerian puzzle is not just in policy formulation and implementation; but in diagnosing the spirit behind these formulations and implementations. The motives and inclinations of our various leaderships is actually the bane of the Nigerian situation – a socio-cultural and psychological failure of literature.
"Perhaps the practitioners of humanities must not only capture, recapture, remember, (re)member and even foretell the very essence of the society in which they find themselves as 'The Role Of The Writer In The Society' suggests, they must indeed never fall short of ensuring that like ombudsmen, they tell truth to both the powers that be as well as themselves. This is Ogwude's most strident treatise in this highly original and fresh work that is served on the strong premise that literature serves as a reflection of society and a veritable tool for social change.
"In closing this brief, Afejuku invoked a review, a throwback into the making of this present work, which will help us understand Ogwude's stance and thrust. Indeed, Prof. Ogwude is not a stranger to what one may term the pugilistic, no-nonsense literary criticism in her role of the writer/critic in the society. In her work, 'History, Progress & Prospects in the Development of African Literature: A Tribute to Dennis Brutus' (African Literature Today 30), this is evident. ''In this well received paper which was dedicated to anti-apartheid activist and poet Dennis Brutus, Ogwude chronicles the founding of the African Literature Association (ALA) in 1975 at the University of Texas at Austin and emphasised the place of arts in the continuous development of the African continent. In the paper she was able to show how African literature has influenced every arts and film including entertainment in the African continent and beyond, evolving into a global edifice to be reckoned with. Her thematic thrust is the simple but cogent truism that: history, birthed by literature is a guide to a better future, a tool for reflection, and positioning of a strong and unified Africa. According to her; 'It is towards the reunification of Africa tomorrow that Africans must work today if they wish to repair the damage done yesterday.'
"Much more could be said about this very salient contribution to the very robust history of Nigerian prose fiction, but stop I must, standing solidly on the hefty protocol of Afejuku's earlier offering on the work: What is written here is as important as what is not written – so, you go do and add your own; the more, the merrier! In all, however, I heartily recommend the book as a worthy collection to any respectable library – public and private; especially private. Do school libraries still buy books?"
Afejuku can be reached via 08055213059.
