Portraiture of the Nigerian Conundrum in Ola Rotimi's 'The Gods are not to Blame'

Academic Paper from the year 2014 in the subject African Studies, , language: English, abstract: This paper attempts reading Ola Rotimi's 'The Gods are not to blame' against the backdrop of the Nigerian dilemma in the contemporary times. The play first performed in the year 1968, in the heat of the Nigerian civil war is still relevant today. Many scholars viewed the work as a transplantation of Sophocle's Oedipus Rex and underplay its powerful political message to the nascent Nigerian political class then and now. The paper examined the role of Odewale in the shaping of the Destiny of his society and how albeit with stint of tyranny champions the welfare of the state, taking blames for the decadence and the breakdown of law and cosmic order when found culpable. On the other hand, the contemporary Nigerian leaders are antithetical of Odewale, blame-games and outright refusal to be accountable, or step-down when found wanting; misappropriation, mismanagement of state and human resources are institutionalized on local and national scale. The paper above all, adumbrated some of the conundrums of Nigeria and proffered a number of useful ways by which the Odewale examples could be integrated into the Nigerian political morality, and the pitfalls to be avoided in a bid to move ahead into the state dreamt of on the 1st of October, 1960.

He is a Nigerian novelist, playwright and critic. Akwu Sunday Victor is also known as Eneojo Adeyi. He is the author of Breaking the Cycle of Silence {play}, New Voices from the Confluence: An Anthology of Creative Writing, and Bourgeois Politics and Ideology in Vincent Egbuson's Womandela. He read English and Literary Studies from Kogi State University, PMB 1008, Anyigba, Nigeria. He is a private researcher, his writing cuts across the three genres of literature.