Arts/Literary
Peep Into Chinua Achebe’s Anthills Of The Savannah …An Epitome Of Absolute Power, Corruption
Professor Chinua Achebe’s celebrated novel, Anthills of The Savannah published in1987 is a bitter ironic novel by the renowned author of Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God, The Man of The People, among others. The novel presents a candid, trenchantly insightful view of contemporary African state fictitiously called Kangan with capital in Bassa.
“Anthills of The Savannah is a story of conflicts of interest and xrays the haunting theme of power, dictatorship and corruption as it mirrors the sordid reality and erosion of popular will which is akin to governance in contemporary African state, and provides a glimpse of african political unrest”.
Anthills of The Savannah is about three close friends trying to live together under an oppressive military regime. The story revolves around three friends, Sam, Chris Oriko and Ikem Osodi, described as “the three green bottles” who have now come into power in Kangan.
Sam is the defact to leader and President of the Republic of Kangan, he is a hard stern man, a career soldier, and has come into power. Sam began his rule with good intentions, but his hunger for power grows and knows no bounds. As soon as his power is challenged or questioned, he begins to silence those who doubt him and stand in his way including his longtime friends, Ikem and Chris.
It is clear that he does not have his people’s best interest at heart, to make matters worse, he has steadily become increasingly paranoid over time. Sam has change as he ascended to power, in the past, his friends thought he would be a good president, however, power makes him hunger for more power and more oppression of the people and willing to put down resistance with force.
Ikem on the other hand is the polar opposite of Sam, he is a scholarly fellow with and appreciation for arts and culture. He is quickly becoming Sam’s most vocal critics, voicing out his opinions regarding the need to make several government reforms through the nation’s newspaper, the National Gazette which he edits as the editor.
He is having a more difficult time coping with the power the friends have gained and uses the Newspaper, to criticise the government even though technically, the paper is working for the government.
Chris is the most level headed of the three and often plays the role of an arbiter between Sam and Ikem. He is the Commissioner for Information for Kangan. Though Ikem and Chris critical to Sam’s success, with matters taking a turn for the worst, both men came to regret their involvement and as such seek to restrain Sam by leveraging their positions, since they don’t all agree about the direction and methods of Kangan.
The three are vastly different in their political leaning and personal temperament. Chris, however, thinks things can be maintained if they hold the power and make Sam less radical. He tries to convince Ikem to work with him rather than against him, Chris tries to appease His Excellency and believes that there maybe an opportunity to operate from a place of reason.
As the novel progresses, it becomes clear how irrational His Excellency’s despotic behaviour is, there is no reasoning with it or tempering it , the government is corrupt. His Excellency, not only wants to exterminate the people who speak out, but also the ideas they are promoting and he does this in his attempts to discredit them after their death.
Sam in his desire to hang on to power decides that he wants to become president for life, a position unheard of in their nation’s history. This move requires a nationwide plebiscite, but Abazon, one of the regions in Kangan rejects the notion of putting Sam in power for the rest of his life.
In response to their refusal, Sam deprives the region of his support during a drought in the hope that this would break their spirit. His embargo forces the region to send representatives to the capital to plead their cause and get the necessary supplies. Sam however mistakenly suspects the mission of mercy to be a ruse, thinking that they might be planning a revolt. His paranoia fuels his imagination even further and he comesta the conclusion that the revolt may actually be funded and organised by some one privy to private details about his life, some one close to him.
His Excellency will do what he wants, Chris realises that he cannot negotiate with someone who behaves like this, but it takes the majority of the novel for him to accept the irrationality of his friend’s behaviour, there is no point in being reasonable or petrifying His Excellency as he will do as he pleases no matter what.
His Excellency is an example of the old adage, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, while he did not set out to have absolute power and initially shunned the idea of ruling for life, he soon ignores past statements, betrays his friends and ultimately lies to the public in order to advance his own agenda. He is willing to do anything to protect his power by silencing protesters, spreading misinformation and assassinating those who stand in his way. The drive for absolute power drives him to corruption.
The corruption of His Excellency dominates as an overreaching theme, but there is more time and attention dedicated to the ways in which the minions of the government perpetuate this corruption than the actual acts of His Excellency. The behaviour of His Excellency gets tone for the rest of the administration who has a more direct impact on the well being and experience of the citizens on Kangan.
The best example of this, is the behaviour of the police force, from accepting bribes from the bus drivers to the attempted rape. Ultimately, Ikem is fired from the newspaper for speaking out against the government and he is killed by the state police. When people say Ikem wants Sam to be beheaded, Ikem is killed because he spoke out and the government tries to cover up the murder by saying it occurred in struggle.
Chris tries to escape when they want to arrest him and he does get out of the city but he is later killed defending a woman he met while he was trying to get away from Kangan. His Excellency, Sam was killed by another group of coup plotters taking over his government in response to his lack of popularity, paranoia and bad choices.
Anthills Of The Savannah is Achebe’s most experimental novel, it may not be the best work of the Man Booker Award Winner, nevertheless it is an important contribution to world literature. According to Richard Dowden of the Independent, “Anyone ruling or aspiring of ruling an African state, should read this book, so should the rest of us”.
By: Jacob Obinna
It is the idea of God that family should exit. Children form part of the family. God loves family so much that Jesus was born into the family of Joseph.
Everyone’s family is good and important. Children should not look down on their family whether they are rich or poor.
Children should respect and honour their family and foster love among their siblings. They should work together and make peace in the family. They should always stand in the gap. It is good for family members to carry all along since everyone may not be doing well.
The Christianity that children learn is practised in family. Faith-based organisations do a great job in moulding children’s character. Those are the behaviours that children exhibit towards siblings in family.
Every child born in a family is there for a purpose. A baby born into a family is supplying something. It may be joy, wealth and so on. Everyone is important in a family.
Adolescents who have graduated from school but may not be contributing financially can do one or two things at home. You can engage in preparing meals at home while parents are away for a job or business. Contributing in house chores will go a long way to relieve parents of stress after a day’s job.
What do you contribute to your family, especially during holidays both in nuclear and extended family?
The family you were born is constant but friends are temporary. You can decide not to continue in friendship but you cannot cut off your family. No matter how bad you think your family is and you decide to leave home, you must surely return. Your friends can harbour you for a while.
The child’s first identity comes from the family. What the child learns first comes from the family.
Family is the centre of love and care. People have started playing down on marriage because of neglect on basics of family. Marriage starts today and and the next few months, it is threatened. Respect for family plays a crucial role in marriage.
No child grows without parental control and influence. If a child refuses to grow without taking instructions from parents, he may grow up being wild. There are consequences when children do not obey their parents. There are those who want to be rebellious against their parents. They should know that their length of days are tied to their parents.
Your bioligical parents know you more than every other person. There is the wisdom and knowledge your parents have that you do not so it is proper to listen to them before choosing carriers both in academics and job. A young man or woman can choose who to get married to, but a greater role in the choice of who to marry and the marriage proper comes from the parents.
They know what is best for you. No matter how modern trends will influence you and prove it wrong, parent is the key. No one can love you more than your parents because they are your blood.
A lot of parents have been traumatised due to the fact that children they nurtured and trained turned their back on them at older age. Children should not abandon their parents for any reason.
As you grow up, situations may arise in marriage when you decide it is over with your spouse, but no matter the level of provocation with your parents, they will not despise you. Parents will also play a role in that regard. Problem arises in every family but how it is handled matters a lot.
Some children honour their mentors more than their parents. Although there are parents who shy away from their responsibilities. It is important that parents take full responsibility of their children. You cannot bring a child to the planet earth and refuse to perform roles as a parent. But parents may not quantify what they spent from childhood to adolescence. That is a blessing children cannot get from another person.
There are people who have attributed their failure in life to the fact that their parents, especially mothers are witchcraft. It is wrong to feel that your mother is instrumental to your failure in life. The only way to success is hardwork.
Let money not determine the level of love for your parents. Wherever a child goes, family is constant.
Eunice Choko-Kayode
Naturally, when a child is born, it is the role of the father and mother to decide a suitable name for the child. The husband and wife normally discuss and suggest the English or vernacular name of the baby.
But sometimes, when a baby comes into a family, grandparents hearts are usually filled with joy to the extent that they want to answer present, by giving their own names not minding the fact that the biological parents have given theirs.
This happens mostly when the marriage is an inter-tribal one. It also happens even in intra-tribal marriage. Grandparents want equal representation as far as naming a child is concerned. They also have special names as a result of circumstances surrounding the birth of the child.
This is still happening till date.
A lot of people have viewed this in different ways but there is nothing wrong about it. The most important thing is that the child bears as many names as he or she can. But one thing is certain, the child must bear one name in school.
Should circumstance determine a child’s name?
Women who are more emotional are always eager to name their children considering the circumstances surrounding the child’s conception and arrival.
The issue of grandparents naming a child comes up mostly when it is the first of the family.
In naming children by some parents in the olden days, they named their children according to the days in the week in which they were born, like Sunday, Monday, Friday and so on.
You may be shocked to hear that whether a child is given 10 names by parents or grandparents, when he or she grows up, will decide to change. There are several cases where some persons decided to change especially when they feel that the names given by their parents and grandparents do not give them joy. If they are not doing well in life, they may claim that their misfortune is caused by the name their parents.
Competition among children in schools be it primary, (kindergarten) and secondary come in different forms. It can be Mathematics , debate, quiz, spelling bee,competition, from organisations like Cowbell, multi-national companies, faith-based organisations among others.
They are organised mostly for selected intelligent ones, the best among their peers to represent a class, school or group. Prizes are normally set aside for the best as well as consolation prizes for runners-up at the end of each session.
The question is, are children willing to accept defeat when they fail? As parents, guardians, can you encourage your children or wards to accept defeat instead of shouting and comparing them with others who may be performing better either in schools or outside.
Some parents may be blaming their children for not doing well in competitions. They will like to tell their children if others who may perform better have ten heads. Those group of parents blame their children for every failure.
For your children to do better in competition, the parents too must have emotional intelligence. When you continue to blame your children for failure, how intelligent are you?
Some parents always want their children to be in the 1st position and unhappy whenever they secure 2nd position. There were instances where children smashed their trophies because they never got the position they wanted to get and their parents supported them.
Children should be able to accept it whether they win or not. They should be encouraged for every performance. Discourage the issue of “shame, shame, shame, shame”.
A parent says she always tells her children to win even if they will fail. Always give them the mentality that they can win. Children should be given the impression that they can win prizes and laurels in every competition.
Parents should not isolate their children from others in the neighbourhood. Allow them to play with others. Don’t threaten your children that you may not pay their schools fees if they fail. Comparing them with others may encourage or discourage them.
Coming first or getting award as a first class student from the university sometimes does not mean that the person is the best. And if the child does not merit any award in the lower classes, does not mean that he can not merit first class also.
It should be noted that coming first in academic competition may not really mean that the competitor will be the best at work place or business.
Accepting defeat is a way to move higher. Even if a child who competed with others did not come first, there are consolation prizes for runners-up. When you advise the child to accept defeat, you are encouraging her to win in next competition.
Remember all children cannot be on the same knowledge level Their learning abilities defer.
Eunice Choko-Kayode
