Nigerian politicians and the leadership question in Emeka Nwabueze’s <i>A Parliament of Vultures</i> and Alex Asigbo’s <i>The Reign of Paschal Amusu</i>

Abstract

African countries have consistently been involved in civil unrest, political instability, threats of secession, selection instead of election as well as rigging of elections, sit tight leaders and many more malaise. Despite the fact that Africa is blessed with enough human, material and natural resources, yet most of these resources have been grossly mismanaged or fretted away by her leaders who have refused to rise above board. The aim of the research is to portray the efforts of our dramatists in exposing the machinations of our leaders in their quest to retain power and acquire wealth to the detriment of the masses. The objectives of the study is to expose some these devices and enlighten the public on the schemes of their leaders and politicians who pretend to be serving the public while
in the real sense are enriching themselves while impoverishing the masses as well as to expose the different ways in which these heinous crime against the people are perpetrated. The research adopted the qualitative methodology and a context analysis approach of two drama texts of Emeka Nwabueze and Alex Asigbo. The findings show that politicians adopt many tactics to fulfill their selfish and inordinate ambitions to the detriment of the nation which this paper sets to interrogate. The paper therefore concludes that drama has continued to be a potent tool in exposing societal ills. The study recommends conscientization and reawaking of national consciousness of both the leaders and the general public.

Keywords: Leaders, Politicians, Dramatists, Masses