Book: Tenants of the House Author: Wale Okediran Publisher: Nelson Publishers Limited, Ibadan Year: 2009 Reviewer: Adjekpagbon Blessed Mudiaga
The 306-page book made up of twenty-seven-chapter is loaded with intriguing base motives, do-or-die political philosophies and terrorist acts of some so-called law makers who can be better described as prostitutes and demons in saints clothing. The central character in the novel is Honourable Samuel Bakura who attempted to rectify many abnormalities he felt should not rear heads, let alone allowed to have field play on the floor of the Federal House of Representatives. His efforts to sanitize the unbecoming attitude of some of his colleagues threw him into a series of unpalatable conflicts with them.
Writing from omnipresent (one person) point of view, the author, Okediran engages the reader in a James Bond-like detective and romantic exploration of scenes with microscopic details. He analyzes scenes with eloquent distillation. The opening chapter will certainly jolt a first time reader of the novel as it begins thus: I handled a gun for the first time, the day I saw one in Hon. Elizabeth Belo’s handbag. Lizzy and I, both representing Kaduna State, sat next close to each other in the chamber of the Federal House of Representatives. She had left her seat that day to converse with another member on the other side of the chamber and urgently needed a document from her handbag, so; she asked me to open the bag for her. My heart missed a beat. I swallowed hard. What? I thought; a gun here? You can never tell with women. But there it was, nestled comfortably in a crevice of Lizzy’s bag: no nonsense about it; it was the real thing: Honorable Bakura explains.
This is a true reflection of how various Nigerian politicians play politics. It is warfare. Only those who are daring most times have their say in moving motions, bills and bargains for the constituencies they represent. Imagine, Lizzy, a woman, carrying a gun in her handbag. As harmless as some ladies seems to look with their charming smiles, beautiful curvatures and enchanting nightingale’s voice, it is difficult to judge their 'internalities' from a distance or from mere assessment of their 'externalities.' This is perhaps what Okediran wants the reader to comprehend among other awful traits of female characters and human beings generally, throughout the novel.
If carrying a gun to such hallowed chamber is what could give Lizzy what she needed, then the definition of politics by Harold Lasswell who defined politics as a “system of who gets what, when and how,” has to be revisited. Does politics involve the use of dangerous arms and ammunition to cow co-house-members to submit to every demand made by others on the floor of the chamber? Is this the meaning of the “how” Lasswell imply in his description of politics? It is therefore, not surprising that Bakura was unable to sleep as he tossed and turned in bed recollecting the episode of the gun when he got home that night. No wonder there are still many unsolved mysteries of perceived political killings of some notable personalities in Nigeria from 1999 to date, such as the true killers of Engineer Funso Williams, former Justice Minister, Chief Bola Ige and a host of others, yet to be discovered.
The business of impeaching ‘Speakers’ of the chamber seems to be very important and lucrative to majority of the members instead of addressing issues that concern the electorate in various constituencies they represent. Precious time is wasted on frivolities while money exchanges hands in a do-or-die-greed syndrome of sharing “fertizer” (money), clearly captured in a market-women-quarrelling-style as the Wenike group and the Speaker’s group engaged each other in verbal caterwauls on the chamber’s floor.
Furthermore, still waxing explosively and unpretentiously like James Baldwin’s "Go Tell It On The Mountain," Okediran leaves no stone unturned as he enthralls the reader with some mischievous things some female politicians do with their bodies to win rival members to their camp. The salacious tendencies and coquettish scheming of Lizzy to win Bakura and some male members to her political camp, reminds the reader of Mrs. Duta with similar traits in Victor Okechukwu Anyaegbuna’s novel entitled "Unrequited Love." One of the fundamental issues Okediran uses the novel to highlight is the role being played by security agents such as the State Security Service and the Police in carrying out illegalities by politicians at different levels of government. Among other issues raised through the intricate but smooth transitional plots of the story is that of uneducated, half-educated and educated-illiterates who find their ways into the National Assembly as learned members of the chambers.
Cases of certificate forgery as represented by “Torontoism” and “Chicagoism” in the past, comes to the fore in the portion where Bakura states that, “As the Speaker’s words came back to me, I started thinking deeply of my burden as a Honourable Member of the House of Representatives. Yes, the Speaker was right. Of all the members in the Wenike group, I was about the best educated. Who of our group knew about Clausewitz? Or Plato? Or Socrates? Education and political gangsterism do not go well together. And instead of my current alignment with political gangsterism, I should use my education and experience as a lawyer in a more positive way: promoting bills and policies, which would move the nation forward.”
The repercussion of accepting illegal money and having sexual relationship with dangerous political prostitutes aptly represented by Lizzy, a member of the chamber, is a clear warning to God-fearing individuals not to accept any of such Greek gifts, in order to save their integrity and serve their constituencies interest. Such suspenseful scenarios are the hallmark of Okediran’s systematic punctuations of intriguing political and romantic maneuvering style of writing. This makes the book a reader’s collection in the conglomerate of best sellers in the world. The author writes and paints sceneries in a James Hardly Chase investigative style that captivates the reader’s attention like iron to magnet.
Sociologically, the author also throws up what is called “Cultural Shock,” when Samuel Bakura fell in love with a pretty Fulani girl, Batejo. This aspect of the book depicts the saying “There are different strokes for different folks,” which also serves as a reminder of Cyprian Ekensi’s novel titled "The Burning Grass," where such Fulani marriage test also feature. It was the Sharo (flogging ceremony) Bakura failed to win and made him unable to marry Betejo, in Okediran’s "Tenants of the House." However, Bakura’s efforts to win his rival, Gidado in the competition for Batejo’s hand for marriage further remind the reader of Promise Okekwe’s poems titled "Pride" and "Waiting In The Cloud' in her collection titled "Naked Among these Hills."
Okediran, the author, served as Member of the Federal House of Representatives, Abuja between 2003 and 2007. He is a medical doctor by profession, before he joined politics. In 1990, his poem, "Call to Worship," won a book prize of the American Poetry Association contest. His novel, 'The Rescue of Uncle Babs," won the 1998 ANA Prize for Children’s Literature while his book, 'Dreams Die at Twilight," was adjudged one of the 25 best books of the last 25 years in Nigeria by Spectrum Books Limited. He has won several other awards. "Tenants of the House," is a joint winner of Wole Soyinka's prize for Literature in Africa. Therefore, the book is a good reading material for all neophyte politicians occupying any State House of Assembly and the Nigeria National Assembly. It is also recommended for the general public for the understanding of many hidden secrets going on in the corridors of power.
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