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

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Academic Paper from the year 2014 in the subject African Studies - Literature, , language: English, abstract: This paper attempts reading Ola Rotimis "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 Sophocles 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.

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