Quest for Recolonization: Nigerian Nationalism and Confiscation of Democracy in Ben Okri’s the Freedom Artist

Abstract

This study discusses the literary illustrations of the Nigerian nationalist government as being a tyrannical regime in Ben Okri’s the Freedom Artist (2019). Being a Nigerian and widely known literary writer, Okri fictionalizes tyranny, reflecting real political life in Africa, as a ruler exercising oppressive power, resembling a tyrant in real life. This study focuses on showing the parallels between the tyrannical strategies manipulated by the Nigerian nationalist government in postcolonial Nigeria to establish a cohesive nation and the methods employed by white colonial powers during the colonization of African territories – with a special focus on Nigeria. Despite their different historical contexts, both colonial and postcolonial regimes demonstrate similar oppressive tactics in terms of governance and control. Therefore, it explores the way The Freedom Artist demonstrates the Nigerian nationalist government and its doctrines as outcomes and modified iterations of neo-colonialism, carrying forward the legacies of colonial rule. This perspective posits that postcolonial Nigeria and its quest for independence are heavily affected by colonialism, showing that postcolonial Nigeria is a constructed formula deeply fed by colonial paradigms following the period of so-called decolonization in non-western spaces and especially “the third world”. Given the Nigerian context in Okri’s The Freedom Artist, this type of postcoloniality is mirrored in the framework of recolonization, referencing that recolonization is a novel phenomenon, desired by the members of the nation, in postcolonial Nigeria.