Title: Tenants of the House
Author: Wale Okediran
Publisher: Nelson Publishers Limited, 2009
Pages: 306
Tenants of the House is the narration of political thievery, corruption and fictional documentation of the daily proceedings of members of the Nigerian lower legislative chamber. From the very beginning, there is the conception of a war in the offing. Honourable Lizzy walks with a gun hidden in her bag even when the “Colt Defender” is banned from the house. The smuggling of the gun shows how porous security in Nigeria can be despite the presence of security agents.
The novel’s plot revolves around the scheme to oust the Speaker of the house of Reps as narrated by the omniscient/first person protagonist, Honourable Samuel Bakura. Initially an insignificant member of the house, Honourable Bakura changed from a pious lawyer whose ideals was to help pass bills for the benefit of the masses, to a dubious and greedy politician.
Through the eyes of the narrator, readers get to visualize the corrupt and unpredictable alliances of members formed as a result of jumping camps through the offering of bribes otherwise called ‘fertilizers’. The desperate need to manipulate leadership by those who want a third term bid, results to late night meetings, blackmails, erratic and unpredictable shifts of alliances, conspiracy, betrayals and espionage.
Okediran shockingly exposed strategies that could be used to truncate democratic proceedings. From the short circuiting of microphones to cutting off power supply, there is no doubt that the intention of legislators in the house is not to move the country forward but rather to amplify selfishness, greed and corruption. In order to attain power, legislators seek diabolical means, cultism and drugs and they support this move by saying “you have to use something…for protection”.
Riddled with so many errors and clichés, one cannot help but feel that the story is entirely bland and unappealing. Events recorded in the work are a representation of daily news articles of the messiness of the country. Shallow and painful, Okediran’s work reminds us of the painful truth of how our legislators have sunken loyalty, honesty and transparencies down the drain. Clichés such as the following makes reading of Tenants of the House an uninspiring one:
“As expected, the speaker’s press conference caused
so much a stir as an earthquake in many quarters.”
(pg.72)
“By my fine whiskers, who has been laying it on
thick for you?” (pg. 175)
“The early bird catches the worm. Time and tide
Wait for no man.” (pg. 137)
When considered as a gender biased work, we read of stereotypical conception of women. Women are prostitutes and extortionists as depicted with the character, Angelina, heart breakers and deceitful beings and manipulative. Those who become strong independent women like Lizzy, are very dangerous to relate with. They are also power drunk with excessive urge for sexual orgies just like their equally power drunk male counterparts; it is no wonder therefore that the author portrayed the hiring of male prostitutes, (‘gigolos’) who serve the sexual needs of rich women as a direct rebuttal of women who seem to have broken down the monopoly of male autocratic authority over women. With a strong stance and support for patriarchy, Okediran obliterates the truth about women and classifies all women as:
“…Young and predatory, they sought to milk you
for what you were worth. And then they moved on…” (p. 7).
Women like Mama who conform to patriarchal rules become naive, totally unable to think reasonably and are deterrents to the success of men and that’s why Mama’s objection to Hon. Sam’s marriage to Batejo only heightens more male dominance over women. To Okediran, even Batejo the simple minded Fulani girl is also at fault for using her beauty to stir up a destructive rivalry between her fiancé and Samuel Bature. Okediran’s injustice to women makes the book a no read for the women folk.
There are also contradictions that confuse readers and perhaps also instigate the questioning of the editors and publishers of the book if a thorough proof reading and book editing was done. For instance, Hon. Samuel had already met the president before and had a rather poor and unimpressive concept of Mr. President:
“He looked completely different from the cartoon
caricature of a sleep-eyed and gaunt-looking with
oversized ear lobes sticking out like a rabbit’s.
President Oneya appeared smart, even handsome…”
(pg. 177)
Yet the same person, in a later meeting with the number one citizen of Nigeria gives a rather positive view of the president which totally contradicts the earlier statement:
“…I recalled my previous encounters with the president.
In all the four of them, I have found him eager to talk,
down-to-earth and, to say to the least, quick witted.”
(pg.117)
Looking at the language used, though simple and easily understandable, there are regrettably a lot of miss-spelt Hausa words. Some are grammatically incoherent with the depicted scenes and there is the too much use of clichés. Words are also used in the ordinary way without a creative approach to good literature, hence the blandness of the book. The major protagonist, Hon. Samuel is also an unstable phenomenon. The author started by addressing him as Samuel Bakura, and then transformed him to Samuel Bature but finally ended the novel with Samuel Bakura. There is a shift from aligning proper names to characters like Elizabeth Bello (Lizzy), Yaya Suleiman, Muktar Yinusa, to non proper names like Angelina, Mama, Kalkulus, Socrates, Chuks etc.
Readers can however, easily relate with Okediran’s fictional characters representing the many dishonest politicians in Nigeria today. The bitter pain of the under-representation of a constituency disorients many Nigerians and this is the one thing that may have garnered more readerships.
The author, who served as an honourable member of the Nigerian House of Representatives between 2003 and 2007, may have transposed his experience into a fictional re-enaction of the intrigues of Nigerian politics. As an advent follower of the current political trend in the country, Tenants of the House can be said to be a stupendous, intriguing narration of the filthiness of Nigerian politics. From page to page, readers are captivated by the plotting of unending fraudulent schemes. The characters are so bent in out doing themselves that they all end of in a vicious circle in which everyone is trapped.
Profile of reviewer
Linda Jummai Mustafa is a member of Literary Society of Nigeria, African Literature Association and an associate member of NUJ, she is currently teaching at the School of Preliminary Studies, IBB University Lapai, New Bussa campus, Niger state. She also has a M.A. in Literature-in-English acquired from the University of Ilorin. Coming from a background where few women attain university education, Ms. Mustafa is the first female journalist from Borgu local government area of Niger state to have served in several print media as a reporter.
