Demola Martins and Asuquo Udoh, good friends albeit of contrasting social and spiritual backgrounds, face the harsh realities of life in a country where, despite its bountiful oil reserves, the majority do not have access to a steady supply of water or electricity, employment opportunities for university graduates are severely lacking, and corruption is rampant in a government that appears to deliberately prevent its citizens from being heard. After two years of being jobless, Asuquo inadvertently applies for a doorman's job at the International Airport Hotel, willing to accept the only form of employment available to him despite his degree in chemistry. Demola, an electrical engineer from a family of professional elite, opts to wait for a job more suited to his social rank. Four years later, Demola decides to act on a vision and founds the Campaign Against Rigging Elections (CARE). Asuquo and Demola, along with three other visionaries, form the Crisis Group to head the Campaign, and a youth movement is born. Through peaceful rallying, they push for a more transparent balloting and counting system—the spot ballot method—with the ultimate goal of eliminating election rigging to redeem the “Nigeria that prospers all.”
This compelling immigrant story presents an enchanting mix of miracles, trials, mysteries, tragedies, enrichment, and redemption that often presage the search for freedom and the liberty to live a dream of a fully engaged life. The backwater idol-worshipping Benin enclave in southwestern Nigeria might seem an unlikely setting to dream of flying in an airplane to distant lands, and especially to America, in the immediate post-World War II British colonial era. Yet Cliff Edogun took that leap after he'd been nurtured in an enthralling American worldview by his two towering uncles who'd just returned home as victorious allied World War II soldiers. The great tales of war in distant lands he'd heard from his warrior uncles sounded so magical, while their fascinating stories and nuances about America's bravery, purpose, and leadership in the world so mesmerized Cliff that he spent his entire childhood years dreaming to someday make America his home. So, to fulfill his dreams, individuals in their guardian angel clothing began appearing in his life in seemingly mystical and fortuitous encounters to steer him away from obstacles that'd have undermined his dream. And when Cliff eventually landed in America under the most incredible circumstance imaginable, he quickly and brilliantly availed himself of America's boundless educational opportunities and later became the first in his idol-worshipping Benin clan to earn a doctoral degree. Cliff was soon living the American dream when he began topping his teaching and research profession, married an American professional, and gained his American citizenship.
Demola Martins and Asuquo Udoh, good friends albeit of contrasting social and spiritual backgrounds, face the harsh realities of life in a country where, despite its bountiful oil reserves, the majority do not have access to a steady supply of water or electricity, employment opportunities for university graduates are severely lacking, and corruption is rampant in a government that appears to deliberately prevent its citizens from being heard. After two years of being jobless, Asuquo inadvertent
Letters of disillusionment with Nigerian politics and government from students I’d taught at Nigerian universities in the 1980’s inspired this book of fiction. They’d complained of how the virtues of government they’d learned in class were being defamed by successive Nigerian governments. Public services dysfunction, infrastructure decay, chronic official corruption, clamped down free speech, perennial election rigging, and state-sponsored lawlessness had all ruined their dreams for a better life, while many within their ranks had simply surrendered to the lucre of official financial embezzlement. What options, they ask, are they left with? The rising expectations from Africa’s colonial liberation in the 1960s never materialized for the vast majority. In Nigeria, that dream quickly extinguished after the rigging of that nation’s first general elections in 1959. The seam of nations that the British had cobbled together into the Nigerian state soon began to crack under the divisive issues of tribe, religion, region, and class. In 1967, an unprincipled civil war tore the country apart and affirmed the long-held view that the center in Nigeria could no longer hold under the circumstance. Yet, history was never linear. The digitally sophisticated young people around the world are increasingly demonstrating the capacity to organize and mobilize while entrenched oligarchies have become increasingly vulnerable. This book captures this imaginative historicity and relives the dream of change that is possible. However, this story does not stress youth organization purely for its own sake. Rather, organization must drive mobilization through innovative democratic ideals that’d complement Nigeria’s pluralist ideal of justice for all. For a nation as resourceful, this book portrays the hope that its talented youths would seize this moment in the sun to demonstrate the unique industrious nature of the Nigerian spirit. To the Nigerian youth is this book dedicated.”
Letters of disillusionment with Nigerian politics and government from students I’d taught at Nigerian universities in the 1980’s inspired this book of fiction. They’d complained of how the virtues of government they’d learned in class were being defamed by successive Nigerian governments. Public services dysfunction, infrastructure decay, chronic official corruption, clamped down free speech, perennial election rigging, and state-sponsored lawlessness had all ruined their dreams for a better life, while many within their ranks had simply surrendered to the lucre of official financial embezzlement. What options, they ask, are they left with? The rising expectations from Africa’s colonial liberation in the 1960s never materialized for the vast majority. In Nigeria, that dream quickly extinguished after the rigging of that nation’s first general elections in 1959. The seam of nations that the British had cobbled together into the Nigerian state soon began to crack under the divisive issues of tribe, religion, region, and class. In 1967, an unprincipled civil war tore the country apart and affirmed the long-held view that the center in Nigeria could no longer hold under the circumstance. Yet, history was never linear. The digitally sophisticated young people around the world are increasingly demonstrating the capacity to organize and mobilize while entrenched oligarchies have become increasingly vulnerable. This book captures this imaginative historicity and relives the dream of change that is possible. However, this story does not stress youth organization purely for its own sake. Rather, organization must drive mobilization through innovative democratic ideals that’d complement Nigeria’s pluralist ideal of justice for all. For a nation as resourceful, this book portrays the hope that its talented youths would seize this moment in the sun to demonstrate the unique industrious nature of the Nigerian spirit. To the Nigerian youth is this book dedicated.”
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