Title: The Reversal
Reviewer: Bridget Chiedu Onochie, Abuja
Publishers: New Generation Publishing
Most narratives on toppled governments or military coup d’état, have focused more on the accounts by the coup plotters, the implications and the expectations of the new regime. Zara’s story in The Reversal is on the other hand, a fictional portrayal of the other side of such events. It highlights the harrowing experiences of such abrupt and downward spiral in the lives of family members of a deposed Head of State.
The younger ones, such as Zara, find themselves suddenly stigmatized, shattered and unprepared. In some cases, if not massacred, they are innocently violated, exploited or abandoned in life threatening situations.
The above explanations formed the thrust of Professor Pauline Otti’s The Reversal. The 249-page novel presents an intriguing and suspense-filled story of the reversal of fortune in the life of a young lady. It is a touching tales of the fall of a family from grace to grass; betrayal of trust, crimes, rape and abandonment.
The author also beamed search-light on the nagging issue of corruption among African leaders as captured in the illegal trans-national oil deal between Zara’s father and his foreign collaborators.
Set in 1972 in one of the African countries, the author opens the narration with the life changing discussion between the 22-year old student of ‘Carindale’ University College, Cambridge and the school authority. “Ms. Ladi arrived this morning to inform us about the rather unsettling situation in your country. The Capital, we are informed, was under serious threat by the militants”, announced the school Principal.
Although the young woman has been putting up with occasional threat to life and kidnap attempts, the fissure created by the latest news about the unpredicted confiscation of political power from Zara’s father and the consequences on the immediate family, drive the actions that sustain the remaining part of the book.
But in spite of her predicaments, the author presents in Zara, a character, though psychologically and emotionally devastated but resilience and persistent. Also surprising but life-time lesson is that fact that none of the friends of the Head of State was close to offer assistance in a time of need. The first blow that was dealt on Zara is her withdrawal from school by the management in view of the unstable political situation in her country.
Without any option, the intelligent young girl is directed to leave the campus within an hour in the acclaimed ‘interest of her safety’. Unable to hold back tears at this point, and in her confused frame of mind, she was unsure of what her response should be; and in a sudden burst of emotions, Zara asked: “Don’t I have any other choice, Professor Pearse? You are all aware that this is midway in the first term of my final year? Unfortunately, her plea failed to illicit sentiments; and like a dream, Zara’s set goals and aspiration begin to fade away into oblivion.
But greater surprises await her. Having left school, she heads straight to the Ambassador’s house, hoping to be celebrated as usual. Unknown to her, loyalty changes with power. Thus, accommodating Zara poses a threat to the family that once worshiped her when her father was in power.
“He therefore set out to approach those he had deemed to be ‘friendly Ambassadors’ from African countries, to secretly harbour Zara, away from his official residence for a while. Two reasons informed this move; one was to appear to be in support of the new regime by distancing himself from the relatives of the troubled leader, and thereby, secure his position.”
With the mother and the only sibling falling fatal victims of the coup, and her father smuggled to a missionary establishment for safety, Zara’s despair surged as she is left alone in a world of emotional and financial uncertainty.
“Once you are out of power, nobody wants to associate with you’, the author stated. Not even the secret love affair with the military attaché – Garvey stood the test of time. The man was taken away from her when she needed him most.
“Garvey did not show up. In his place, a different gentleman was introduced to accompany her in another vehicle. Zara was disappointed and saddened.” Determined as ever, she goes in search of Garvey but again, she is betrayed by a friend – Naomi and sold cheaply to kidnappers who sexually assaulted her.
“Zara felt bruised up in her intimate region and observed the stained sheet. She was broken. It dawned on her she must have been violated. Tears ran down her cheeks. In utter anguish and humiliation, she sobbed helplessly but quietly, with a feeling of a lump in her throat.
However, she reasoned, there would be time to cry later. Right now, this could be her only opportunity to escape, a chance to seize the moment, to save her life. Now is the time.”
Unknown to her, the father’s primitively acquired wealth lies in a Swiss Bank while she suffers wants. And when her father finally regains liberty and directs the bank to release the sum of $1million to her, she declines the offer. For her, the purpose has been defeated. She no longer has need for it, having gone through the most excruciating moments of her life without help. Rather, she interrogates the genuineness of her father’s love towards her. “If he loves me so much, why did he conceal his wealth from me?” She asked. Coming from a society where women are considered second fiddles, Zara also wonders if her father’s action is aimed at relegating her and denying her the right of inheritance on the basis of gender.
Not finding a convincing answer to her many questions, she asks the Priest to hold the money. According to the author, the worthlessness of stolen wealth as captured in the interface between Zara and father is designed as a moral lesson for politicians, who primitively acquire wealth while in public offices at the expense of the masses.
“Rather than keep this money abroad, they can invest it in the country. We have heard what happened in South Africa, Uganda, Burkina Faso and even The Gambia recently.
“So, we are never sure when military coup will totally stop in Africa. They may find a clever way of doing it so that the world wouldn’t say it is a military coup. Therefore, leaders should take precaution on how they loot the economy”, she stated.
According to the author, Zara epitomizes other victims of coup; those who were physically brutalized, psychologically traumatized, stigmatized and abandoned to face a future that is unpredictably cruel and lonely. Also, the trans-national dimension of the act of corrupt perpetuated by Zara’s father while in office is revealed in what the author described as trans-national diamond deals and illegal off-shore bank accounts.
Zara, no doubt, is a departure from the stereotype of a conventional physically weak, intellectually dull and emotional unstable African woman.
The author’s heroine is endowed with inner strength, as she is resilient, dogged and epitomizes the true character of an African woman – unconquerable. The author said: “But she grew up, she fought hard, she had inner strength to be able to surpass all her challenges.”