Category: Worship

Book Title: Midnight Cry
Author: Paul Ugah
No. of Pages: 116
Publisher: Chapugah Publishers
Reviewer Regina Achie Nege
Date of Publication: 2016

Fictional literature can have a significant social impact  where it is employed for social criticism. Paul Ugah’s debut collection, Midnight Cry,  a collection of twelve stories written in witty and humorous language, falls into this category of literature. As a social critic, Paul Ugah in this collection hopes to do more than entertain the reader. Although the stories are on diverse themes, one thing they all have in common is instructional value. The stories satirize those aspects of the society with which the author is disenchanted while also attempting to locate the reasons for these conditions in a flawed society.

The first story, “Conspiracy of Silence”, explores the theme of superstition among Nigerian politicians who are often found patronizing  seers and sorcerers. Edache, an aspirant for a senatorial seat, sets out to obtain fetish powers to enable him defeat his opponents easily. In a twist of events however, the herbalist conspires with the other aspirants to make Edache appear mad by asking him to walk naked with a concoction held in his hands from his house  to the village square a number of times, saying that he would be invisible because of the powder. Edache obeys the instructions and all his constituents conclude that he is mad, thus dashing his political ambitions forever. When Edache realizes this, he laments: “Oh! I have irretrievably compromised my political ambitions by obeying Eche’s instructions in my desperation for power” (Pg. 20).

The conspirators are not spared either as Eche, the herbalist, runs mad and Akamba, the chief conspirator, is killed by unknown gunmen. The moral in this story is clear: The story frowns at desperation for power and shows clearly that evil begets evil.

The second story in the collection further emphasizes the writer’s posture as a social critic. This story titled “Deception” shows that a marriage may prevail against many challenges and trials, but when deception is involved, it will crumble. In this story, Amedu and Lizzy are plagued with the many problems of an inter-tribal marriage: mainly the lack of total acceptance of Lizzy, who is from Plateau state, by the Idoma people of Apa from where Amedu hails, and  the couple’s inability to bear children after twenty years of marriage. Through all this, the couple sticks together until the veil of deception worn by Lizzy is suddenly pulled off. This happens when Amedu stumbles on a letter written to Lizzy which reveals that she has two children whom she bore out of wedlock in her secondary school days, and that an attempt to abort a third pregnancy led to permanent damage to her womb. The shock of this discovery is devastating. Amedu is distraught while Lizzy collapses from emotional turmoil.

The moral in this story too does not require elaboration. Ugah’s disenchantment with sexual promiscuity, and even more seriously, deception in relationships is loud and clear.

This takes us to the third story in the collection, “Web of Love”. This is a touching yet humorous story of a young girl who is faced with the dilemma of whom to marry among her suitors. There’s Edo, a civil servant, who sponsored her university education and whom her conscience tells her she should marry. Yet, he is not as rich as Emmanuel, the governorship aspirant who wants to take her as second wife since his first wife is not polished enough to be first lady. There’s also the temptation to marry Adamu, the wealthy contractor.  Continuous worrying over whom to marry leads Aladi to a temporary  loss of sanity. When she begins to recover, she requests that her suitors be invited to visit her at the psychiatric hospital. Emmanuel and Adamu give excuses and only Edo, the poor civil servant, finds time to visit Aladi promptly. Instantly, the web of love is resolved and her decision is made. Through this story, Ugah has shown that money does not always translate to love and care. Although the wealthy suitors have money to lavish on Aladi, at the mention of ill health, they all scamper away.

“Woeful Tales of Resurrection” is a parody of  the hypocrisy among some Christians whom by being active in church, engaging in ceaseless prayers and night vigils portray themselves as being ‘holier’ than others when in actual fact, they are hypocrites.  In this story, members of the “Millennium Chosen People of God Church”, a church well known for “powerful prayer and praises” in Apa, have received a message about rapture. So they organize a night vigil for the prayer band. During the prayer, two members exit; Brother Odeje who has diarrhea goes out to ease himself while Sister Charity Audu is called that she has a visitor at home. They both leave quietly so as not to disturb the prayer session. Not knowing the whereabouts of the two, the band members assume that they have been taken to heaven in rapture while the rest of them have been left behind. They thus begin to weep and confess their sins publicly. Among them are adulterers, bribe collectors and keepers of malice. The climax of the confessions is that of the pastor himself:

The Reverend who remained mute stared at them like an Egyptian mummy for some time, moved stealthily to the center of the church like a young hunter retreating backward from a tiger and said: “Church, save your Reverend. I have always cheated on my wife”. (pg.40)

The writer makes skilful use of suspense and dramatic irony in this story. It is after all the members of the prayer band have revealed their immoral acts done in secret that Brother Odeje and Sister Charity return to explain their disappearance. The author’s use of imagery in this story is also commendable as he uses words to create both visual and auditory imagery.

While “Freedom”, the fifth story, highlights the evils occasioned by bad leadership and highlights the need to vote wisely during elections, “The Secret of Adamu”, which is the sixth story, in a deft use of suspense and surprise, shows the sudden metamorphosis of a chronic miser and a very hardworking man to an extremely generous and lazy man. In the end, one finds that the sudden change is as a result of a prophecy that he would soon die, as a result of which Adamu decides to squander all his wealth so that his brother does not inherit it after his death. After all that, Adamu does not die but is rather faced by the abject poverty he has brought upon himself. In anger, he proceeds to the herbalist’s house and attempts to kill him.

“Midnight Cry”, the story that has the honour of making the title of the collection, deals with the highly topical issue of the invasions of villages by Fulani herdsmen with their herds, and the tragedies occasioned by this development which has caused the writer much pain. In this story, the people of Apa are just recovering from a scare that the Fulani herdsmen are coming to attack them again. In seeking a way forward, they are torn between going back to their traditional gods for protection, or relying on the Christian God introduced to them by the white man.

The narrative in “Midnight Cry” is enriched by the vivid description of a traditional ritual, the performance by the Ichicha women at their member’s funeral, which entails songs, dance and story telling. The following paragraph illustrates this:

Her soulful, plaintive and energetic voice belied her age as it wafted across the valleys, hills and riverlets of the clans of Apa like a first lone cockerel crow ushering the birth of a new day: