Tag: The Nation newspaper

If you have never read an account of the disdainful and appalling events that pervaded the nation during the tyrannical military regime of one the Army Generals in the last decade of the 20^th century, In the Name of our Father, Yishau’s debut novel, would be a good start for you. And if you happen to be an ardent lover of good literature coupled with a penchant for history, then you should have a taste of the delicious meal already prepared for your savour by Olukorede Yishau in his ingenious novel.

In the Name of our Father, is a compelling, appealing, and arresting work of fiction that explores impunity, deceit, deep-seated corruption, in-humanness, endemic and malignant spiritual fraud. Set in the last decade of 20^th century Nigeria, It is a work that skillfully amalgamates tainted religious practices, distasteful politics, and the quest for justice through uncompromising journalism. The novel uncovers a number of malevolent societal ills that characterized our nation in recent, lingering past. It also addresses some of the problems plaguing the nation at present.

Olukorede S. Yishau’s brilliant novel – one which ushered the seasoned journalist into the midst of authors – is written with succinct sentences, compelling dialogues, easily comprehensible words, and fascinating short sentences. His appealing writing style was complemented by his expert use of suspense, and an endearing plot, that keeps readers glued to the book till words on the last page are exhausted.

I am literally skeptical about summarising the book in this review as I do not wish it to lessen the suspense of all who lay their hands upon this review before getting their hands on the book itself, but I am compelled against my wish to write an overview of the book’s content, as it is a major component of book reviews. I am, however, solaced by the fact that regardless of the summary, the book will remain appealing to any category of readers. After reading a few pages of the book, I became literally enraptured and I stayed glued to the end – it was simply not droppable.

In the Name of our Father tells tales of a country’s despicable state of moral, and ethical rottenness. It is, first, a story of Prophet T. C. Jeremiah, initially known as Alani, whose life almost fell apart when the young girl he impregnated died while trying to abort the pregnancy, and he had to escape to his village where he abandoned his family only to discover that another tragedy had struck, his son had died. Deep thoughts about his hitherto miserable life led him to desert his wife and seek help from his friend, Pastor David, who orchestrated his admission into an occult fraternity. He was diabolically empowered by other members of the brotherhood and supported with funds sufficient for him to start up a church of his own. He soon became renown; bedazzling, and bewildering, and bewitching people through working of ostensible miracles. He got the money he sought with desperation, and swiftly developed a pendant for evil just to retain his powers; but his personal life was a mess, aggravated by his wife inability to conceive. His dubious means were soon exposed; though, it only served as a little detour to him, nevertheless, he deservedly met his waterloo.

The re-introduction of Omoeko following the madness of Prophet Jeremiah  emphasized the importance of the prologue because it became clear that the prophet’s tale was a witty arrangement by the author to bring us into Justus Omoeko’s novella titled, “Angels Live In Heaven.” Thereafter, the novel became a story of Justus Omoeko, a gallant journalist and aspiring novelist who, just like Olukorede S. Yishau, decided, against all unfavourable odds, that he would get his novella published even if it would mean upsetting and enraging unscrupulous, towering personalities – to him and many other aboveboard persons like him, that might be the price for a change for the better. He experienced gruesome treatments in the hands of the tyrannical government in charge at the time.

The book is also a skillful fictional delineation of some characters that had existed in real life in time past. Gen Sani Idoti is an example of such characters. This made the author’s narrative of certain events in the book seems to me – perhaps because I have had the opportunity to read other works about some of these events – as one who is writing out of the experiences rather than mere conjectures.

Olukorede S. Yishau’s occupation as an associate editor for one of the nation’s top dailies, coupled with being a top columnist and a devout Christian, essentially passes him fit as one of the right men to touch provocative issues like the ones he addressed in his debut novel. His towering intelligence uncovers itself in the lovely and unique way in which the story in Omoeko’s novella, which he was threatened against publishing in the novel’s special prologue (prologue to storm), was amalgamated with the narration of Omoeko’s unsavory predicament – a tale in another tale. This display of ingenuity made the literature even more interesting.

Olukorede’s debut novel is unlike others books – whose names I will deliberately avoid mentioning in a bid to avoid defamation of any sort – on similar subject matters whose authors advertently or inadvertently chokes the truth they intend to present unclad to their readers with an overdoes of fiction. He, Yishau, depicted historical events and conventional happenings in this nation deftly using fictional characters without losing touch with reality, that is, making it as realistic as possible – and that deserves an ovation.

In the Name of our Father is no doubt a beautiful read for all; though, it is similarly without doubt that it will not go down well with the perpetrators of the sleazy acts he exposed in his book. His literature, written without mincing words, could be describe as a silhouette of the disdainful, distasteful, repugnant, and contemptuous acts that characterizes almost, if not all, Nigerian society.

A careful reader, after a profound and captivating perusal of In the Name of our Father, will discover that the author profoundly sutured a tale of unrestrained love for the things of the world (as the Christians would say), and inordinate affection for power. It is must read for all who wishes – despite the significant number of treatise on similar subject matters – to see the ugliness of our nation in a new light, a peculiar light. Olukorede S. Yishau’s auspicious voyage into the literary world as a novelist and author is destined for a breakthrough, I strongly believe.

Only a few things delights more than seeing an author achieve most, if not all, of his aims of writing a book. Literary greats like the late Prof. Chinua Achebe have done this on several occasions. He, Yishau, also did it with his book because he proved that indeed angels, truly, only live in heaven.