By
1Atouoto
KERKER PhD & 2Terlumun KEREKAA PhD
1’2Department
of English Language and Literature, Rev. Fr. Moses Orshio Adasu University, Makurdi,
Benue State, Nigeria
Corresponding Author’s email and Phone No: atouotokerker@gmail.com, 07068165001
Abstract
Adamu Kyuka Usman’s Bivan’s House offers a
rich narrative framework for examining the socio-political complexities of post-colonial
Nigeria. This study explores the novel through the lens of postcolonial theory
and focuses on the interconnected themes of corruption, power, and resistance.
It investigates how the enduring structures and ideological legacies of
colonial rule continue to shape governance, social relations, and cultural
consciousness in contemporary Nigerian society. Through a critical analysis of
the novel’s characters, symbolism, and narrative strategies, the study
demonstrates how Usman exposes the pervasive corruption, political opportunism,
and institutional decay that characterise the Nigerian post-colonial state. The
novel portrays a society deeply affected by the aftereffects of colonial
administration, where systemic inefficiencies and entrenched power structures
undermine the pursuit of equitable governance and sustainable development. The
paper argues that resistance in Bivan’s House extends beyond direct
opposition to oppressive institutions to include the struggle against
internalised colonial attitudes and practices that sustain injustice and social
inequality. By presenting characters who confront these conditions in different
ways, Usman foregrounds the moral and psychological tensions involved in
negotiating postcolonial realities. His narrative also employs satire,
metaphor, and irony to critique the contradictions of political leadership and
the complicity of social actors in sustaining corruption. Ultimately, the novel
offers a profound reflection on the challenges of ethical leadership, social
justice, and national transformation in post-colonial societies. This study
contributes to ongoing scholarly debates in postcolonial literary studies by
situating Bivan’s House within broader discussions of colonial
afterlives, governance crises, and the quest for agency and reform in
contemporary African societies.
Keywords:Postcolonialism;
corruption; power and governance; resistance; colonial legacy
Introduction
Postcolonial literature offers a critical framework for
understanding how colonial histories shape contemporary realities. Adamu Kyuka
Usman, a notable Nigerian author, provides a compelling lens through which the
complexities of post-colonial identity and resistance are explored. His novel, Bivan’s
House, offers a rich material for postcolonial analysis, revealing the
persistent impacts of colonialism on Nigerian society. This paper delves into
Usman's treatment of post-colonial themes, including the persistence of
colonial legacies, struggles for identity, and the challenges of resistance.
The seemingly intractable social woes of African
countries have led writers of the continent to a situation Nnolim classifies as
lachrymal; that is bemoaning the state of affairs rather than proffering viable
solutions to the mess African nations are steeped. Most writings of the pre and
post-independence eras tend to dwell on the social ills bedeviling Africa most
cases, exhibiting tons of disillusionment and despair.
This awakened interest in the creative novel has to do
with the peculiar style Usman brings to bear on his literary craftsmanship.
There is no doubt that Usman, like Chinua Achebe, Flora Nwapa, Zaynab Alkali, Femi Osofisan,
Abubakar Gimba, and others before him, exhibits a concern for the gripping
corruption, political malfeasances, religious extremism, moral decadence and
all manners of ills that continue to ravage the existential foundations and survival
of developing nations like Nigeria. He has brought a fresh voice into the discourse
of disillusionment such that his works have become must reads. His sassy, comic,
and witty way of writing makes his novels irresistible.
Most of the themes Kyuka espouses in his novels are
woven around issues of corruption, political brigandage, and religious
extremism. Most of these themes are contemporary issues that are familiar to readers
today. Kolawole Ogungbesan frowning at contemporaneity in literature states in
his essay “Literature and Society in west Africa”, that “The west African
writer is so involved in the present plight of his society that he often
forgets that he has a duty to art … Writers who rest their works too heavily on
contemporary social and political problems run the risk of being out dated”
(qtd. in Ker 30). However, Ogungbesan clarifies this point when he states: “in
the long run, it is the art that should matter. They (writers) should not only
examine contemporary issues, but strive to bring these out in a form that is
dramatic and memorable and refrain from putting shoddy wares in the market”
(qtd. in Ker 43). This means that Ogungbesan does not so much dismiss
contemporaneity in writing, but stresses that addressing these contemporary
issues should be done in an artistic well-crafted manner.
Usman’s novels duck the smear of
contemporaneity and topicality Ogungbesan decries. Though the themes addressed
in his novels are contemporary flavour and topical, he handles these themes in
a very artistic manner. While serving the didactic end of society through the
morality that sounds through his works, he serves the end of literature through
the literary devices and aesthetics he brings to bear on his works. He serves
the didactic end of society by expressing the collective view of the people,
particularly the poor masses, through the voice of certain personae, for
example Talgon in Bivan’s House. This way, his characters become the voice of
everyone. Thus, Talgon for example, acts as a representative figure who
successfully represents the reader’s desire to express his anger gainst a
corrupt, decadent system.
He serves the end of literature by the literary style
he adopts to craft his message. This style is filled with artistically designed
humour and sarcasm which enhance the delight and pleasure derived from his
novels, his enhances the aesthetics of his art and moves his works to the realm
of the truly artistic. The varieties of styles adopted by Kyuka are
demonstrated in the course of analysing the contents of his novel, which are
treated under themes of corruption, political brigandage and religious
extremism. The analysis is carried out using Bivan’s House. The
next section looks at the theoretical framework adopted in the essay.
Theoretical Framework
This study uses Postcolonial Theory as an analytical
tool. This theory is principally concerned with challenging the claims of
universalism constructed by western norms, which judge all literature by
‘universal’ Western standards. The norms therefore disregard
cultural, social, regional and national differences presented in literature. Postcolonial
criticism tries to reject this universalism, which accords Western standards a
high status while others are accorded a marginalised status. Ashcroft posit
that, the term, though problematic, particularly with regards to the prefix
‘post’, refers to the wide and diverse ways used in the study and analysis of
European territorial conquests, the various institutions of European
colonialisms, the discursive operations of empire, the subtleties of subject
construction in colonial discourse, the resistance of those subjects, and, most
importantly, the differing responses to such incursions and their contemporary
colonial legacies in both pre and post-independence nations and communities. Clarifying
further, Ashcroft et al point
out that the term “postcolonialism is widely used to signify the political,
linguistic and cultural experiences of societies that were former European
colonies” (87).
The theory is an appropriate framework for explaining
the literary pre-occupations of Kyuka’s Bivan’s House, as
the author makes it quite obvious that Bivan’s House is
a colonial appendage of the British and United States of America’s colonial
legacies. In this article, when the word is written as post-colonial with
hyphen, it refers to the period after colonialism; when written without a
hyphen, it refers to the theory. he critical features of the theory most
applicable to the text include, abrogation,
appropriation, hybridity and
the use of indigenous words and sentences, which the author does not translate,
but which contextually translate themselves.
Synopsis
of Bivan’s House
In Bivan’s House, Talgon,
the protagonist, acts as the third person omniscient narrator through whose
vantage point; most of the events in the novel are narrated. The story of Bivan’s House covers a period of about three
days. The plot trajectory begins as Talgonpursues a rat and thinks of the
antics of rats around the environment of his office. From there, the narrative
follows Talgon to a wedding at Durmi, where he was involved in a violent
religious incidence which leaves him wounded and stranded. As he tries to get
back to his home in Bangora, he picks up a stranded child of three years and seeks
for shelter at Beckin’s home, where he exhibits his healing talents with herbs
and playing of the mondo. Eventually, Talgon ends up in detention at Bangora
police station, where after experiencing a series of hardship and extortive
demands, he is released by the orders of the common calabash of Bangora Local
Government in a fiat of political showmanship. The storyline of Bivan’s House ends on a note of uncertainty and
hopelessness.
Corruption in Bivan’s House
In Bivan’s House,
corruption has so pervaded and permeated every fabric of the society that even
persons under police detention are not spared the scourge. Not only do the
police seek to extort money from detainees, detainees with brute force that can
dominate other detainees extort what they can from weaker detainees. This can
be seen in the case of the detainee nicknamed “the king of the cell”, who as a perpetual
detainee has gotten used to detention that he seems to prefer living in prison
or police detention than living in the regular society. As king of the cell, he
oppresses other detainees with impunity. When Talgon is detained in the same
cell with him, he not only slaps him, but orders him to kneel down and seizes
his shirt to keep himself warm (Usman 162).
Corruption in Bivan’s
House is also revealed through the internal monologues of Talgon on the
various experiences of corruption he experienced and witnessed. Talgon’s
thoughts on corruption in Bivan’s House
range from his experiences with the contracts he pursues, his time as a
security officer at the Gamubi University, corruption in the education sector,
in the courts, in practice of religion, and in the transport sector. Corruption
in the text is so widespread that both the rich and the poor are corrupt; it
appears that no one is immune from the scourge. While conversing, detainees in
Talgon’s prison cell express their wonder at the phenomena thus, “But why are
our people so corrupt? Everything and everyone is for sale and yet we never
seem to get enough money from all the sales we make. It’s so bad” (152). On the
trek to the police station with the common calabash, voices in the crowd
exchange remarks about corruption thus:
Bivan’s house is ablaze with corruption. The roaring
flames are licking the sky like the seared bottom of a pot.’ ‘God may have to
snatch his legs from the leaping flames or he would be singed’. ‘Bivans’ house
is a rotten cow vultures and hyenas are feeding on without anyone shouting
haa!’ ‘Fakers, scammers, conmen, moral derelicts of all kind are on the loose
in the country like loose cannons. 168)
In the first remark, a metaphor is used which compares
corruption to fire as “roaring flames” and as being “ablaze”. Just fire licks the object it
is attacking, so is corruption licking Bivan’s house. In this case, Bivan’s
house is both “the sky’’ and “the seared bottom of a pot.” The visual image
struck gives the impression that corruption is so violent that it can “sear”
whoever or whatever it comes in contact with, just as fire burns whatever it
has contact with.
In the next comments
the use of metaphors on corruption in Bivan’s house is taken further; the
country is likened to a rotten cow, with vultures and hyenas feeding on it “without
anyone shouting haa!” Bivan’s house as a rotten cow describes the decadent
condition of a country in a state of putrefaction. Vultures and hyenas are used
to refer to the corrupt human beings in the country. The stench from the toilet
in the police station just before it is cleaned encapsulates the overall
metaphoric stench that corruption engenders in Bivan’s house. These
images of rot and putrefaction are similar to the putrefying images of pit
toilets, slums, and the like, created by AyiKweiArmah in The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born to depict
corruption in the setting of the novel.
Corruption in Bivan’s
House goes beyond official corruption in government offices to corruption
in private and social relationships. In their daily dealings with each other,
people in Bivan’s House are all out to cheat one another. Instances can be seen
in the novel in the following narration:
A man thought to be selling roasted chickens had sold a
roasted vulture to a man who thought he was buying a roasted chicken. The man
who bought the roasted chicken bought
it with a fake five hundred baduns note. The man who sold the vulture went home
happy he had cheated the man who bought the chicken only to find the chicken was bought with a fake currency. The man who
bought the vulture with the fake five hundred baduns note went home happy he
had cheated the man who sold the chicken to him
only to find he bought a vulture. Annoyed that they had been cheated, the two
men went out looking for each other and when they found each other, a fight
erupted. (179)
This is a condensed allegory of postcolonial realities
marked by corruption, distorted power relations, and the struggle for survival
within a compromised socio-economic system. The exchange between the two men,
one selling a vulture as chicken and the other paying with counterfeit currency
symbolizes a moral economy in which deception has become normalized as a
strategy for navigating hardship. In this context, corruption is not merely an
individual moral failing but a systemic condition produced by instability,
scarcity, and weakened institutional trust within the postcolonial state.
From the perspective of power, the
episode reveals how agency is exercised through acts of cunning and
manipulation rather than through legitimate structures. Each man assumes a
position of temporary advantage, believing he has successfully outwitted the
other, only to discover that power is fragile and reversible. This instability
reflects the broader condition of postcolonial societies where authority is
often contested, and individuals must constantly negotiate precarious positions
within unequal systems.
At the same time, the passage
gestures toward a form of everyday resistance, albeit a problematic one. The
use of trickery can be interpreted as a response to marginalization and
economic exclusion, where individuals deploy whatever means are available to
assert control over their circumstances. However, this resistance is ultimately
self-defeating, as it perpetuates cycles of mistrust and conflict, culminating
in violence rather than transformation
Outside the police station an event unrelated to Talgon’s
arrest and detention but would lead to his release had just taken place. It was
close to Eid-el Kabir sallah festival.
Three people went to a small village and told the villagers they had been sent
by the common calabash of Bangora Local Government to buy thirty rams which he
intended to share to people for the festival. They said the thirty rams would
only be paid for when taken to the common calabash in his house. Thirty fat
rams were loaded into a lorry and two unsuspecting villagers were asked to
follow the three strangers to collect the money for the rams from the common
calabash. However, deep into a forest on their way, the strangers stopped the
lorry and ordered the villagers at gunpoint to disembark from the lorry. The villagers
thoroughly scared, disembarked frantically. Firing into the air, the lorry took
off with the rams bleating and the villagers running helter-skelter into the
bush. (163)
Scams and cheap tricks like the above in Bivan’s House make the narrator’s voice
in the novel to lament that:
The vulture by his opportunism is feasting on the ruins
of his preys without pity; the tortoise by his cunning is running faster than
the antelope to collect, without remorse, prizes he has not won and the rat by
his thievery is filling his barns with the harvest of the rabbit without regret.
(66)
Usman employs animal imagery as a sharp allegory of
corruption and moral distortion within the postcolonial social order. The
vulture, tortoise, and rat symbolize different modes of unethical acquisition
opportunism, cunning, and outright theft through which individuals enrich
themselves at the expense of others. The imagery underscores a society in which
merit, labour, and fairness are displaced by manipulation and exploitation.
Critically, the absence of “pity,” “remorse,” and
“regret” highlights a deep erosion of ethical consciousness, suggesting that
such behaviours are not only prevalent but normalized. The inversion of natural
order where the tortoise outruns the antelope and the rat appropriates the
rabbit’s harvest further reinforces the breakdown of justice and legitimacy
within the system. Ultimately, the quotation functions as a satirical critique
of a society in which power and success are achieved through moral compromise,
exposing the pervasive and systemic nature of corruption.
A few examples of the literary devices the author
employs to keep his work in the literary include the following: Describing the
manner the police demand and obtain bribes at checkpoints, the author writes “One
bus driver had even said the police were dogs and he always carried bones with
him which he dropped at every checkpoint” (22). In this statement, corruption
of the police in demanding bribes from motorists is portrayed. The police are
metaphorically compared to dogs, and the bribes they take as bones “dropped” at
every checkpoint. The metaphor is fresh since it is not commonly used and it is
capable of eliciting a dry sarcastic humorous response from a reader. To show
how corruption has created a paradox in Bivan’s
House, the narrator says it is a nation used car spare parts are regarded
as better than new ones “as the case was with motor spare parts, so it was with
the nation’s leaders. An old leader in Bivan’s house was always better than a
new one. It was a country where new things decayed while old things flowered
with youth” (139).
Ridiculous and ironical as the above situation in Bivan’s House is, it is unfortunately
not far from the truth. Old motor spare parts in the country are better than
new ones because the old spare parts are genuine while the new ones are fake.
As the case is with spare parts, it is with the nation’s leaders. Old leaders
are often more genuine than new ones. The central and overriding metaphor
in Bivan’s House is the rat. In likening corruption
to a “rat mentality” one of the inmates in the police cell says:
Now, there is a rat mentality everywhere you turn in
this country. Now Bivan’s house is a house of rats. A rat mentality can lead to
Black Death, the sort of death caused by black rats in Europe. As Jews and
lepers were attacked in Europe on the outbreak of Black Death, so would members
of Bivan’s house. Never committed to an hour of honesty, everyone is getting so
devious in the game of survival. (154)
It is ironical that inmates in a police cell who are
incarcerated for one crime or another are the ones boldly indicting Bivan’s
house of corruption using the rat metaphor. This is similar to what the
prisoners do in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Matigari. No
one is spared, as both the high, the mighty, and the pauper are all enmeshed in
the mire of corruption.
Talgon’s father also likens corruption to a leper. The
lyrics of the song he sings towards the end of the novel state that in the old “healthy”
days in his village, a leper was regarded as an outcast, but now the leper has
become king, wearing white gloves and now holding the village purse. The song
implies that corruption is akin to leprosy and was so regarded in years gone by.
Leprosy, to which corruption is likened, is a contagious disease on repeated
contact with nose and mouth droplets from someone with the untreated disease. Bivan’s House is afflicted with the
leprosy of corruption and it is untreated. It is therefore not surprising that
the affliction became so widespread in the nation with repeated contact of the
nation’s citizen with the nose and mouth droplets of the untreated patient. Resented
in earlier times, in contemporary times, contagious leprosy aka ‘corruption’
has overtaken honesty in Bivan’s house and reigns supreme in the affairs of men
(187–190). The situation here again shows why old leaders in Bivan’s House are always better than new
ones; why old things flower with youth while new ones decay. The nation is
under atrophy.
Going by Kyuka’s extensive use of metaphors to depict
corruption in Bivan’s House, corruption can
be said to be an extended metaphor or the major antagonist that runs counter to
all that is right in society. Talgon, the main character in the novel, is the synoecetted
that stands in the eye of the swift flowing current of corruption. How much
chance an honest, hardworking ant stands against an army of thieving rats is
hardly a moot question. Talgon is described by the police DCO as someone with
“unalloyed sincerity, rustic innocence, and philosophical calmness…” (146).
Such glowing attestation from a highly corrupt police officer lends credence to
Talgon’s upright character. Again, as the officer in charge of the police
station, the DPO acknowledges Talgon as “an honest, harmless man” (147). The
actions of Talgon also lend credence to the character he is portrayed as in the
opening pages of the novel. Talgon is depicted as a teetoler who eschews giving
and taking of bribe in a setting ridden with the ill.
This can be seen in one of his contract deals he is
unwilling to give bribe so common in Bivan’s house. He is described as having a
track record of quality job delivery, “But the other bidders had a better track
record of giving to the contract awarder his due. After giving process
its due, the contract awarder expected his own due from
the contractor and this was where Talgon was lacking, and this lacking was
sufficient to deny him the contract…” (8). The statement is both witty and
ironical. Witty in the sense of its repeated pun on the word “due”, which is
also italicised in the novel to give emphasis to it. It is ironical in that for
Talgon who wants to remain honest may be denied the contract for his
unreadiness to give bribe which the word “due” represents. In normal usage, the
word “due” is used to describe action that is taken to reciprocate a gesture.
In this case, however, due is given for no service rendered, but to oil the wheel
of corruption.
Talgon comes from a family that values honesty. His
mother is described as a quiet woman who resents corruption. Those who knew her
said Talgon inherited his distaste for corruption from her…” (180). As for
Talgon’s father, he had set out to be an honest man, but along the way becomes
discouraged by the dishonesty and ill – use he suffered. If he did not contract
the corruption flu or leprosy with
repeated contact, he became cynical on issues of honesty and corruption. The
song he sings at the end of the novel demonstrates that though he is cynical,
he still appreciates honesty. Barnabas, Talgon’s son also demonstrates
qualities that show him as a true scion of his family’s good qualities. These
family’s details enhance the realism of Talgonas a round character and humanise
him.
Political Brigandage in Bivan’s House
A country’s affairs are usually run by a team of
officials derived from successful bouts of politicking. According to legend,
the origin of politics in Bivan’s house is different from its origin elsewhere.
In Bivan’s house, politics originated from a society of headhunters. The leader
of the society of headhunters was called the Primehead and so he who was called president or
prime minister in other countries came to be called Primehead in Bivan’s house whereas the
national assembly or parliament in other countries was called the House of Archery in Bivan’s house. A governor was
the big feast,
ministers were ceremonial
feasts, ambassadors were
close banquets; commissioners
were ceremonial pots, local government chairmen were common calabashes, and councilors were hunting bags. Like butchers are said to have started surgery,
legend holds that headhunters started politics in Bivan’s house. According to
legend, from its headhunting ancestry, politics in Bivan’s house was to later
evolve into a game played by people of the street whose battle cry was “Loot all the food in
the house into your hole whenever there is an opportunity to do so” (18).
The foregoing gives an insight into the political game
in Bivan’s house. A comic, if tragic picture, of politics as a hunting game is
graphically painted in Bivan’s House.
The National Assembly is the house of archery. It is the common hunting ground,
if you like forest, where every part of the country is represented by hunters”
(7). The games hunted for are the national resources of the country in the form
of money and other national assets. Power, in the form of the constitutional
powers of the National Assembly, is the weapon used to shoot these games.
Blackmail, kickbacks, and backhanding are all arsenals in the scabbard of the
archers called members of the National Assembly. The governor as the big feast
implies that most of the game from which a feast is made are with the governor.
Big time eating
is with the governor hence he is the big feast.
Ministers are ceremonial feasts, implying that there is
less eating here
than with the governor who has the whole resources of a state to dispense as
largesse to cronies and political hangers on. Ambassadors as close banquets,
implies a secluded feasting affair. Being outside the country, eating with ambassadors
involves only a few people. Commissioners as ceremonial pots, implies a lower
level of feasting. Having lesser resources (fell games) at their disposal,
commissioners have less largesse to dispense to themselves, cronies and
political hangers on. If a governor has an elephant as the game he has killed
or has been killed for him, a commissioner has perhaps only an antelope. Local
government chairmen as common calabashes, shows a low political office the
occupier of which is accessible to the common people. As a common calabash,
everyone can dip his hand into the calabash and take a chunk of the food in it.
The metaphor of “calabash” that the author uses puts
things in clearer perspective for a reader. Calabashes in the African context
are like wide bowls into which everybody can eat from in the local traditional
setting. Calabash is therefore an apt metaphor as sarcastically used in this
context. Councilors as hunting bags are the lowest rung of the political
ladder. They canvass for votes at the lowest level of politics and are
therefore the foot soldiers doing most of the legwork if not most of the eating.
The corrupt character of politics in Bivan’s house is underscored by the eating mentality
captured in the hunting characterisation of key office holders in the politics
of the nation.
While democracy is regarded as government of the
people, by the people, and for the people, in Bivan’s house, politics is a
hunting game started by headhunters. It is an all comer’s game in Bivan’s house
practiced with the aim of looting. The battle cry is a ratty one: “Loot
all the food in the house into your hole whenever there is an opportunity to do
so!” (8). The scenario painted is a painfully tragic if not a hilarious one. Unlike
the situation in most developed countries, where politics is a means of
improving the lot of the people, in Bivan’s house it is a means of
self-enrichment and dispensing of bonanza and patronage to cronies, political
clansmen, and tribesmen. Politicians in Bivan’s House are
portrayed as hunters who are out to feast on preys without the rebuke of
conscience or responsibility. They are depicted as a savage and unrefined group
of selfish predators whose interests revolve around looting only; without interest
in the betterment of their society. They look like politicians of most
underdeveloped countries of the world who are continuously retrogressive in
issues of politicking and national development.
This is a satisfactory satire of selfish and uncouth
elements who call themselves politicians but have no interests in improving the
lot of their societies. Of a fact, the portrayal Usman has done of politics in
Bivan’s house is a realistic depiction of how politics is practiced in many
developing countries. The hunting imageries he uses capture in metaphoric terms
the character of politicians and the way they go about the business of
politics. Politics is approached as group hunting and the game to be captured
is power. Power holds the key to the financial and material resources of a
nation. Once politicians capture power, politics becomes a feasting fiesta from
the top to the bottom of the political ladder. The fact that politics is a
means of accessing power to serve the people is relegated to the background, as
the looting mentality possesses the popular imagination of politicians and
indeed that of their victims – the common people who not only endorse but
tragically clap for thieving politicians.
Religious Extremism in Bivan’s House
Events in Bivan’s House are
triggered by violent religious episodes that take place at Durmi, a quarter of
Bangora town. The violence starts at Hamze University between Christian and Musliem
students over an argument on who between Jesus Christ and Muhammad is the true saviour
of the world. The violence spreads far and wide in the environs of Bangora
consuming people and property. Talgon and Badaru, who are attending the wedding
of a neighbour, are caught in the violence. To Barnabas, Talgon’s son, students
of Bivan’s house “were fire eating bigots that were as easily roused into a
religious mayhem as a tribe of baboons answering calls that a strayed member of
the tribe has been killed” (131).
The sarcasm in the statement points to the fact that
not much intelligence is usually ascribed to a baboon; therefore the sentence
implies that students of Bivan’s house demonstrate uncouth stupidity and low
intelligence as baboons by resorting to violence over such a trivial argument.
The devastation that the religious violence causes in Bivan’s house creates a
bleak landscape in the setting of Bangora. Houses and people are set ablaze,
and many are killed and maimed. There are also stories of rape and betrayals as
demonstrated in the case of Badaru against Talgon. Some of those affected, like
Yagu appear like characters from horror movies. Strange incidents, such as the
resurrection of Yagu from death and the appearance of bizarre figures such as
the victims of the religious violence in the novel, lend an air of magical
realism to the novel. Other African writers, including Amos Tutuola, Ngugi wa
Thiong’o and Ben Okri, have employed magical realism in their works.
Expressing disgust at the senseless and gruesome
display of religious extremism that lead to such violence, Barnabas wonders why
people should go to such extremes against their fellow human beings:
In Hamze University, students barely had light three
hours of the day. The toilets were stinking because there was no water to flush
them. About eight students shared a room meant for only two students. More than
five hundred students were crammed into lecture theatres meant for only two
hundred students. No student had ever rioted over any of these poor amenities
and conditions of living. But upon an argument over who is the true messiah of
the world between Jesus Christ and Mohammed foreign prophets, the students
shared no common ancestry with, there was a riot that claimed many lives.
Meanwhile in the countries these prophets came from, no student was rioting
over them. It was so sad and embarrassing. It was so disturbing to think of.
(131)
Living under appalling material conditions the students
should have resented and protested against Hamze University, but failed to do
so. “Instead, they mobilize in protest over foreign prophets, while remaining
indifferent to those with whom they share a common ancestry” (131).
In Bivan’s House,
Kyuka raises some critical issues which are of great relevance in today’s
world. One of such issues is religious extremism and violence, which are
pervasive in many parts of the world. The novel is relevant vis-à-vis
contemporary violent episodes arising from religious extremism as exemplified
in activities of groups such as Boko Haram in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger
and other neighbouring countries. Others are violent activities of the
Al-Shabab organisation in Somalia, Kenya and environs. Not to be left out is
the Islamic State (ISIS) which is engaged in violent confrontations across the
globe in the name of religion. It is significant that for the first time in a
work of prose fiction, the author allows a rare insight into the personage of
religious extremists. This can be seen in the personalities of Umaru, Talgon’s
friend and neighbor and Badaru, who is also Talgon’s friend. Lilymjok’s rare
peep into a warped mind is similar to what Fyodor Dostoyevsky achieves in
revealing the criminal mind of the character Rodion RasKoIniKov in
his Crime and Punishment. Umaru, in his thinking expresses the view that volcanic
eruptions are a demonstration of God’s existence. He believes that men must
defend God from:
…infidels working night and day for the devil…whether
it is the earth speaking in anger or the people, it is God chastising
mankind…there is need for God to pour the fire in his mouth to consume our evil
deeds. Since God cannot use the earth or mountains to chastise us, he is using
people to chastise us. (114)
Umaru’s view appears warp, and seems to be expressed by
a thoroughly bigoted person. No religion in the world worth its salt sanctions
the sort of violence he proposes.
Usman also shows a Christian group who descend on
Badaru with machetes and cutlasses gruesomely “reducing him to a heap of flesh
and blood” (109). This exposes how religious identity, which ought to foster
compassion and moral discipline, is instead mobilized as a tool of aggression
and exclusion. The graphic imagery underscores the dehumanization of the victim
and reflects a society in which ideological zeal overrides shared humanity. The
scene highlights the paradox of faith communities reproducing the very violence
they ostensibly condemn. Rather than embodying the ethical teachings associated
with Christianity, the group enacts a form of mob justice rooted in intolerance
and fanaticism. In the broader context of the narrative, this moment
illustrates how religion, when entangled with power and collective hysteria,
can become a site of division and destruction, thereby reinforcing the novel’s
larger critique of postcolonial social fragmentation and moral crisis.
They were “Christian youths dressed in military uniform
who had gone out to avenge the burning of their church by Muslim youths and to
loot whatever they could find” (105). The events in the novel exposes “adherents”
of the two religions, Christianity and Islam, as hypocrites and dishonest, who
hide under the guise of religion to kill people. Badaru, a fervent Musliem,
takes advantage of a situation he should be sorrowful to loot. Despite a little
child in distress crying out to him for help, he refuses to help and is only
obsessed with looting the money of the dead couple at the wedding reception
arena. Ironically, it is Talgon, who is neither a Musliem nor a Christian, that
is honest and ready to help the distressed child. The Christian youths who by
their faith should be honest are only interested in killing and looting. Badaru,
a fellow believer like them, though of a different faith, is hacked to death by
them and what he had looted from the wedding arena, looted from him by fellow
believers (22, 56).
Conclusion
Usman’s Bivan’s Houseoffers a rich exploration
of post-colonial themes through its depiction of cultural displacement, the
legacy of colonialism, and the struggles for identity and agency. The novel
provides valuable insights into the complexities of post-colonial societies and
the ongoing impact of colonial histories on contemporary life. By addressing
these themes, Kyuka contributes to the broader discourse on postcolonialism and
provides a poignant reflection on the challenges and possibilities of
navigating a post-colonial world. Usman’s work serves as a poignant commentary
on the struggles faced by individuals and communities in the post-colonial era.
By addressing the persistence of colonial hierarchies and the challenges of
reconciling traditional values with modern influences, the author illuminates
the broader issues that define post-colonial discourse. Furthermore, the
novel’s depiction of resistance and the pursuit of self-definition reflects a
hopeful assertion of agency and resilience, suggesting that despite the
profound challenges posed by colonial legacies, there remains a potential for
meaningful change and empowerment.
Bivan’s House therefore, stands as a
significant contribution to postcolonial literature, offering a critical
reflection on the enduring impacts of colonialism and the dynamic processes of
cultural negotiation and resistance. Usman’s narrative not only enriches the understanding
of postcolonial experiences, but also affirms the ongoing relevance of literary
exploration in addressing the complexities of identity and power in a post-colonial
world.
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This article is published in ALQALAM: A Journal of Language and Literary Studies, FUGUS, Volume 1, Issue 2 - June 2026
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