Re-assessing Contemporary Socio-Political Issues in Festus Iyayi’s Violence and The Contract

Abstract

African writers, particularly post-independence writers have always used their works to comment on current socio-political affairs and act as the mouthpiece of the downtrodden. Their works are steeped in social issues that affect the poor masses who are daily exploited by property owners and the government. This essay examines Festus Iyayi’s engagement in contemporary affairs in Nigeria and his efforts in re-orientating the masses to come together and collectively confront their exploiters. The essay draws insights from two of Iyayi’s novels: Violence and The Contract. Both novels dramatize various socio-political issues that have held the Nigerian nation on her kneels. The study relies on the tenets of Marxism in interrogating Iyayi’s commitment in galvanizing the masses against their oppressors. The paper exposes the fact that the oppressors are afraid of the masses and believe that someday, the masses will rise against them. Hence they put machineries of exploitation and dispossession in place to keep them in check.

Keywords: Re-assessing, socio-political, Festus Iyayi, commitment