Udo Silas 


Christine Henshaw, a player in the Media and Entertainment sector spoke with the journalist/writer, Udo Silas whose latest book, ‘A Tombstone for Ose’, is generating ripples in the literary world and social media space


Henshaw who first published this interview on the social media introduced it thus: "I had the privilege of reading the latest literary work by Udo Silas, titled, ‘A Tombstone for Ose’, a tragicomedy in the mold of a political satire and couldn’t help calling him on the phone to ask a few questions.


"I had read his last novel titled ‘Why we Ate the Politicians’ and that, with my reading of his latest work, sparked my curiosity to ask him a few questions.


"I had warned him that my conversation was being recorded as I had a prior intention to share what I envisaged would be a thought provoking and interesting conversation. I was not disappointed".


CH…Firstly, let me congratulate you on your latest work. It is not easy to write or even read anything these days, so I wonder where you get the inspiration to write. What exactly is happening my brother?


US…. It definitely is not easy to write, no matter the circumstances, but the writer must write. I don’t know, but it is a burning feeling that accosts you and does not go away, until you act on it. I had actually begun writing some two or three novels as far back as twenty-five years ago, but never got around to finishing any. So the urge to write has always been there, especially as I am also a journalist. They say there is a time for everything and maybe now is the time.


CH…. Now may very well be the time. But what has inspired you? Where do you think your inspiration comes from?


US… My inspiration is triggered in the main by time and chance. It is also a function of incidents and issues that occur in my environment that can be themed to become a story. Remember that in this digital age, one’s environment has become a global space.

Yes, a writer can be imaginative no doubt, but more often than not, his or her imagination, mainly serves to satisfy a theme he or she has decided to explore, within the context of his or her environment, whether, human interest, historical, cultural, political, people, family or even his dog or anything.


CH…. Interesting. Most creative people, including writers would have said they are inspired by God or would have aligned with the Wordsworth, Aristotle, Plato, Freud or even the Carl Jung school of thought on the origin of the creative impulse. But you do not seem to align anywhere. Am I reading it correctly?


US… I would say yes and no. All the people you have mentioned, if I am right, have linked the creative impulse, one way or the other to the environment, or if you may, the world they lived in or have lived in at a point in time. When William Wordsworth talks about ‘a spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling’ he is talking about the confluence of man and his environment. Aristotle holds that creative impulse arises from man’s instinct to imitate. By imitation, the writer becomes subjective in interpreting his instinct. It’s still about the environment. Plato says the poet creates by power divine. From the muse if you care. The muse is the environment, spiritual or physical. Freud says the creative impulse is a function of unfulfilled needs perhaps from childhood. while his student, Jung posits the theory of the collective unconscious. They are all correct. They were speaking more or less of where their own inspiration came from, and You, I, indeed nobody can question or align totally with someone else’s perspective. In the end, only a writer knows what inspires him and where the origin of his creative impulse flows. Man is a spiritual being, so I agree with Plato, when he says power divine. I agree with Wordsworth when he says spontaneous overflow. They are all correct.

For example, my forthcoming book ‘Along Came the Scream’ which would be out in the next weeks to commemorate my 60th birthday was inspired in the main by the divine. It was also a spontaneous overflow. The strong desire came upon me to share the truth about the awesomeness of the Blood of Jesus Christ.

So, Ifiok, the main protagonist is the truth that Jesus Christ cannot be taught in the church. Well, maybe you can. But Jesus Christ has to be experienced for the teachings in the church to become wholesome. His stories that push this narrative, without being didactic, are actual events. Taken together, they stretch the point that for one to Know Jesus Christ and immerse yourself in the inevitability of His kindness, love and forgiveness, one must experience Him. So how did Ifiok experience Jesus Christ? Make sure you buy the book when it comes out. (Laughs heartily) Permit me to blow your mind. The foreword to the book was written by BUCHI, the renowned gospel reggae artist.


CH…Wow! I hope the birthday feast of words would not have the dark themes that your last two works seem to embody. In why we ate the politicians and a tombstone for Ose, there’s a pervading theme of desolation, despair, communal imbalance, instability and death. Why is this so and would Along Came the Scream be any different?


US…The themes you have so described are the reality we live in. But, I must concede that in this reality, also exists love, kindness gallantry and everything good. Some other writer may very well choose to dwell on these themes. That I have chosen to dwell on these themes doesn’t mean other awe-inspiring themes don’t exist. So it’s the writer’s choice. For example, Along Came The Scream, my forthcoming work, is a ministration to the awesome power of Jesus Christ. I chose to write on that theme. But what many do not know is that my novel, Why We Ate the Politicians, is actually inspired too, by real events that happened in the aftermath of the EndSars protest. Do you recall that the police in Oyo state arrested two people who killed, roasted and ate bodies of policemen during the EndSars protest? Goggle is there. Go check it out. The report was so gruesome to the extent that the culprit cut off the scrotum of a policeman and ate it in broad daylight.

So, my thinking then, when I saw this report, was that; If Policemen could be roasted and eaten, at a time of grave discontent, then politicians, who constitute the government stand a risk too, in being roasted and eaten, especially where the discontent continues unabated. It is protest literature. Protest literature is not often nice, because it calls attention to things that have gone wrong. If that is what you mean by dark theme so be it.


CH…. How about a Tombstone for Ose?


US…(Laughs) Again, A Tombstone for Ose is a tragicomedy that mirrors our extant political reality. The sub themes are also topical. But as a political satire, A Tombstone for Ose is our political truth. But it is also literature. This is because the story, language, characterization, conflict resolution and denouement are ensconced in symbolism and meaning that a literary critic would smell from a mile away. For example, we never get to know Ose’s surname until after he is assassinated? Why is that so? And when you finally get to know that the meaning of his Isoko surname is ‘Voice of the people’ in English, you immediately understand that what was assassinated was the voice of the people.

Do not forget that he shunned the two mainstream political parties, the Chop Nigeria Party, CNP and the Finish Nigeria Party, FNP, to run on the platform of the Common Peoples Party, CPP. Now, do these parties exist in present day Nigeria? They don’t, but they do? (Laughs) And do not also forget that Ose was assassinated in the presence of his two sons. What is the symbolism you see there? What do his sons represent, in the context of the emerging youth force in our political re-engineering? So, did the youths witness the assassination of their voice, their hope? Yes, it is a dark theme because killings, kidnapping, Political assassinations and electoral banditry exist with us today. But like I said, love, kindness and the likes also exists side by side. I chose to write where I felt a spontaneous overflow. I chose to allow my present reality,  speak to the conscience of my creativity, in a way that does only give me intellectual fulfillment, but also points to what my desires are for my country as against where we are today. So please pardon me, but try to understand that my thematic preoccupation in those two works were deliberate.  But the thematic preoccupation in ‘Along Came the Scream’ is different. It is a rendition that speaks to Ifiok’s spiritual discovery and possible redemption. Does redemption come for Ifiok? Go read the book. (Laughs) There are also sub-themes of the truth or fallacy of the ‘spiritual’ husband, the potency and/or myth of the bride price, including the everlasting theme of marriage, its bliss and foibles. But its main preoccupation is the awesome power of Jesus Chris HBt and the potency of His blood till this day.


CH- ‘A Tombstone for Ose’ is set in the period immediately before and after the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections. Ose is assassinated in the end. The voice of the People is seemingly assassinated. Would I be right in reading specifics here, with regards to the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections? Or did you deliberately leave room for varied interpretations?


US- Well, a writer may write with particular interpretations, meanings and purposes in mind, but he cannot stop the critic or reader from offering his or her perspective on what the writer puts out. More often than not, the critic offers insights or interpretations that even the writer may not have envisaged or intended.

Whereas Ose was physically killed, his death is also a metaphor. Remember Ose won his election but was killed. The voice of the people was silenced. Who killed him? Unknown gunmen. The unknown gunmen exercised authority to proclaim wrong as right and victory as loss. A metaphor gives you the latitude to draw parallels if you must.

As a writer I have done my piece. So if a critic sees things from my point of view or from angles that may not have occurred to me, the critic does have a right to his interpretation.


CH- So, is Ose representative of any of the major Presidential Candidates in the 2023 general elections?


US-What do you think? Do you think he is? (Laughs)  If you choose to see specifics or draw allusions as a critic, it is your responsibility to convince your audience on why you see it so. It is not for me to say. Have you read ‘A man of the People’ by the great Chinua Achebe? If I am right, I believe it is Odili’s tale on his encounter with his former teacher, Chief Nanga, who had begun a new life as a politician. The story was set, if I remember correctly, in a fictional African country. The era was the 20th century.

Does Achebe need to tell you that the country was Nigeria? Does Achebe need to tell you that Chief Nanga represents the face and personality of the Nigerian politician? It seems to me, that literature of the satirical bend, often times hides its specifics, in the full glare of the discerning. If it tells you everything it ceases to be literature. It must and should speak to your thought process and allow you in the circumstance, to interrogate the mind of the writer at the time and come to your own intelligent conclusions on the meaning and purpose of the work.


CH- Two final questions in one. Why did you use real names of political players, including political parties in ‘Why we ate the Politicians’ but chose to use puns as names of political parties in ‘A Tombstone for Ose’? Secondly, in ‘Why we ate the Politicians’, every character tells their story, with compliments from the omniscient narrator. Is this style original to you?


US-Let me take the last question first. No, that style is not original to me. I fell in love with that style in the university when I encountered Professor Isidore Okpewho’s ‘The Last Duty’. God bless his soul. I found it quite illuminating and fulfilling, to the extent that it affords me freedom to explore my characters in ways that a conventional approach might not give me. 

To the first question…the answer is simple. ‘A Tombstone for Ose’ is tragicomedy. It is to make you laugh and cry. So the use of pun names for political parties is just a part of the comedic component of the play.

There is nothing comedic about ‘Why we ate the Politicians’. It cries to an impending tragedy for our country if we don’t get it right. There is no laughter there. So the use of real names and real and existing political parties was deliberate. The conversations by the characters on our major political players and their political parties, including vistas from the omniscient narrator, become a mirror of not only how Nigerians see and understand their politics and her major players but also an insight into Nigerians themselves. It is not only a story in real time but it is also faction. Real events are novelized in a fictional presentation through characters. Don’t forget that there are references too. That goes to show that the story and data used are factual. The book title is not a pun. If Policemen could be killed, roasted and eaten, in a time of real anger, then why can’t we all, the elites, the affluent and the politicians entrusted with ruling us aright be eaten? There is no metaphor here. I only pray and hope, it is not a truth foretold. I pray.


CH- Interesting. Thanks for a wonderful conversation. Would you oblige me another conversation when your next work hits the shelves?


US- Sure thing. I must confess I really enjoyed our banter. You really should be doing this often. You have a deep intelligent flair. Thank you very much.