ANTHILLS OF THE SAVANNAH

SUMMARY

In this essay we analyzed Achebe’s dictatorship as not just a satire on dictatorship as not just a satire in reality but an expression of his care and concern for his country focusing mainly on two aspects, corruption and political injustice which makes up the heartbeat of the novel. In the course of our study, we have noted the obvious fact that the African political Independence has remained a twentieth century political mirage sought for but never attained. This is against the background that corruption and political injustice have become the only virtues of the emergent new leaders of these independent countries. Against the background of these twin social malaise, Achebe, like many other African writers expresses his disgust in the Anthills of the Savannah . An analysis of these two works, reveals that corruption permeates the entire strata of leadership, starting from His Excellency (the President) to the least clerk working in the government and everybody seems to be groaning under the weight of corruption. The leaders’ corrupt activities are alarming glaring as they corruptly enrich themselves from public funds. We have also noted with disgust that even the emergent self-acclaimed corrective regime is not any better, it is equally corrupt the only difference being that they (military) are armed with their guns. Dictatorship is another feature of post independent African governments no matter their names Nigeria has experienced this dictatorship in so many ways and the common features being suppression of opposition, arrest, detention and in extreme cases murder or assassination.