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Dramatic literature and the Challenges of Insecurity in Nigeria 

 

Augustine Obiajulu Eziechine 

University of Delta, Agbor, Delta State 

augustine.eziechine@unidel.edu.ng 

 

 

Abstract       

One of the greatest challenges plaguing Nigeria today is that of 

insecurity of life and property. Such challenges manifest in form of 

youth restiveness, religious and ethnic violence, armed robbery, 

kidnapping, insurgent bombing, political violence, and cyber-

crimes. This negative trend which impedes progress and inhibits 

meaningful national development has persisted in Nigeria over the 

years. The situation has become very worrisome and thus demands 

urgent intervention. Premised on the sociological approach to 

literary criticism, this paper attempts to establish the utilitarian 

function of drama as a veritable weapon which can be used to fight 

insecurity in Nigeria. The study is basically an exploration of 

selected plays written by Nigerian dramatists, which x-ray issues of 

insecurity in Nigeria. The selected works are subjected to content 

analysis. The findings reveal that poverty, unemployment, 

corruption, religious intolerance, injustice, among others are the 

major causes of insecurity in Nigeria. The paper concludes that 

addressing the socio-economic problems of the poor and the less 

privileged, and ensuring equitable distribution of social amenities 

will go a long way towards curbing the menace of insecurity and 

insurgency in Nigeria. 

Keywords: insecurity, unemployment, injustice, corruption, 

violence. 

 

mailto:augustine.eziechine@unidel.edu.ng


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1. Introduction  

Insecurity as a concept simply means absence of security. It is the 

state of being open to danger or threat. It means lack of protection 

or the state of being insecure. Security on the other hand, has been 

defined as the quality or state of being secure or free from danger, 

fear and anxiety. In other words, a nation is said to be insecure, when 

its citizens are living in fear of hostility, violence and terrorism. 

 The spate of insecurity in Nigeria today is alarming and 

frightfully disturbing. In recent time, Nigeria has witnessed 

unprecedented acts of terrorism and wanton destruction of life and 

property. Such notorious acts of violence and terrorism began to 

manifest in Nigeria after the Nigerian civil war (1967-1970). The 

civil war left sophisticated weaponry in the hands of unemployed 

soldiers who became criminals and refused to surrender their 

weapons after the war. Instead, they engaged the use of such 

weapons as an alternative means of earning a living. This appears to 

be the genesis of armed robbery in Nigeria. From the early 1970 to 

date, the menace of armed robbery has been on the increase. 

 Insecurity challenges in Nigeria today have gone beyond the 

mayhem of armed robbery. Different forms of clandestine activities, 

such as kidnapping, ritual killing, political, ethnic and religious 

violence etc., have all emerged. Kidnapping of innocent citizens and 

demanding huge ransoms for their release have become a major 

source of earning quick money today. The Niger Delta militia 

activities which involve kidnapping of oil workers especially the 

expatriates are indeed a reference point here. The Niger Delta region 

is blessed with enormous deposit of crude oil which the multi-

national oil companies have been exploring over the years. As a 

result of the activities of the oil companies, the people of the Niger 

Delta region suffer the consequences of gas flaring, oil spillage and 

other environmental damages occasioned by continuous ecological 



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pollution of the area. Meanwhile, the revenue accruing from oil 

exploration in the area is enjoyed by the oil conglomerate and 

Nigerian government who use such revenue to develop other areas 

while the oil-rich region remains undeveloped. 

 As the people continue to suffer environmental degradation 

and gross violation of their rights, a pressure group known as 

Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) was 

founded. The group submitted the MOSOP Bill of Rights to the 

Nigerian government demanding ethnic autonomy and self-

determination for the people of Ogoni land. When this peaceful and 

constitutional attempt failed, the people resorted to militant 

approach as a means of protesting the injustice perpetrated by 

government and the multi-national oil companies situated in their 

area. The protests involve kidnapping of expatriate oil workers and 

vandalization of oil pipe lines. This was intended to secure 

international attention with regard to the oppression, exploitation 

and environmental damages suffered by the people. 

 Similar security challenges have also emerged from other 

parts of the country at different times. From the Northern part of 

Nigeria, an Islamic sectarian movement known as Boko Haram has 

engaged in subversive activities since July 2009. The jihadist 

terrorist group started an armed rebellion against the government of 

Nigeria. The group attack public places and government 

establishments and claim responsibility for such attack. The group 

specializes in kidnapping innocent citizens and demanding huge 

ransoms for their release. The climax of the subversive activities of 

this group was the kidnapping, hostage keeping and raping of 250 

innocent female students of Government Secondary School, Chibok 

in Maiduguri, Borno State on the 14th of April, 2014. 

 The menace of kidnapping and violent protest has also been 

replicated in the Eastern part of Nigeria. Since 2012, the indigenous 



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people of Biafra (IPOB) had emerged and demanded the restoration 

of an independent state of Biafra. The activities of this group have 

been a threat to life and national security. Recently the leader of the 

group has been arrested and facing trial. This development has 

ignited worse violent reactions from members of the group who are 

demanding for the release of their leader. The Fulani Herdsmen have 

also introduced another dimension of terrorism in Nigeria. They 

invade communities, attack innocent citizens in their farms, rape 

women and most often slaughter their victims like rams. They also 

kidnap innocent citizens and demand ransom from their family 

members before they could be released. 

 Most recently, Nigeria has also witnessed a new wave of 

security challenge. The quest for wealth has led some Nigerian 

youths into terrible criminal acts such as ritual killings and cyber-

crimes (advanced free fraud) also known “Yahoo”. These young 

criminals kill human beings and use parts of their body for money 

rituals. Sometimes the rituals are performed to enhance their 

“yahoo” exploits. 

 The foregoing is the general state of insecurity in Nigeria. 

There is no gain saying the fact that insecurity challenges in Nigeria 

have reached an alarming stage and now demand urgent attention. 

This paper attempts to establish the utilitarian function of drama as 

a veritable weapon which can be used to fight against insecurity in 

Nigeria. The paper explores the issues of insecurity in Nigeria as 

documented in selected plays written by Nigerian dramatists. This 

approach to dramatic creativity which reckons on drama as a 

veritable weapon of social reconstruction is a product of the Marxist 

aesthetics which is one of the primary functions of theatre of 

ideology, radicalism and social commitment. 

 

 



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2. Conceptual Framework 

This discourse is premised on the sociological approach to literary 

criticism since the issues to be discussed in this paper fall within the 

purview of sociology of literature. The basis for sociological 

approach to literature is the belief that there is a symbiotic 

relationship between literature and society. In other words, literature 

does not exist in a vacuum; it reflects the society that produces it. 

To understand any literary work, one may need to probe into the 

writer’s society so as to understand the social milieu which informed 

the writer’s response. Our choice of the sociological approach to 

literary criticism is informed by the fact that this critical theory sees 

literature (drama) as being at the vanguard of social change, and a 

testing ground for the dissemination of innovative and radical ideas 

that are likely to bring about a functional and progressive society 

(Oniyide Ajisafe, 2010 p.67).  An important aspect of the 

sociological approach is the Marxist criticism.  

Marxist criticism goes beyond a formal and content analysis 

of artistic works, to a consideration of the very institutional 

processes of art creation and art criticism. In the words of Omafume 

Onoge (2007 p.472), “Marxist critics are necessarily class partisan. 

They do not camouflage this partisanship…For a Marxist sociology, 

men are not just stage performers, they are also fundamentally 

playwrights and authors.” 

 

3. The Role of Dramatic Literature in Addressing 

Insecurity Challenges 

The utilitarian aesthetics of drama cannot be disputed. Drama is one 

of the most powerful instruments of social change. As a veritable 

weapon of social reconstruction, drama can be used to address 

insecurity issues such as armed robbery, kidnapping, ethnic and 

religious violence, ritual killing and cybercrimes. Drama as a form 



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of African literature is used as a medium of human interaction, and 

is suitable for probing the conscience of society with a view to 

correcting abnormal situations and bringing sanity to the society. It 

is against this background that we have embarked on the exploration 

of selected Nigerian plays namely Femi, Osofisan’s Once Upon 

Four Robbers (1980), Emeka Nwabueze’s A Parliament of Vultures 

(2000), Augustine Eziechine’s Waves of Violence (2019). Ahmed 

Yerima’s Hard Ground (2005) and Heart of Stone (2013), and 

Esiaba Irobi’s Hangmen also Die (1987). These plays unveil the 

causes of insecurity in Nigeria. The content analysis of the plays 

reveals that insecurity problems in Nigeria are traceable to poverty, 

unemployment, corruption, social inequality, religious intolerance 

and injustice. Possible solutions to these problems are also proffered 

in the plays.                                                                                                              

3.1 Unveiling the Causes of Insecurity in Nigeria 

The menace of armed robbery in Nigeria in the early 1970s is the 

subject of Femi Osofisan’s Once Upon Four Robbers. Femi 

Osofisan views drama as a medium of instruction. He has therefore 

created a unique theatre where he seeks to rouse his audience into 

critical awareness of the prevailing social decadence and thus move 

them into taking appropriate action. He achieves this by providing 

critical insight into the basic causes of societal malaise and at the 

same time proffering suggestions as to how societal malady can be 

overcome. His plays therefore, consistently attack all forms of 

corruption, oppression, injustice and tyranny (Gbileka 1997 p. 74). 

In Once Upon Four Robbers, Osofisan expresses his concern 

for man to reclaim his lost humanity in an unjust world.  His belief 

is that dehumanization, though a concrete historical fact, is not a 

product of destiny; it is created by man. To Osofisan, the ultimate 

consequence of dehumanization is violence. Jude Agho (1999, P. 

73) corroborates this position when he argues that because 



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dehumanization is a condition of not being fully human, sooner or 

later, being less human leads the oppressed to struggle against those 

who made them so.” Violence manifests in form of armed robbery 

in Once Upon Four Robbers. The leader of a group of an armed 

robbery squad has just been violently executed by the oppressor. 

This act leads the other members of the group to reflect on their 

future and their gangster activities generally, especially now that 

they are left without a leader to coordinate their notorious activities. 

Osofisan sees these armed robbers as the product of an unjust 

society. He attributes the violence of armed robbery to the following 

social structure. 

Take a look at our salary structures, 

at our sprawling slums and ghettoes, 

our congested hospitals and crowded 

schools, our impossible 

markets...and then take another look 

at the fast proliferations of motor-

cars, insurance agencies, 

supermarkets, chemist shops, 

boutiques, etc. the callous 

contradiction of our oil-doomed 

fantasies of rapid modernization 

(Once Upon ...P.1).  

This implies that the dichotomization of society and its implications 

have produced the likes of Alhaja, Angola, Major and Hassan – the 

armed robbers of today. In other words, when there is joblessness, 

poverty and hunger, armed robbery will become inevitable (Saint 

Gbilekaa, 1997, P.92). 

 There is armed robbery, kidnapping and ritual killing in 

Nigeria today because a few privileged members of the society have 

appropriated the people’s labour, the nation’s wealth, which they 



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divert into their private pockets while the masses are wallowing in 

abject poverty (Gbilekaa, 1997, P.92). With this prevailing 

condition, armed robbery becomes inevitable as an alternative 

means of survival. Indeed, the scourge of armed robbery has become 

a dangerous threat to life and property in Nigeria. On Thursday, 24th 

February, 2022 for instance, a group of armed robbers stormed four 

banks at Uromi, Edo state, destroyed the banks with dynamite, killed 

two policemen and four civilians and made away with undisclosed 

sums of money. (BBC online report). This sad experience is 

replicated in different locations and at different times. Osofisan 

believes that armed robbers are not totally to blame for their 

nefarious activities. Rather, he blames society for manufacturing 

them. He contends that it is societal inequality, the unequal 

distribution of wealth and opportunities and the competitive nature 

of capitalism that are responsible for the production of these 

hoodlums (Gbilekaa 1997, p.77).  

          Corruption, excessive greed and inordinate ambition have 

been identified as major causes of insecurity in Nigeria. These are 

captured in Emeka Nwabueze’s A Parliament of Vultures and 

Eziechine Augustine’s Waves of Violence. Emeka Nwabueze’s A 

Parliament of Vultures is a political satire against the corrupt 

political system in Nigeria. The play unveils the gamut of corruption 

and hypocrisy, which polarize the political atmosphere in Nigeria. It 

ridicules the corrupt legislative establishment in Nigeria as well as 

the poor political culture which allows illiterates and morally 

decadent individuals to find themselves in parliament. 

 The failure of the legislature in Nigeria to perform its 

responsibilities creditably has led to several attacks from writers. 

Nwabueze for instance, likened the unpatriotic legislators to 

vultures. Vultures are ravens. They are greedy, voracious and 

insatiable...They prey on the people, scavenging them to death 



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(Uwem Affiah, 2012, P.378). Examples of such parliamentarians 

who are neck-deep in socio- political evils are Madam Omeaku, 

Reverend Jossy, and Habamero. Emeka Aniago (2017, P.69) 

describes Madam Omeaku as an ill-mannered, illiterate street-side 

food and liquor owner who became a parliamentarian through 

dubious and crooked means. Madam Omeaku boasts that just by 

being a member of the parliament, she has acquired houses in choice 

places in the country, and can afford month long expensive holiday 

in choice spots in any part of the world. Again, she also brags that 

she owns choice cars and has even bought one car for her ‘car-less’ 

husband from the proceeds of their dubious deals with public funds. 

In the words of Aniago (2017, P.70), “Nwabueze characterizes 

Madam Omeaku as a classic epitome of ineptitude, greed, 

insensitivity and callousness, which have continued to pervade 

politics in Nigeria.” It is pertinent to observe however, that in the 

midst of these agents of the devil are a few well-meaning politicians 

who are threatened, arm-twisted, side-lined and even brutalized for 

refusing to compromise (Aniago, 2017, P. 70). 

 After Madam Omeaku and her cohorts have succeeded in 

falsely incarcerating the two decent parliamentarians (Dr Parker and 

Mr Otobo), the youths who could no longer bear the wicked and 

unpatriotic acts of the corrupt parliamentarians storm the 

parliament, round-up the parliamentarians, and proceed to tie them 

up with ropes. This is a revolutionary attempt. Nwabueze seems to 

be warning the parliamentarians and Nigerian politicians in general 

that the ultimate result of political corruption and personal 

aggrandizement is violence, which might further develop into full 

scale revolution. 

      Like Nwabueze’s A Parliament of Vultures, Eziechine’s Waves 

of Violence is also a political satire against the corrupt political 

system in Nigeria. In the play, Dr. David Anochie, a decent 



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University lecturer has been invited by his people to represent their 

clan in a forthcoming State House of Assembly election. Dr. David 

registers his objection to the proposed plan in the first instance. 

However, after listening to the pleas of his elders and family 

members, he finally accepts the proposed plan which he considers 

as an honour done to him and an opportunity to render selfless 

services to his people. Little did he know that politics in Nigeria is 

fraught with intrigues, intimidation and threats to life. The 

politicians themselves are abysmally corrupt. Party leaders demand 

“a pound of flesh” from candidates who are contesting elective 

positions. Political opponents use whatever means available to win 

election. It is either by hook or crook. Isama, David’s political 

opponent for instance, tells Okemnuo: “I will be ready to do 

anything to make my dream come true, even if it requires human 

sacrifice.” (Waves... p. 48). 

 Political activists engage in wanton murder of innocent 

citizens. This is carried out by unemployed youths who are 

recruited by unscrupulous politicians as their thugs. The thugs are 

used by the politicians to eliminate their political opponents by 

means of assassination or ritual killing. Chief Anthony Isama, for 

instance, has made several attempts to eliminate Dr. David, his 

political rival. When his first plot against Dr David failed, Isama 

hired assassins to kill him. Again, this attempt failed. But the 

shameless and unrepentant politician refuses to let go his nefarious 

acts. He goes to see Dr. Ken, the Chief Returning Officer with a 

whooping sum of twenty-million naira gratification as an 

inducement to secure a Seat in Ani-Eze State House of Assembly. 

The unscrupulous power seeker further reveals his selfish and 

unethical disposition in the following conversation:   

Dr Ken: Tony, I don’t understand what you are asking for?  



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Isama: Well, all I am asking for is your help. I mean, just do what 

you can to make me win the election…What I am asking 

you to do is to use your good office as the returning officer 

in charge to manipulate the election results and then declare 

me the winner of the election. I want to be assured that my 

victory in the election is guaranteed. Period. 

Dr Ken: But you know this is impossible, Tony. How can I assure 

you of victory in an election that has not been conducted? 

And how would you expect me to get myself involved in 

election malpractice by using my office to manipulate the 

result of the election? You know I can’t do that. That will 

be tantamount to contravening the provisions of the 

electoral laws of Nigeria. It is a punishable offence. 

Please, understand my plight and don’t lure me to do what 

is not lawful. 

Isana; But I am not asking you to do what is not lawful. I am only 

asking for favour which is normal everywhere. You have 

all it takes to do what I am asking for except you don’t want 

to help me After all we are all Nigerians. (Waves…pp.60- 

61). 

This is a typical example of a highly corrupt and criminally-minded 

politician. He is morally bankrupt; a political misfit, seeking for 

selfish aggrandizement. In this conversation, Dr Ken has displayed 

the quality of a patriotic gentleman with good moral standing. But 

he finally bowed to pressure and violent threat from Isama. 

In this play, violence is caused by corruption, excessive 

greed and inordinate ambition. Out of sheer greed and inordinate 

ambition, Isama hires assassins to eliminate Dr David who appears 

to be a threat to his dream of becoming a member of his state House 

of Assembly. It is the same greed that makes Dragon and his 

cohorts accept two million naira as payment to assassinate David, 



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an innocent man. Again, because of greed the assassins granted 

David the option of either paying them double what they had 

received from their master or face violent death. The playwright 

condemns these unethical practices by punishing the evil 

perpetrators and rewarding David the symbol of peace, justice, 

honesty, and patriotism. The playwright addresses the issue of 

corruption and emphasizes the need for enthronement of a new 

political culture of transparency and meritocracy in Nigerian 

politics. He also stresses the need for gainful employment of 

Nigerian youths to avoid being used by politicians as cheap vessels 

of their murderous ventures in the pursuit of their inordinate 

ambition. 

Ahmed Yerima’s Hard Ground and Heart of Stone capture 

the activities of the Niger Delta Militia group and those of the Boko 

Haram terrorist movement from the northern part of Nigeria. In 

Hard Ground, Yerima Paints a vivid picture of the activities of the 

Niger Delta militants. He shows the initial effort of the people to 

fight for their liberation from economic exploitation and 

environmental devastation. Yerima also presents in the play names 

of heroes like Ken Saro-Wiwa who fought for the liberation of the 

people. He was later hanged alongside other human right activist in 

1996. However, there were still other people who sabotaged the 

good cause pursued by the people of the Niger Delta region. In the 

play, some selfish individuals dealing with arms see it as a business 

avenue which must not be stopped. So, they encouraged the 

perpetuation of violence. The elders on the other hand have also 

made the youths to believe that the only way to get out of their 

present situation is violence. Inyingifaa maintains this position in 

the following lines. 

My Business stopped. My shipment 

could not pass through. No one 



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wants my guns. I was told that the 

big men had established another 

route and other source. My men were 

killed. Paraded on television that 

they were caught bunkering. But I 

never meedle in oil, only guns. Now 

the lives of my boys must be 

avenged (Hard Ground, P. 22)   

This further depicts the level of selfish interest inherent in the 

struggle for the emancipation of the people of the Niger Delta. As 

Agozie Ugwu puts it, 

The virus of corruption obviously has 

eaten deep into the fabric of society 

because the leaders of the society have 

left the root cause of their problem and 

have forgotten the ugly situations of the 

eco-system, the pains the common man in 

the villages who can neither carry 

weapon nor violently acquire his own 

share of the compensation money by 

force is daily made to endure, the diseases 

terrifying the natives and the economic 

hardship confronting the people of the 

Niger Delta region(Agozie Ugwu, 2016, 

par.5). 

The truth is that the insecurity situation that erupted in the Niger 

Delta region is occasioned by miss appropriation of revenue 

generated from oil exploration and exploitation in the area. Yerima 

seems to be saying that violence and agitation for resource control 

may not stop until a greater share of the oil revenue generated from 

the area is equitably distributed and the people compensated 



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adequately for the devastation of their land. Yerima’s Heart of stone 

captures the issues bordering on ethnic and religious crisis in 

Nigeria. The play reflects the activities of the Boko Haram terrorist 

group from the Northern part of Nigeria and the quest for a peaceful 

solution to all the insecurity challenges plaguing the nation. The plot 

of the play revolves around Musa, a well digger, who is recruited 

and trained by Boko Haram, the dreaded Islamic group from the 

North. In the play, Musa, a Muslim extremist has a strong hatred for 

the Christians whom he believes insult Muslims in their songs and 

mode of worship. This is revealed in the following conversation: 

Musa: A song, eh? Satan don fall for gutter. Match am, match am. 

That’s me. That’s us. The song is saying that all muslims are siblings 

of satan, who should be trampled upon. We? Who did we ever hurt? 

I mean who are the peace-loving cursed docile illiterates? Us! 

Amina: Us? 

Musa:  Yes...us Muslims. All songs...all their 

prayers insult us. They brand us as the 

children of the most evil spirit, the 

devil, shetani! They want hell fire to 

burn us to smithereens. And yet they 

want us to be one, to be friends. They 

say we worship the same God. How 

can? I swear I will not go for the 

wedding if this is the kind of songs 

they will sing at the wedding. Even 

their prayers are so militant, aimed at 

us described as blind ‘gambari’ beggar 

children of the devil (Heart of Stone, 

pp. 38-39). 

From his expression, it is clear that Musa nurses deep hatred for 

Christians because of what he perceives as insult on Muslims by 



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Christians. His misconception about the Christian songs and 

prayers triggers his hatred into action by getting recruited into Boko 

Haram group and trained to carry violent actions against the 

Christian songs and prayers triggers his grated for Christians. He 

translates his hatred into action by getting recruited into Boko 

Haram group and trained to carry violent actions against the 

Christians in particular and humanity in general without any regard 

for human life. This tactic of holy jihad according to Jonathan 

Mbachaga (2019, P. 85) “is used by terrorists to instill fear and 

generate coercive submission in their target subjects, the target 

being to crumble the rule of law, human rights and happiness”. As 

the play progresses, we find that the church is attacked by suicide 

bombers who believe that they will be offered 70 virgins in heaven 

as a reward for their suicide mission. 

Yerima’s major concern in this play is to unveil the problem of 

religious intolerance precipitated by wrong religious doctrines. He 

believes that feeding the people daily with wrong religious doctrine 

will bring about religious misunderstanding among people from 

different religious and ethnic background and such 

misunderstanding may lead to religious crisis. Yerima’s position is 

that the dignity of human life should be respected and emphasized 

above every other consideration. 

 In Hangmen Also Die, Esiaba also paints the picture of a 

society where the leaders have appropriated the proceeds from the 

land to themselves and have left the masses to wallow in abject 

poverty. As a result of this, the graduates from the area who could 

not find job after leaving the University, take to violence as the only 

way out. Bloodletting, therefore, becomes their only means of 

earning a living as well a means of taking revenge on the society 

that ruptured their future (Agatha Nwanya 2014, P.19). Esiaba 

however, redirected their attention to Chief Erekosima, the real 



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object of their resentment. Chief Erekosima confiscated the 

compensation money sent by the government for the oil spillage 

which has ruined their eco-system. He shared the money with the 

councilors and local government chairmen. The natives did not 

receive anything. The aggrieved youths kidnapped and killed him. 

Although corruption, selfish interest and personal vendetta appear 

to over shadow the true cause of the struggle of the Niger Delta 

people, Irobi, in this play emphasizes that the crux of the people’s 

struggle is the urgent need for the provision of a green and healthy 

environment for the people and equitable distribution of the oil 

wealth raised from their land.  

 

3.2 Dramatic Literature and the Fight against   Insecurity 

Challenges in Nigeria 

As a veritable instrument of social mobilization and 

conscientisation, drama can be deployed as a tool to fight 

insecurity. Once Upon Four Robbers, for instance, has been 

described as a radical sociology of crime, an exposition of the 

struggle of the oppressed masses to liberate themselves from the 

tyranny of the wealthy class (Gbilekaa, 1997, p.94). In highlighting 

the causes of violence, particularly armed robbery, Osofisan has 

given it a dialectical treatment. He has juxtaposed the arguments of 

the robbers with those of the hunters (oppressors) in order to 

provide insight into socio-economic conditions that drive men into 

unpremeditated crimes. With this device, he expects his audience 

to judge for themselves in the referendum at the end of the play. 

       In A Parliament of Vultures and Waves of Violence, Emeka 

Nwabueze and Eziechine Augustine mercilessly lampooned the 

unscrupulous political class of their time, who are neck-deep in 

socio- political evils. The politicians are portrayed in the texts as 

being classic epitomes of ineptitude, greed, insensitivity and 



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callousness. Indeed, these calibers of abysmally corrupt politicians 

promote violence in their desperate quest for selfish 

aggrandizement. 

      In Ahmed Yerima’s Hard Ground and Heart of Stone and 

Esiaba Irobi’s, Hangmen Also Die, the root causes and architects of 

ethnic and religious violence in Nigeria are unveiled. In Hard 

Ground, Yerima captures through a dramatic representation, the 

dynamics of the activities of the Niger-Delta militants. The play 

examines the form, pattern of agitation and militancy that engulf 

Niger Delta area. The remote and immediate causes of the struggle 

is made manifest. In using theatrical medium to negotiate for an 

egalitarian society based on the socialist principles, and to arouse 

the consciousness of the masses towards the inequalities and 

injustices that permeate the Nigerian society, the revolutionary 

playwrights, Yerima and Irobi have adopted the political theatre 

and resistance drama approach in their bid to make firm political 

statements and present recipes for social change. Indeed, through 

the playwrights’ creative prowess, the consciousness of the masses 

to negotiate for an egalitarian society based on the socialist 

principles is raised.   

 

4. Conclusion  

This paper is an overview of selected plays written by Nigerian 

playwrights, which focus on insecurity challenges in Nigeria. The 

playwrights in these plays have exposed the issues responsible for 

such challenges.  They have in various ways raised the 

consciousness of their audience towards critical awareness of the 

causes of violence, insurgency and insecurity in Nigeria and at the 

same time proffering possible solutions to them. Femi Osofisan for 

instance, provided critical insight into the basic causes of societal 

malaise in Once Upon Four Robbers. Osofisan contends that it is 



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societal inequality, the unequal distribution of wealth and 

opportunities and the competitive nature of capitalism that is 

responsible for the production of hoodlums who manifest as armed 

robbers in Nigeria. He blames society for manufacturing them. 

Similarly, Emeka Nwabueze’s A Parliament of Vultures and 

Eziechine Augustine’s Waves of Violence, trace the causes of 

violence and other forms of insecurity challenges in Nigeria to 

brazen corruption, excessive greed and inordinate ambition. In 

Hard Ground and Heart of Stone, on the other hand, Ahmed 

Yerima conceptualizes the viruses of corruption, exploitation, 

oppression and religious extremism as major causes of violence and 

insurgency in Nigeria. In Esiaba Irobi’s   Hangmen also Die, 

corruption, oppression and deprivation gave rise to terrorism and 

insurgency in the Niger Delta. 

           As a way forward to curb the menace of insecurity 

challenges in Nigeria, these playwrights in the world of their plays 

have advocated the enthronement of a new democratic culture of 

transparency, equity, justice and good governance. The playwrights 

envision a Nigerian society where there will be equal distribution 

of wealth and opportunities; a society where there shall be gainful 

employment of all the jobless youths. Indeed, the playwrights 

emphasize the need for religious tolerance and respect for human 

rights and dignity as ways towards curbing the menace of insecurity 

challenges in Nigeria.  

 

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https://www.researchgate.net/

