English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies 
ISSN 2640-9836 (Print) ISSN 2640-9844 (Online) 

Vol. 5, No. 1, 2023 

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69 
 

Original Paper 

Sociohistorical Derivatives of Conflict Related Thematic Foci in 

Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus 

ONYEKA IKE, PhD
1*

 

1
 DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND COMMUNICATION STUDIES, FEDERAL IVERSITY 

OTUOKE, BAYELSA STATE, NIGERIA 

*
 ONYEKA IKE, PhD, E-mail: onyeka_ike@yahoo.com 

 

Received: January 12, 2023    Accepted: February 8, 2023    Online Published: February 16, 2023 

doi:10.22158/eltls.v5n1p69       URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/eltls.v5n1p69 

 

Abstract 

The debilitating smokes of sociopolitical conflicts re-enacted in Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple 

Hibiscus are unpleasant derivatives of remarkable sociohistorical fires whose embers were fanned by 

certain political and socioeconomic conditions. After over six decades of independence from British 

colonial adventure, the fires are still burning while the firefighters and householders who are 

duty-bound to extinguish them pretend not to discern the infernos let alone direct proportionate efforts 

to either ameliorate or extinguish them. Thus while the fires continue to devour the House, the 

supposedly householders and firefighters rather compete in the reckless pursuit of elusive rats and 

rodents, ignoring the hapless lamentations of the citizenry who scream out the inherent and imminent 

dangers to no avail. Like some other indigenous creative writers, Adichie has just done so with the 

instrumentality of her literary rendition in the aforementioned fiction. The study postulates that the 

unamusing pretenses and prevarications, even indifference of the firefighters and householders portend 

grave repercussions for the present and for posterity. Deploying the critical machinery of New 

Historicism, the research demonstrates how the Nigerian State refuses to learn from certain costly and 

consequential sociohistorical conflicts, thereby allowing a continuous repetition of such sour 

manifestations to the detriment of many. 

Keywords 

citizenry, conflicts, dangers, debilitating, sociohistorical 

 

1. Introduction 

Etymologically, the lexical item conflict is Middle English, originating from the Latin verb “confligere”, 

from con—“together” + fligere—“to strike”. The noun form is “conflictus”, which means “a contest”. 

mailto:onyeka_ike@yahoo.com


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It suggests struggle, disagreement, clash or incompatibility arising from opposing interests, goals or 

desires. Conflict in a dramatic or fictional narrative is a contention or opposition between characters 

which in one form or the other propel the development of the plot. Conflict can, however, be said to be 

internal when a character is inwardly unsettled as a result of a contravention existing between two or 

more simultaneous but antagonistic or incompatible feelings. Kakava (2001, p. 650) perceive conflict 

as “any type of verbal or non-verbal opposition, ranging from disagreement to disputes, mostly in 

social interaction.” Conflict is an unavoidable occurrence in the development and existence of human 

societies and communities. It is in recognition of this fact that Peace and Conflict Resolution studies 

evolved over time and has come to be established as a distinct academic discipline being offered by 

many academic institutions across the globe. In Nigeria, it has become an integral and compulsory 

component of General Studies in tertiary institutions; designed to expose and equip the learner with the 

requisite skills and knowledge for the resolution and management of conflict situations. Adichie’s 

thematisation of sociopolitical and socioeconomic conflicts in Purple Hibiscus reveal her in-depth 

understanding of Nigeria’s sociohistorical challenges as a postcolonial entity. Kehinde in Osunbade 

(2012, pp. 142-143) observes that: In terms of thematic context, Adichie’s writings reveal that, like 

most West African novelists, Adichie has got a number of thematic materials from the neocolonial 

experiences. In the main, her novels are a product of socio-political as well as historical incidents and 

antecedents. Her thematic concerns can therefore be seen in their right perspectives as reactions and 

counter-reactions to sociopolitical events. 

Adichie’s derivation of “a number of thematic materials from neocolonial experiences,” and 

postcolonial encounters as reflections of “sociopolitical as well as historical incidents and antecedents” 

is an aspect of intertextuality. The concern of this study is to trace and evaluate the sources of a number 

of sociohistorical conflicts which are represented in Purple Hibiscus. Her recreation of conflicts from 

such precursor or initiate texts is a clear demonstration that creative works of art like hers are neither 

derived from nor exist in a vacuum, and once more amplifies T. S. Elliot’s assertion that “… no artist of 

any art, has his complete meaning alone.” For Haynes (1992, p. 126), “One text calls up an array of 

others, and each of these others calls up its own array…Intertextuality relates texts, and also forms the 

basis of the coherence of any particular text.” Adejare (1992, p. 124) also states that textual 

incorporation is “the reuse of portions or features of an existing text in the creation of a new text.” 

Particularly with respect to a number of conflict situations in Adichie’s novel, it is observed that she 

derived them largely from the features of certain sociohistorical circumstances in order to authenticate 

the veracity of her materials and most importantly raise “the complex question of responsibility and the 

possible consequence of failed responsibility and how this complex question has continued to plague 

the nation” (Udumukwu, 2007, p. 114).  

 

 

 



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2. Method 

Qualitative research method is adopted for this study while the preferred theoretical anchor is New 

Historicism. Greenblatt (1980, p. 12) states that “…a work of art is the product of a negotiation 

between a creator or class of creators equipped with a complex, communally shared repertoire of 

conventions and the institutions and practices of society.” This is why New Historicism operates by 

examining and analyzing the many discourses that affect both the author and the text. Instead of using 

historical context as a backdrop for the text, the theory sees these texts as in discourse or dialogue with 

literature. The theory is largely based on Michel Foucault’s intertextual methods of examining 

knowledge and power and Stephen Greenblatt’s assertion that cultural discourses shape the form of 

history and the literature that emerges from the culture. It is for this reason that texts are not ranked in 

New Historism but are rather viewed in a linear pattern with each other - all influencing all other texts. 

 

3. Result and Discussion  

Although there is a dominant lingering domestic conflict in Purple Hibiscus which culminated in the 

unfortunate death of the autocratic but humane character of Eugene Achike from the gradual poisoning 

by his wife Beatrice, (p. 283), Adichie equally thematises certain major sociopolitical conflicts that can 

be said to be derived from remarkable sociohistorical circumstances. One involves a dictatorial military 

government which comes into power through the barrel of the gun as represented by the character of 

Big Oga (the Head of State) and the Nigerian press establishment symbolised by the Standard 

newspaper which is published by Eugene, with Ade Coker as its quintessential editor. The other 

involves the Nsukka University community and government on one hand over the appointment of a 

Sole Administrator to run the affairs of the institution instead of the conventional Vice Chancellor, and 

on the other hand between the Sole Administrator himself and the University staff over critical issues 

like non-payment of lecturers’ salaries and non-availability of essential amenities such as water and 

light in the campus community. Adichie herself was raised in the same Nsukka University community 

by a father who at a time became the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the institution and a mother who rose 

through the ranks to become the first female Registrar of the institution, and of course witnessed those 

turbulent and historic moments at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka as she once admitted in one of her 

public speeches. Again, these developments are mirrored to have occurred during a military 

government; a time when a Sole Administrator was once appointed to pilot the affairs of the university 

in place of a Vice Chancellor and was rebuffed by both staff and students; a time of intense and 

incessant students’ rioting, vandalisation and burning of valuable properties belonging to the institution 

as equally portrayed in the fiction. 

The conflict involving Big Oga’s government and the Standard newspaper owned by Eugene stem 

mainly from two major factors. One is Eugene’s deep-seated disgust for coups and military style of 

governance due to his perception of its operators as “Godless men ruling our country…” (p. 43). 

Secondly is the determination of the Standard to remain critical of the multifarious ills of military 



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governance. We first learn from Father Benedict during his homily at St. Agnes Catholic Church at 

Enugu on a Palm Sunday that Eugene refuses to be silent after a successful coup d’etat and that the 

Standard is truth-oriented despite losing advertising on account of that. He states: 

Look at Brother Eugene. He could have chosen to be like other Big Men in this country, he could have 

decided to sit at home and do nothing after the coup, to make sure the government did not threaten his 

business. But no, he used the Standard to speak the truth even though it meant the paper lost 

advertising. Brother Eugene spoke out for freedom. How many of us have stood up for the truth? How 

many of us have reflected the Triumphant Entry? (pp. 4-5) 

Here, Eugene is presented as a fearless advocate for truth in a nation where “other Big men” choose to 

be silent in the face of tyranny and bad governance by men who control the instruments of violence and 

who ordinarily ought to have no business with civil governance. Eugene’s courageous disposition 

pitches him against “government agents” (p. 9) and he becomes a prime target of their various antics 

and attacks; wherever it is possible for them to unleash such terrors on him and his establishments. 

Despite the dangers his criticism and opposition to military rule pose to his life and safety, Eugene 

remains undaunted although he knows that other people are being cowed by the system as Kambili 

observes: 

In the following weeks, the newspapers we read during family time sounded different, more subdued. 

The Standard, too, was different; it was more critical, more questioning than it used to be. Even the 

drive to school was different. The first week after the coup, Kevin plucked green tree branches every 

morning and stuck them to the car, lodged above the number plate, so that the demonstrators at the 

government square would let us drive past. The green branches meant solidarity. (PH, p. 27) 

The first significant move of the military establishment to retaliate Eugene’s relentless scathing 

criticisms of their government is to arrest Ade Coker, the Editor-in-Chief of the Standard. Ade’s wife 

Yewande arrives Eugene’s residence with tears to notify him of the development. Kambili, again, 

narrates: 

A few days before my first exam, I was in my room studying, trying to focus on one word at a time, 

when the doorbell rang. It was Yewande Coker, the wife of Papa’s editor. She was crying. I could hear 

her because my room was directly above the living room and because I had never heard her crying that 

loud before. “They have taken him! They have taken him!” she said, between throaty sobs. “What will 

I do sir? I have three children! One is still sucking my breast1! How will I raise them alone? (PH, p. 

37) 

Yewande’s seemingly furlon wailing at this starting point of her husband’s ordeals is prophetic because 

it actually marks the beginning of the brutal end of her beloved husband, a dependable man she had 

earnestly desired to raise her three children with and not alone as it eventually turns out to be. Ironically, 

the man she has come to weep on his shoulders does not seem to have the prophetic insight she 

possesses when she says, “How will I raise them alone” in reference to their three kids. In response, 

Eugene expectedly says, “Yewande, don’t talk that way. Ade will be fine” (p. 38). Ade is arrested by 



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soldiers as he drives out of the editorial office of the Standard. The immediate cause for this arrest is 

stated by Kambili thus: 

I know his arrest was because of the big cover story in the last Standard, a story about how the Head of 

State and his wife had paid people to transport heroine abroad, a story that questioned the recent 

execution of three men and who the real drug barons were. Jaja said that when he looked through the 

keyhole, Papa was holding Yewande’s hand and praying... (PH, p. 38) 

The reason for Ade’s first arrest, in reality, is a historical political question that is yet to receive any 

formal clarification till date. Rumours were rife at a time in the nation’s history that a certain Nigerian 

military Head of State whose regime Adichie largely historicises in Purple Hibiscus was a big time 

drug peddler with his wife. These rumours gained a significant historic amplification in the early hours 

of 22nd April, 1990 when Major Gideon Orkar woke a tottering nation up with the announcement of 

his almost successful coup d’etat against the despotic regime of General Ibrahim Babangida, and in the 

opening paragraph of his speech states: 

Fellow Nigerian citizens, on behalf of the patriotic and well meaning peoples of the Middle Belt and 

the Southern parts of this country, I, Major Gideon Orkar, wish to happily inform you of the successful 

ousting of the dictatorial, corrupt, drug baronish, evil man, deceitful, homosexually-centered, 

prodigalistic, unpatriotic administration of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. (Orkar, 1990) 

It is worthy of note that before the attempted coup, Orkar was an officer well known to Babangida; 

both men belonged to the same constituency or unit known as the Nigerian Army Armoured Corps. 

Both maintained a level of closeness as armour officers in their respective capacities. In fact, Orkar 

could have been easily regarded as one of the famous “IBB Boys” in the Nigerian Army of those days. 

In the Vanguard newspaper interview of 22nd April, 2020, Duro Onabule, Babangida’s Chief Press 

Secretary at the time of the coup in a response to the question: “It is claimed in some quarters that some 

of the plotters were close to IBB…were the plotters really close to IBB?” answered that, “Not some of 

them, virtually all of them, including Major Orkar himself.” This is one of the reasons why the litany of 

adjectives with which he described the Babangida administration including the one in focus at this 

point (“drug baronish”) seemed to have struck a chord of authenticity concerning the man who can well 

be regarded as his close boss or senior professional colleague and friend. So it is like a friend 

describing another friend he knows quite well. Orkar’s testimony is corroborated by an anonymous 

report titled “Was Babangida a Drug Baron?” contained on againstbabangida.com which states:  

Apart from Babangida and his wife, Maryam, top military brass and members of the diplomatic corps 

are some others identified in the international investigation of the drug ring that prospered from the 

early 1980s through the mid-1990s. Major Orkar, whose unsuccessful coup plot was the most 

successful attempt to dispose Babangida of power, also alleged that there was drug dealing going on 

during the regime of the dictator. Since Orkar called IBB a drug baron, many Nigerians have quietly 

accepted it as a fact. The military connection in the drug trafficking business is particularly noteworthy. 

Military officers have for long been suspected of coordinating the drug trade. The burning of the 



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Ministry of Defence building in Lagos during Babangida’s regime, during which the Sunday Guardian 

showed IBB smiling right in front of the burning edifice, was believed to have been official arson 

executed to hide some sensitive information about the trade. The only case that has been widely linked 

to Babangida, which many thought could have exposed him is that of Gloria Okon, a Nigerian lady 

alleged to have been his courier and said to have died in detention but believed to have been resettled in 

anonymity. It is widely accepted that the murdered journalist, Dele Giwa, was about to unravel the 

mysterious disappearance of Gloria Okon when he was killed in circumstances tied around Babangida’s 

neck. 

These are the sociohistorical conditions that inspired Adichie’s representation of the scenario of a 

serving Nigerian Head of State and his wife paying people to transport heroine abroad, and then Ade 

Coker being arrested for doing a cover story about it (PH, p. 38). Through Eugene’s courageous efforts, 

Ade is released from detention after a week of torture and repression as Kambili informs:  

The phone rang then; it had been ringing more since Ade Coker was arrested. Papa answered it and 

spoke in low tones… I wondered if he was too pre-occupied with Ade Coker’s case, but even after he 

got him out of jail a week later, he did not talk about my report card. He did not talk about getting Ade 

Coker out of jail either; we simply saw his editorial back in the Standard, where he wrote about the 

value of freedom, about how his pen would not, could not, stop writing the truth. But he did not 

mention where he had been detained… or what had been done to him. (PH, p. 42) 

Eugene, however, reveals a glimpse of what had been done to Ade when he says, “They put out so 

many cigarettes on his back” (p. 42). Ade’s dehumanizing treatments in the hands of state security 

agents, for “writing the truth” prompts Eugene’s decision, “We are going to publish underground now. 

It is no longer safe for my staff” (pp. 42-43). Again, “publishing underground” was one of the survival 

tactics adopted by a number of publishing firms in Nigeria in the 80s and 90s as a result of incessant 

state-sponsored attacks by military dictators that ruled the country then. Publishing underground 

implies the production of newspapers from a location hidden from public knowledge and from the 

prying eyes of security forces that could interrupt or forestall the publishing process. It was a critical 

strategy used by many newspaper houses during the repressive regimes of Generals Muhammadu 

Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha in the 80s and 90s; regimes that promulgated various 

obnoxious decrees to cage and control press freedom. 

After the release of Ade Coker, neither Eugene nor Ade gives up the fight against the dictatorial 

military government which they consider illegal and immoral. Thus instead of being cowed by the 

attacks from the government, Eugene’s vociferous advocacy against military despotism and Ade’s 

fearlessly critical editorials even intensifies. The battle is decisively carried to a spiritual dimension 

when Eugene takes the matter to their family prayer altar as Kambili, the omniscient narrator intimates:  

“That night, when Papa prayed, he added longer passages urging God to bring about the downfall of the 

Godless men ruling our country, and he intoned over and over, “Our Lady shield of the Nigerian people, 

pray for us,” (p. 43). This prayer point, among others, becomes almost a regular one in his family 



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devotion, for even in the first morning of their arrival in their ancestral hometown, Abba for the 

Yuletide, Eugene still directs a significant time of their devotion period to the same cause. Kambili says, 

“Papa read from the Psalms before saying the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory be, and the Apostles 

Creed… Finally, for twenty minutes, papa prayed for our protection from ungodly people and forces, 

for Nigeria and the Godless men ruling it, and for us to continue to grow in righteousness” (PH, p. 61). 

Eugene’s ceaseless prayers for Nigeria and battles against her rulers, from the way he usually presents 

such issues before God as prayer points, can be truly said to be altruistic. His concerns for the nation 

are not in anyway predicated on any selfish end but rather on a genuine desire to see that things are 

done right in the entire nation, and that she ceases to be ruled by men he is deeply convinced are 

“Godless” and unqualified. Such patriotic fervor can only be compared to that of the character of Major 

Nzeogwu in Half of a Yellow Sun, when he states the reasons for sacking Nigeria’s First republic in his 

coup speech. Even in historical reality as testified by some of his military colleagues like General 

Olusegun Obasanjo and Captain Ben Gbulie who dedicated his book Nigeria’s Five Majors (1981) 

entirely to him, Major Nzeogwu’s patriotism and genuine concerns for the well-being of the Nigerian 

state is never in doubt. His historic actions on January 15, 1966 can be said to be motivated by a sense 

of misguided youthful optimism, even exuberance, one can also say. Little wonder his assailants who 

killed him in the battlefront at the Nsukka sector during the Nigerian Civil war ended up carrying him 

back to Kaduna where they buried him with full military honours as approved by the Federal 

Government of General Yakubu Gowon. Killing one’s opponent in a battlefront and yet respectfully 

carrying him for an honourable burial is a rare occurrence. Again, in his biographical account entitled 

Nzeogwu, Obasanjo (1987, pp. 2-4) states: 

Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu and I were genuine and close friends who shared a similarity of outlook 

on many subjects… We were idealistic young men inspired by the mood of nationalism that was 

sweeping through many parts of Africa at that time and as young army officers, we freely discussed the 

future of the Nigerian Army, Nigeria and Africa, and the condition of the black man in the world. We 

were not satisfied with the second-class status that he had almost everywhere, including the continent 

of his birth. We believed, just as I do now, that the black man everywhere had to struggle and indeed 

fight to break the shackles of oppression and exploitation, and to lift himself above the subhuman level 

he had been kept for so long. We were convinced that the black man’s burden would only be lightened 

by good leadership, sweat and blood, and not by wishing that others do for him what he desires… We 

shared the same house as well as thoughts, hopes, aspirations and fears for the future of our country and 

continent. I feel I owe it to Chukwuma and to Nigerian posterity, to record what I knew about this 

idealistic and thoroughly patriotic Nigerian who in his approach to our political problems, has been 

described as exhibiting more enthusiasm and naivety than wisdom or prudence.  

Undoubtedly, these motivations and proclivities are clearly demonstrated in his coup announcement. 

The character of Eugene in Purple Hibiscus is similar to that of Major Nzeogwu in Half of a Yellow Sun 

in that both men are motivated by genuine patriotism to combat the malaise of bad governance in the 



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Nigerian state. They have love and respect for the nation which make them to earnestly desire that she 

becomes a better place - free from corruption and all vices that retard her progress. 

Ironically, the tyranny Eugene is fighting to wedge at the national level is what he ignorantly represents 

and perpetuates in his own home, particularly towards his wife and two children, Kambili and Jaja, 

largely on account of his wrongly held religious views. His consistent battering of his wife to the point 

of her having miscarriages and scalding the feet of his children with hot water for gratuitous reasons do 

not have any realistic justification, and do not tally with his fervent commitments to bring an end to 

military despotism at the national level.  

When issues relating to Eugene, the Standard newspaper and Ade Coker are zoomed in again in the 

novel, it is through the eyes of Father Amadi at the University of Nigeria Nsukka Campus residence of 

Aunty Ifeoma, Eugene’s younger sister who teaches there. Coincidentally, Jaja and Kambili are on a 

visit. On realizing for the first time that Eugene is Aunty Ifeoma’s elder brother, Father Amadi says, “I 

hear he’s very involved in the editorial decisions. The Standard is the only paper that dares to tell the 

truth these days” (p. 136). Then Aunty Ifeoma responds, “And he has a brilliant editor, Ade Coker, 

although I wonder how much longer before they lock him up for good. Even Eugene’s money will not 

buy everything” (p. 136). 

The above conversation between Aunty Ifeoma and their family friend, Father Amadi first reveals that 

the solid reputation of the Standard as a focused and truth-oriented publication is widespread. Secondly, 

that the direct involvement of its publisher Eugene in editorial decisions contributes largely in its 

doggedness and consistency in telling the truth without wavering, even though other publications have 

already bowed to pressure not to tell the truth anymore and have probably turned sycophantic so as to 

be in the good books of the powers that be and avoid their persecutions. Thirdly, that there is the 

possibility of Ade’s imminent re-arrest by the junta for his insistence in “writing the truth” no matter 

whose ox is gored. Aunty Ifeoma’s comment about wondering “how much longer before they lock him 

up” (p. 136) again in reference to Ade Coker, however, turns out to be a prophetic statement. Kambili 

and Jaja are still in that same visit in her Nsukka residence from where that conversation and comment 

emanated when we learn that: …soldiers had gone to the small, nondescript rooms that serve as the 

offices of the Standard. Nobody knew how they had found out where the offices were. There were so 

many soldiers that the people on that street told Papa it reminded them of pictures from the front during 

the civil war. The soldiers took every copy of the entire press run, smashed furniture and printers, 

locked the offices, took the keys, and boarded up the doors and windows. Ade Coker was in custody 

again. (PH, p. 145) 

This is Ade’s second arrest in the novel, and it is conspicuous that the devastations and damages done 

to the Standard at this point were greater than the former before they, again, snatched away their 

“priced trophy” Ade Coker, the quintessential editor. In the first arrest, Ade is taken to custody as he is 

driving out of the press office; meaning that the major damage done to the publishing outfit is mainly 

the denial of Ade’s presence for about a week before he is released. But they did not destroy the 



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facilities of the firm as it is the case in this second arrest. Now, they not only arrest Ade to torture him 

but also wreck monumental havoc to the facilities of the Standard. This manner of Ade’s arrest and 

mindless destruction to the publishing firm instills fear in the heart of Eugene’s wife who over the 

phone tells Kambili, “I worry about your father,” and Kambili observes that “Aunty Ifeoma seemed 

worried, too, because after the call, she went out and bought a copy of the Guardian although she never 

bought newspapers” (p. 145). It is from the Guardian that Aunty Ifeoma sees that “the story of soldiers 

closing down the standard was tucked into the middle page, next to advertisements for women’s shoes 

imported from Italy” (p. 146). This under-representation of such a major occurrence by another 

newspaper which ought to have amplified it in order to attract the necessary attention and public 

condemnation does not please Amaka, Aunty Ifeoma’s outspoken only daughter who complains that 

“Uncle Eugene would have run it on the front page of his paper” (p. 146). 

When we encounter Ade Coker again, we discover that he has been released from detention for the 

second time, and is in the company of some other guests on their visit to Eugene’s residence at Enugu. 

Eugene hurriedly finishes his lunch while his family members are still eating in order to receive the 

guests in the living room and to chat with them. Kambili hears their conversation from the dining, and 

it is clear that a serious crisis is at hand as she narrates: 

The guests came in and sat down in the living room. I could not see them from the dining table, but 

while I ate, I tried hard to make out what they were saying. I know Jaja was listening too. I saw the way 

his head was slightly tilted, his eyes focused on the empty space in front of him. They were talking in 

low tones, but it was easy to make out the name Nwakiti Ogechi, especially when Ade Coker spoke, 

because he did not lower his voice as much as Papa and… He was saying that Big Oga’s 

assistant—Ade Coker referred to the Head of State as Big Oga even in his editorials—had called to say 

that Big Oga was willing to give him an exclusive interview. (PH, p. 196) 

This is an exemplification of Eugene’s involvement in the editorial decisions of the Standard as Father 

Amadi earlier points out. His involvements, however, continues to contribute in making the publication 

thick, truth-oriented and focused. At this point in time, something is seriously at stake. They perceive 

“a foul odour” somewhere—something fishy when the personal assistant to the Head of State, the 

arrowhead of the repressive military government in power strangely calls Ade Coker to inform him that 

“Big Oga” is willing to grant him an “exclusive interview.” This becomes a suspicious generosity from 

one’s avowed adversary, even when the fight is still raging and there has not been any signs of 

reconciliation or resolution. Ade the committed editor does not in any way see that as a friendly 

overture but rather as a ploy by the government to suppress and cover the truth concerning an atrocity 

they had committed - the gruesome killing of an outstanding Human Rights and Pro-democracy activist 

Nwakiti Ogechi. So Ade sees the invitation by the Head of State for an exclusive interview as a way of 

indirectly bribing him to soft-pedal and be economical with the truth in writing about the sudden 

disappearance of Nwakiti Ogechi, especially now that the Commonwealth Nations are meeting (p.196). 

In response to the invitation for the interview, Ade retorts:  



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But they want me to cancel the Nwankiti Ogechi story. Imagine the stupid man, he said they knew 

some useless people had told me stories that I planned to use in my piece and that the stories were 

lies… you know what this means? My sources were right. They have really wasted Nwakiti Ogechi. 

Why didn’t they care when I did the last story about him? Why do they care now? (PH, p. 196) 

The character of Nwankiti Ogechi in Purple Hibiscus, as earlier discussed, mirrors the historical 

character of Ken Saro-Wiwa - a renowned Ogoni writer and environmental activist who was wasted by 

the military junta of General Sani Abacha on November 10, 1995 in Port Harcourt; a time which 

coincided with the fourteenth meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations 

held in Auckland, New Zealand between 10th and 13th November, 1995. The meeting was hosted by 

the country’s Prime Minister, Jim Bolger. For unjustly killing Saro-Wiwa and his eight other kinsmen 

on trump up charges on November 10th, Nigeria was suspended the next day, 11th November, 1995 as 

a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. These are some of the socio-historical circumstances 

Adichie drew her inspiration from when, among other things, Kambili says, “I heard Papa interrupt in a 

low voice, and the other man added something afterwards, something about the Big people in Abuja not 

wanting such a story out now that the Commonwealth Nations were meeting” (p.196). When Ade 

Coker asks: “Why didn’t they care when I did the last story about him?,’’ in reference to Nwankiti 

Ogechi, Kambili reveals:  

I knew what story Ade was referring to, since it was in the Standard about six weeks ago, right around 

the time Nwankiti Ogechi first disappeared without a trace. I remembered the huge black question mark 

above the caption, “Where is Nwankiti?” and I remembered that the article was full of worried quotes 

from his family and colleagues. It was nothing like the first Standard feature I’d read about him, titled 

“A Saint Among Us,” which had focused on his activism, on his pro-democracy rallies that filled the 

stadium at Surulere. (PH, p. 197) 

When the other unnamed guest suggests: “I am telling Ade we should wait, sir. Let him do the 

interview with Big Oga. We can do the Nwankiti Ogechi story later,” (p. 197), Ade fires back and gives 

reason for his insistence: “No way! They don’t want Nwankiti Ogechi to become an issue now. Simple! 

And you know what it means, it means they have wasted him! Which one is for Big Oga to try and 

bribe me with an interview? I ask you, eh which one is that?” (p. 197). 

Ade deeply believes that doing the Nwankiti Ogechi story at the moment is right and timely in view of 

the fact that the Commonwealth Nations of which Nigeria is a member are meeting. The logic is that 

such a story emanating from a Commonwealth member country at such a time will glaringly portray its 

human rights abuses, attract global condemnations as well as the appropriate sanctions to the erring 

nation and its leaders. In the case of Ken Saro-Wiwa which Adichie historicises through the character 

of Nwankiti Ogechi, the Nigerian press as symbolized by the Standard, through their courageous effort 

to tell the story to the world, really succeeded in attracting international condemnation and sanctions to 

General Sani Abacha’s junta. Here we see Ade the indefatigable journalist insisting that the truth must 

be told, and timely too. He refuses to be cornered by the powers that be who are really working hard to 



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ensure that the truth about their unjustifiable wastage of Nwankiti Ogechi does not see the light of the 

day. Eugene’s response to Ade’s outburst and insistence that Nwankiti Ogechi’s story should be the lead 

story in the next edition of the Standard and other actions that follow are revealed by Kambili thus: 

“Papa cut him short then, but I could not hear much of what he said, because he spoke in low, soothing 

tones, as though he were calming Ade down... They walked past us on their way upstairs. Ade smiled as 

he greeted us, but it was a strained smile. he teased me, making a mock attempt to swoop down on my 

food”(PH, p. 197). 

While the editorial board of the Standard are meeting at Eugene’s house to decide on whether or not to 

accept Big Oga’s generous offer of an exclusive interview with him, as well as whether or not Nwankiti 

Ogechi’s story would prominently feature immediately, the government of the day seemed restless and 

relentless in its pranks to cover up the homicide at all possible costs. Kambili informs that, “It was that 

evening, before dinner, that the government agents came, the men in black who yanked hibiscuses off 

as they left, the men Jaja said had come to bribe Papa with a truckful of dollars, the men papa asked to 

get out of our house” (pp.197-198). Eugene’s refusal to be bribed even with “a truckful of dollars” from 

the government in order to silence the truth concerning Nwakiti Ogechi’s murder is a clear 

demonstration of his genuine patriotism and sense of altruism. By this refusal, the conflict between him 

and the government intensifies. Eventually, Ade prevails on the editorial team to accept that Nwankiti 

Ogechi’s sudden disappearance will feature prominently at the expense of accepting the invitation for 

an exclusive interview from the Head of State. Kambili, again, states: “When we got the next edition of 

the Standard, I knew it would have Nwakiti Ogechi on its cover. The story was detailed, angry, full of 

quotes from someone called the source. Soldiers shot Nwankiti Ogechi in a bush in Minna. And then 

they poured acid on his body to melt his flesh off his bones, to kill him even when he was already dead 

(PH, p. 198). The reactions that greeted the news of the gruesome murder of Nwankiti Ogechi are 

expectedly unpalatable and swift, and actually parallel the reactions that met the heinous murder of Ken 

Saro-Wiwa in November 1995. Kambili informs: 

During family time, while Papa and I played chess, Papa winning, we heard on the radio that Nigeria 

had been suspended from the Commonwealth because of the murder, that Canada and Holland were 

recalling their ambassadors in protest. The newscaster read a small portion of the press release from the 

Canadian government, which referred to Nwankiti Ogechi as “a man of honour.” (PH, p. 198)  

The brutal killing of Nwankiti Ogechi sends reverberating shock waves across the country and to the 

international community which perceives his activism as liberating and pro-democratic; on account of 

which he had gained enormous international recognition and goodwill. The portion of the press release 

from the Canadian government referring to him as “a man of honour” is an eloquent attestation in this 

regard. Just like the murder of Nwankiti Ogechi by state agents in Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus, the 

killing of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the pouring of concentrated acid on his dead body by agents of the 

Nigerian State under General Sani Abacha’s junta was almost unbelievable. Not many Nigerians at that 

time thought that the General could snub and defy all entreaties coming from both local and 



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international voices, including the revered Dr Nelson Mandela of South Africa, not to harm Saro-Wiwa. 

Even the relentless plea from Saro-Wiwa’s septuagenarian mother fell on the General’s deaf ears until 

the man was taken to the gallows at Port Harcourt prison. 

 After the news of the murder of Nwankiti Ogechi spread across the globe like wild fire, Eugene’s 

rhetorical question: “Do you think Godless men have any sense?” (p. 199) reminds the reader of 

Mandela’s reference to General Abacha as a “mad man” after he learnt of Saro-Wiwa’s execution 

despite his entreaties to the contrary, to which Abacha replied that Mandela had spent too long a time in 

prison to come to terms with current realities. To demonstrate the trepidation that grips the Nigerian 

populace on account of the assassination of the character of the activist Nwankiti Ogechi, Kambili 

reports: 

Some men arrived just after we had dinner, and I heard Sisi tell Papa that they said they were from the 

Democratic coalition. They stayed on the potio with Papa… The next day, more guests came during 

dinner. And even more the day after. They all told Papa to be careful. Stop going to work in your 

official car. Don’t go to the public places. Remember the bomb blast at the airport when a civil rights 

lawyer was travelling. Remember the one at the stadium during the pro-democracy meeting. Lock your 

doors. Remember the man shot in his bedroom by men wearing black masks. Mama...looked scared 

when she talked… (PH, p. 198) 

The genuine concern for Eugene’s safety by pro-democracy groups and other well-meaning individuals 

that thronged his residence after the assassination of Nwankiti Ogechi is on the basis of their 

knowledge of the enormous risks he takes in exposing the murder through the publications of the 

Standard newspaper, as well as his well-known stand against military despotism in the country, the 

operators of which he has consistently referred to as “Godless men.” This is to show the extent to 

which the murder of the pro-democracy and human rights activist rattles pro-democracy forces and 

other well-meaning individuals. To say the least, pro-democracy forces and indeed the international 

community were scandalized in 1995 at the receipt of the news of the way and manner Saro-Wiwa and 

his eight Ogoni allies were murdered at Port Harcourt prison. Indeed, Purple Hibiscus gives a realistic 

portrait of a nation that is gradually collapsing; deviating from the path of sanity and sliding to anarchy. 

The Babangida and Abacha years which Adichie historicises in the novel were truly harsh and claimed 

the lives of journalists, activists and ordinary citizens alike. Those who survived it still tell the stories of 

torture, incarceration, hardship and close shave with death with hot tears in their eyes. People like 

Nwankiti Ogechi (Ken Saro-Wiwa) could not survive it. The killing of Nwankiti Ogechi in the novel 

symbolizes the flagrant wastage of a supposedly national asset on the altar of politics and politicking by 

a military dictator. Purple Hibiscus is indeed a literary work with profound artistic and historical 

merits.  

When we meet Ade Coker again in the theatre of conflict, we are sadly informed that he is equally 

murdered like Nwankiti Ogechi he was writing to protect and project his predicaments in the hands of a 

despot when he was alive, and at his death wrote so courageously to present the truth about his 



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unlawful killing by state-sponsored agents. Even the elements are angry at Ade’s gruesome 

assassination as Kambili tells: 

It rained heavily the day Ade Coker died, a strange furious rain in the middle of the parched harmattan. 

Ade was at breakfast with his family when a courier delivered a package to him. His daughter, in her 

primary school uniform, was sitting across the table from him. The baby was nearby, in a high chair. 

His wife was spooning Cerelac into the baby’s mouth. Ade was blown up when he opened the package 

- a package everybody would have known was from the Head of State even if his wife Yewande had 

not said that Ade Coker looked at the envelope and said, “It has the State House Seal” before he opened 

it. (PH, p. 202) 

Eugene is thrown to a state of agony at the killing of Ade Coker and in his lamentation reveals the 

unambiguous and doubtless reason for the obvious state-sponsored murder when he says, “I should 

have made him stop that story” (p. 202). This shows that Eugene is aware that Ade is actually killed by 

agents of the state on account of the revealing story he wrote concerning the way and manner 

government agents assassinated Nwankiti Ogechi. Ade’s insistence not to be “bribed” with a generous 

exclusive interview by the Head of State and that the story of the assassination must not be swept under 

the carpet had cost him his own life. 

The murder of Ade Coker in Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus parallels the murder of Dele Giwa - the pioneer 

Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch magazine on October 19, 1986 at his Ikeja residence in Lagos. Also, the 

reputation of the Standard newspaper as a focused and truth-oriented publication equally mirrors that of 

Newswatch in the 1980s. These qualities endeared the magazine to many Nigerians particularly the 

proletariat who usually looked forward to clutching subsequent editions where they expected to see 

investigative journalism at its best; where they expected to see “truth” being hitherto suppressed by a 

tyrannical military government receiving courageous vocalizations and exposures to the admiration of 

the downtrodden. Even the protracted conflict between the Standard’s publisher Eugene and Big Oga’s 

government are reflections of the conflict between the military juntas of Generals Muhammadu Buhari, 

Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha with The Guardian newspaper, Tell magazine and other press 

establishments that were, like the Standard newspaper, focused and truth-oriented. The trio dictators 

usually saw such newspapers and magazines as being antagonistic and subversive to their governments, 

and often directed state security agents to clamp down on them in a bid to silence them. Chronicling 

some of the ordeals of some outstanding Nigerian journalists/press establishments in the hands of 

iron-fisted dictators in the country, Wikipedia (2020) states: 

During the administration of General Muhammadu Buhari, reporters Tunde Thompson and Nduka 

Irabor were both sent to jail in 1984 under decree No. 4 of 1984, which suppressed journalistic freedom. 

On 26 August, 1989 The Guardian published a long letter by Dr. Bekolari Ransome-Kuti, a 

human-rights activist, entitled, “Open Letter to President Babangida,” in which he criticized what he 

saw as increasing government suppression of free expression of ideas. The owner, Alex Ibru, escaped 

an assassination attempt during the military regime of General Sani Abacha. On 2 February 1996 his 



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car was fired upon and Ibru was hit. He was rushed to the hospital with one of his eyes dangling from 

its socket. Following Abacha’s sudden death in June 1998, legal proceedings began against his son 

Mohammed and his Chief Security Officer Major Hamza al-Mustapha. (“The Guardian-Nigeria”) 

Also, in his Honour For Sale: An Insider Account of the Murder of Dele Giwa (2013), General 

Babangida’s erstwhile Military Press Secretary Major Debo Basorun substantiates these historical 

realities, particularly the conflict between Dele Giwa/Newswatch magazine and the junta which 

Adichie historicises through the character of Ade Coker. He states:  

One of the journalists who spearheaded criticisms against government’s recklessness was the 

Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch magazine, Dele Giwa. “Dele” as he was fondly called had earlier served 

as an executive in the government-owned Daily Times… a position that brought him in contact with 

influential people both in and out of government. And with friends in those high places, the journalist 

had a near-unrestricted access to privileged information which usually reflected in his writings. Dele 

was to become a favourite of the public for his satiric comments and penchant for investigating 

government excesses and abuse of office. His persistent demands that the ruling class submit itself for 

public accountability demonstrated the courage behind a congenial demeanour. Being no stranger to 

harassment as a regular guest of the security agencies, Dele showed up at my office one day to ask for 

my intervention on behalf of his colleague and friend, Yakubu Mohammed who was being sought by 

military intelligence for allegedly writing an offensive article about the government. His satiric 

commentaries…raised the stakes enough to warrant a decision from a frightened president. What 

Babangida did was… While the people were still thinking of what to make of the sweeping arrests, the 

nation was aghast with trepidation to learn that Dele had been killed under mysterious circumstances 

on Sunday, 19th October, 1986. (Basorun, 2013, pp. 186-187) 

Basorun’s statement that Dele Giwa “being no stranger to harassment as a regular guest of the security 

agencies” is reminiscent of the persecutions of Ade Coker in the hands of the same security agents in 

Purple Hibiscus until he is assassinated in like manner. These are, again, some of the socio-historical 

circumstances that really inform Adichie’s representations of conflicts in this regard. 

Eugene’s handling of the shocking assassination of Ade Coker; how he relates with Ade’s family and 

members of staff of the Standard afterwards really demonstrate his humanity, nobility and sense of 

altruism. Kambili says, “Papa organized Ade Coker’s funeral; he set up a trust for Yewande Coker and 

the children, bought them a new house. He paid the Standard staff huge bonuses and asked them all to 

take a long leave” (p. 203). His life, however, does not seem to be the same as he grapples with the 

realities of Ade’s death. Again, it is through the voice of Kambili that the reader sees that: 

Hollows appeared under his eyes during those weeks, as if someone had suctioned the delicate flesh, 

leaving his eyes sunken in. weeks after Ade Coker died, the hollows were still carved under Papa’s eyes, 

and there was a slowness in his movements, as though his legs were too heavy to lift, his hands too 

heavy to swing. He took longer to reply when spoken to, to chew his food, even to find the right Bible 

passages… and some nights when I woke up to pee, I heard him shouting from the balcony overlooking 



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the frontyard. Even though I sat on the toilet seat and listened, I never could make sense of what he was 

saying. (PH, p. 203) 

The effect of Ade Coker’s assassination is so devastating to Eugene that he does not seem to be in good 

control of himself and actions any longer. This is because Ade was an invaluable asset to the Standard 

and his loss, especially in the manner in which he was murdered, was indeed traumatic to the man who 

placed so much premium and confidence in his unquestionable capabilities. The above passage portrays 

that Eugene is losing a bit of his psychological stability on account of Ade’s death in the hands of State 

Security agents who ironically were supposed to have protected him from harm. Even Kambili is not in 

any way spared from the psychological trauma associated with the gruesome killing of Ade as she says, 

“My nightmares started then, nightmares in which I saw Ade Coker’s charred remains spattered on his 

dinning table, on his baby’s cereal bowl, on his plate of eggs. In some of the nightmares, I was the 

daughter and the charred remains became Papa’s” (PH, p. 203). 

The silencing of Ade Coker with a mail bomb does not seem to pacify the perpetrators yet, and the 

conflict still rages. They are clearly aware that Ade was not the only source of inspiration and strength 

to the Standard, and are determined to subdue whoever or whatever remains as source of inspiration. 

The junta takes the battle to the dimension of economic sabotage as a way of crippling the publisher of 

the Standard economically and psychologically. And they seem to be winning because Eugene is losing 

a measure of his usual ebullience, composure, focus and courage. The junta knows that targeting and 

destroying the source of income for a man of Eugene’s status will definitely weaken him, so they go for 

it. Again, Kambili informs: 

Mama told Jaja and me often to remember to hug Papa tighter, to let him know we are there, because he 

was under so much pressure. Soldiers had gone to one of the factories, carrying dead rats in a carton, 

and then closed the factory down, saying the rats had been found there and could spread diseases 

through the wafers and biscuits. Papa no longer went to the other factories as often as he used to. Some 

days Father Benedict came before Jaja and I left for school, and was still in papa’s study when we came 

home… papa never came out to make sure Jaja and I were following our schedules on such days… (PH, 

p. 204) 

The prolonged stay of Eugene’s parish priest Father Benedict in Eugene’s study upon visiting him as a 

result of his being “under so much pressure” demonstrates Eugene’s deep state of mourning and 

sadness on account of his losses and suppression by the junta. This is a portrayal of the fact that he is, 

after all human, and not necessarily superhuman. Although he can be said to be naturally courageous, 

Ade Coker’s presence and dependability seem to be one of the main boosters of his morale and courage. 

Now that Ade has been wasted, a significant part of his life seemed to have equally died as he mourns 

and struggles to regain his composure. Eugene’s life takes a tumbling dimension when the realities of 

Ade’s death dawned on him.  

The manner of Adichie’s portrayal of Ade Coker’s (Dele Giwa’s) assassination in Purple Hibiscus as 

earlier elaborated is a matter worthy of investigation. In reality, the popular historical question that 



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emanated from the gruesome killing of Dele as often asked by many Nigerian private press 

establishments is “Who killed Dele Giwa?” This critical question has adorned the front pages of several 

newspapers and magazines for several years now. Yet no answer seemed to be forthcoming from 

official quarters to an obviously critical national question till date. The last time an answer could have 

been elicited from the right person; the very man under whose regime Dele was murdered was at the 

Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission otherwise known as Oputa Panel. It was set up by 

President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999 at the dawn of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. One of the major cases 

filed before the Commission by the legal luminary Chief Gani Fawehinmi was that of the assassination 

of Dele Giwa and the circumstances surrounding it. As usual, the alleged principal perpetrator General 

Ibrahim Babangida snubbed the commission by refusing to appear before it although he was duly 

invited. The unwillingness of the authorities to either urge, direct or even compel him to go to the 

Commission to either clear his name or take responsibility and tender apologies demonstrates the 

abundant existence of Sacred Cows in Nigeria. This is one of the reasons why the system is failing and 

seems to be deteriorating continuously for whereas the law is strictly applied to some people, some are 

seen to be above the law; a demonstration of lack of strong institutions. President Barack Obama of the 

United States of America had once advocated and urged Africa leaders to work towards building strong 

institutions, not strong personalities. Although Dele Giwa’s age-stricken mother and their lawyer, Gani 

Fawehinmi were at the Oputa Panel on the scheduled day for the hearing of the case, the defendant, 

General Babangida simply refused to appear and that ended the matter. Yet the question, “Who Killed 

Dele Giwa?” continues to reverberate. This is why seventeen years after Dele’s assassination, Adichie 

who was still a child at the time of the killing is still raising the same issue through the noble 

instrumentality of literature. In her case, however, she does not seem to be asking or pretending to be 

repeating the same critical historical question that has been asked over the years by Nigerians. Adichie 

is not ambiguous in stating who she believes is the killer of Ade Coker (Dele Giwa) when Kambili 

says: 

Ade Coker was at breakfast with his family when a courier delivered a package to him… Ade was 

blown up when he opened the package—a package everybody would have known was from the Head 

of State even if his wife Yewande had not said that Ade Coker looked at the envelope and said, “It has 

the State House Seal” before he opened it. (PH, p. 202) 

Here, there is a description of certainty, not ambiguity-since the source of the mail bomb that nailed 

Ade’s destiny is clearly identified. This is one advantage literature as a humanistic discipline has over 

history; the liberty to manipulate the resources of history and project meanings in any manner that suits 

the artistic endeavour of the writer. 

Other conflicts that can be said to be derived from certain remarkable socio-historical circumstances in 

Purple Hibiscus is the sociopolitical cum economic conflict involving the Nsukka University 

Community on one hand over the unconventional appointment of a Sole Administrator to run the affairs 

of the University in place of a Vice Chancellor, and on the other hand the conflict between the Sole 



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Administrator himself and the university staff over non-provision of essential amenities like water and 

sometimes for non-payment of staff salaries. It is these conflicts that really bring out the activist spirit 

in the character of Aunty Ifeoma to resist the ugly situations. The Free Online Dictionary defines the 

lexical item “activist” as “a proponent or practitioner of activism.” Activism itself is stated to mean 

“the use of direct, often confrontational action, such as a demonstration or strike, in opposition to or 

support of a cause.” For Advanced English Dictionary, activism implies “a policy of taking direct and 

militant action to achieve a political or social goal.” These consists of efforts to promote, impede or 

direct social, political, economic or environmental change. Activism is the action of the powerless or 

less powerful against the powerful. It is a peaceful form of conflict. Various forms of activism ranges 

from writing open letters to authorities, political campaigns, economic activism such as boycotts or 

rallies either for or against government policies, street marches/protests, strikes, sit-ins, and even 

hunger strikes. Ultimately, the activist aims to ensure certain positive reforms in society. 

When on the second visit of Jaja and Kambili to Aunty Ifeoma’s residence at the Nsukka University 

Campus kambili observes that “the woman seated next to Aunty Ifeoma had piercing academic eyes 

and humourless lips and wore no makeup” (p. 217) on a certain day, Adichie is already preparing the 

stage for a significant conversation and a sociopolitical conflict that would soon follow. It does not take 

long before Ifeoma’s voice of protest rings out thus: “We cannot sit back and let it happen, mba. Where 

else have you heard of such a thing as a sole administrator in a university?” (p. 217). And when the 

interlocutor does not seem to be in a hurry to give any response to her question, Ifeoma pushes further 

to reveal why she is taking a stand against the government for appointing a sole administrator to head a 

university instead of a vice chancellor. “A governing council votes for a vice chancellor. That is the 

way it has worked since this university was built, that is the way it is supposed to work, oburia?...” (p. 

217). 

In response to Aunty Ifeoma’s barrage of questions, the woman tries to thread with caution. Kambili, 

again, observes that “the woman looked off into the distance, nodding continuously in the way that 

people do when searching for the right words to use. When she finally spoke, she did so slowly, like 

someone addressing a stubborn child” (p. 217). In verbalizing her response, her words appear in form 

of counsels to a recalcitrant colleague: “They said there is a list circulating, Ifeoma, of lecturers who 

are disloyal to the university. They said they might be fired. They said your name is on it” (p. 217). 

Ifeoma does not delay in firing back when she says, “I am not paid to be loyal. When I speak the truth, 

it becomes disloyalty” (p. 217). It is then that the interlocutor elaborates on why she is advising, even 

counselling Aunty Ifeoma to be precautionary in her responses to the situation at hand when she says, 

“Ifeoma, do you think you are the only one who knows the truth? Do you think we do not all know the 

truth, eh? But, gwakenem, will the truth feed your children? Will the truth pay their school fees and buy 

their clothes?” (p. 217). But like most people possessed by the spirit and sense of activism, Ifeoma does 

not seem to care or prioritize most of the things the interlocutor is worried about; being fired from her 

job, securing the meal ticket for her family and being able to pay her children’s school fees. She rather 



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feels that with her level of education and enlightenment, she does not need to be a sycophant or a 

conformist in order to feed her children, pay their school fees or buy clothes for them, the very needs 

the interlocutor reminded she might not be able to meet up with if she continuous to be “disloyal” and 

consequently relieved of her job as a lecturer of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. For Aunty Ifeoma, 

taking care of those stated family needs is as important as fighting an unjust situation - the appointment 

if a sole administrator instead of a vice chancellor to head the institution. And she must speak against it 

even if it means relieving her of her job and obviously her means of livelihood at the moment. She 

believes that she must speak out, no matter whose ox is gored. This is what she considers of utmost 

importance to her, so that the anomaly can be rectified by appointing the right person to be vice 

chancellor of the institution after following the due process of allowing “a governing council to vote.” 

In response to the woman’s cowling counsels, Aunty Ifeoma fires back with a stronger intensity as 

Kambili observes: 

When do we speak out, eh? When soldiers are appointed lecturers and students attend lectures with 

guns to their heads? When do we speak out? Aunty Ifeoma’s voice was raised. But the blaze in her eyes 

was not focused on the woman; she was angry at something that was bigger than the woman before her. 

The woman got up. She smoothed her yellow-and-blue abada skirt that barely let her brown slippers 

show. “We should go.” I watched Aunty Ifeoma and the woman walk slowly to the door, as though 

weighed down by both what they had said and what they had not said. (PH, pp. 218-219) 

Aunty Ifeoma’s insistence and unyielding response brings the conversation to an abrupt end. And as her 

children reflect over the dialogue which they were listening to, Obiora would note that a sole 

administrator is “the university equivalent of a head of state” and that by such an appointment “the 

university becomes a microcosm of the country” (p. 218). Amaka’s take on the entire conversation is 

that “they are telling Mom to shut up. Shut up if you do not want to lose your job because you can be 

fired fiam, just like that” (p. 218). Obiora, however, sees the possibility of her mother, Aunty Ifeoma 

being fired from the University as an open door for greater and better possibilities when he says, “They 

should fire her, eh, so we can go to America. And Mom will have her work recognized in America, 

without any nonsense politics. Do you know how long they have been sitting on her file? She should 

have been a senior lecturer years ago” (PH, p. 219). 

Amaka supports Obiora’s views when she says, “At least people there get paid when they are supposed 

to” (p. 219). Being consistently disillusioned by a series of anomalies perpetrated in their nation by a 

dictatorial junta, America is here seen as a land of promise, freedom and beautiful possibilities. It is 

portrayed as a place where merit and credibility are enthroned irrespective of ethnicity or nationality; a 

place where “nonsense politics” will not be allowed to prevail over a deserved promotion and, 

moreover, a place where workers’ salaries are paid as and when due. In reference to security of lives 

and properties, Amaka says, “I suppose we don’t need to protect our doors with metal in America” (p. 

259). Then Kambili herself, in response says, “You will drink fresh milk from a bottle. No more stunted 

tins of condensed milk, no more home made soybean milk” (p.260). That is the America of their dream. 



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With the current turmoils orchestrated by racism and resurgence of white supremacy mentality in 

America, one really wonders if young people like Obiora and Amaka who are wishing to emigrate from 

Africa still perceive America from such beautiful perspectives.  

It is worthy of note that it is on account of police brutality in America and their reckless killing of a 

black man, George Floyd, 46, on 25th May 2020 that “Black Lives Matter” protests erupted in the same 

land revered for its age-long advocacy for democracy and freedom. Even at that, more black people are 

still being recklessly brutalized and wasted in America, including the 29-year-old unarmed Jacob Blake 

who was shot seven times at his back (waist) by a racist American police man on 24th August 2020, the 

occurrence of which sparked off violent protests and arson in Kenosha, Wisconsin and beyond. Blake is 

already paralyzed as a consequence of that incident. These dastardly developments, no doubt, are 

gradually altering the hitherto global perception of America as a land where justice, democracy, 

freedom and equality flourish like rivers of living water. In no small measure, America’s global 

policing roles, which brought it a lot of dignity over the years, have come under serious questioning. 

America was further demystified when a mob descended on the symbolic and revered Capitol in 

Washington D.C. purportedly to obstruct the certification of the 2020 presidential victory of the 

president-elect Joe Biden on January 6, 2021, vandalising, fighting, maiming, even killing to the 

greatest shock of the whole world. These negative developments are making the United States to 

gradually lose its global reputation and regard, and should be checkmated by relevant institutional 

authorities. 

The conflict over the appointment of a sole administrator by the junta to head the University of Nigeria, 

Nsukka is still raging between some recalcitrant members of staff symbolized by the activist Aunty 

Ifeoma and the appointee when students joined in the protest, demanding for the removal of the 

appointee as well as the Head of State who appointed him. It is still at the same period of Kambili’s 

second visit to Aunty Ifeoma’s campus residence that the incidents occur as she narrates: 

It was too early when Amaka’s movement woke me up the next morning; the room was not yet touched 

by the lavender rays of dawn… Something was wrong; she did not tie her wrapper just to go to the 

toilet…then I heard the singing. It was the measured singing of a large group of people, and it came in 

through the window. The singing was clearer now, loud and resonant. There had to be at least five 

hundred people. “Sole administrator must go. He doesn’t wear pant o! Head of State must go. He 

doesn’t wear pant o! Where is running water? Where is light? Where is petrol?” The singing was louder 

but not closer. The students were invigorated now. Smoke was rising in the thick, blinding fumes that 

blended into the star-filled sky. Crashing sounds of breaking glass peppered the singing. “All we are 

saying, sole administrator must go! (PH, pp. 222-223) 

This scenario has been quoted extensively in order to holistically and effectively capture the explosive 

mood of the rioting students. From their utterances and actions as represented above, two main issues 

emerge as reasons for the riot. One is their perceived impropriety of appointing a sole administrator 

instead of a vice chancellor voted by a council to run the affairs of their institution. Obviously, this is 



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the same reason why Aunty Ifeoma and some other unnamed lecturers are equally agitating. The other 

reason borders on the failure of leadership on the side of the sole administrator as evinced in his 

inability to provide some essential amenities like water and light to the institution, as well as the same 

failure of leadership on the part of the Head of stead as evinced in the prevailing scarcity or 

non-availability of petrol on campus which Obiora had earlier referred to as “a microcosm of the 

country” (p. 218). In this context, the scarcity or non-availability of it within the campus typifies the 

general scenario in the entire country. When the chips are done with respect to the protestations and 

rioting, monumental havoc are wreaked on the campus, and the sole administrator and his wife manage 

to escape for their life. Kambili narrates thus: 

Aunty Ifeoma came home that afternoon with the news of the riot. It was the worst one since they 

became commonplace some years ago. The students had set the sole administrator’s house on fire; even 

the guest house behind it burned to the ground. Six university cars had been burned down as well. The 

university was closed down until further notice as a result of the damage to university property and the 

atmosphere of unrest. (PH, p. 224) 

This atmosphere of chaos necessitates the manhunt for those suspected or known to be “disloyal” and 

therefore behind the riots in one form or the other. Aunty Ifeoma and his family members are at home 

one evening when the unwanted guests arrive as Kambili informs: 

I was still thinking about the dream that evening as we all sat in the living room, watching TV. I heard a 

car drive in and park in front of the flat…the banging on the door was…loud, rude, and intrusive. 

Aunty Ifeoma…opened the door only a crack, but two wide hands reached in and force the door ajar. 

The heads of the four men who spilled into the flat grazed the door frame. Suddenly, the flat seemed 

cramped, too small for the blue uniforms and matching caps they wore, for the smell of stale cigarette 

smoke and sweat that came in with them, for the raw bulge of muscle under their sleeves (PH, pp. 

224-225). 

Upon forcefully gaining entrance into the apartment, the men promptly announce their mission and 

proceed to execute it: 

We are here to search your house. We’re looking for documents designed to sabotage the peace of the 

university. We have information that you have been in collaboration with the radical student groups that 

staged the riots… the voice sounded mechanical… the other three men walked briskly into the flat as 

he spoke. One opened the drawers of sideboard, leaving each open. Two went into the bedroom. (PH, p. 

225) 

When Aunty Ifeoma confronts them to ascertain their identity, they promptly reveal that they “…are 

from the special security unit in Port Harcourt” (p. 225). All protests from both Aunty Ifeoma and 

Obiora to stop them from entering into their inner rooms fall on deaf ears. Kambili states how the rest 

of the events unfold: 

Aunty Ifeoma muttered to us all to remain seated…before she followed the men into the rooms. They 

did not look inside the drawers they flung open, they just threw the clothes and whatever else was 



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inside on the floor. They overturned all the boxes and suitcases in Aunty Ifeoma’s room, but they did 

not rummage through the contents. They scattered, but they did not search. As they left, the man with 

the tribal marks said to Aunty Ifeoma, waving a stubby finger with a curved nail in her face, “Be 

careful, be very careful. (PH, pp. 225-226)  

Adichie’s choice of words and portrayals of the actions of these men suggest that their visit is intended 

for harassment and warning. The overall objective is to intimidate the activist; to put fear in her so that 

she can be cowed into silence. Although they initially state that, “we are here to search your house. 

We’re looking for documents designed to sabotage the peace of the university” (p. 225), what they do 

afterwards does not really prove any atom of sincerity in those declarations. Thus instead of searching 

the house, kambili simply observes that, “they did not look inside the drawer they flung open…they 

just threw the clothes on the floor. They overturned all the boxes… but they did not rummage through 

the contents. They scattered but they did not search” (p. 25). Obviously, Aunty Ifeoma has been 

perceived by the authorities as a threat in the acceptance of their anomalies and therefore need to be 

threatened to silence. Ifeoma herself knows this when she says, “they want to scare me. Since when 

have students needed somebody to tell them when to riot” (p. 226).  

Obiora’s response to this situation after the men depart is to suggest to Aunty Ifeoma that they should 

emigrate to America since their safety is no more guaranteed in their own country. “We should leave. 

Mom, we should leave. Have you talked to Aunty Phillipa since the last time?” (p. 226). Phillipa had 

taught in the same institution with Ifeoma until she emigrated to America due to poor conditions of 

service. Ifeoma eventually indicates that she has considered the option of leaving the country when she 

says, “I have sent my CV to Phillipa” (p. 239). Adichie uses these developments to demonstrate that 

intimidation and threats to the Nigerian intelligentsia by military juntas, as well as unbearable 

conditions of service are the very factors that resulted to brain-drain in the country in the 1980s and 

1990s, the consequence of which the country is still suffering from till today. Ifeoma is still waiting for 

the response to the CV she submitted for employment in America through Phillipa when she receives a 

notice of termination of her teaching appointment at the University of Nigeria. It is over a telephone 

conversation with Kambili and Jaja who had already returned to their residence at Enugu after their 

visit to Nsukka that Ifeoma announces that, “They have given me notice of termination for what they 

call illegal activity. Amadi has been notified. He is leaving for missionary work in Germany at the end 

of the month” (p. 255). For Kambili, this development is a devastating one in view of the freedom, 

friendship and joy she shares with the family and with Father Amadi each time she and Jaja visit 

Nsukka. She narrates her feelings thus: 

It was a double blow. I staggered. It was as if my calves had sacks of dried beans tied to them. Aunty 

Ifeoma asked for Jaja, and I nearly tripped, nearly fell to the floor, as I went to his room to call him. 

After Jaja talked to Aunty Ifeoma, he put the phone down and said, “We are going to Nsukka today. We 

will spend Easter in Nsukka.” (PH, p. 255) 

Ifeoma eventually emigrates to the United States of America with her three children—Amaka, Obiora 



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and Chima, leaving behind them a nation in disarray; a nation still under the jackboot of a ruthless junta. 

As earlier stated, the sociopolitical conflicts Adichie fictionalizes or historicises in this context are 

derived from certain notable sociohistorical conditions in Nigeria. Adichie was most likely a witness to 

those ugly moments and events since it is on record that she emigrated to the United States at the age of 

19. The said events occurred precisely in 1996 with the “record-breaking” controversial appointment of 

Professor Umaru Gomwalk as the Sole Administrator of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Since 

Adichie’s parents were members of staff of the university even at the time of the events and Adichie 

was born in 1997, it therefore implies that she might have witnessed some of those occurrences before 

she left for the States same year. Then the following year-1997, her father, Professor James Nwoye 

Adichie retired from the university. Ikwuemesi (2018, pp. 131-136) encapsulates the sociohistorical 

circumstances these conflicts in the novel are derived from thus: 

The years 1993 to 1998 were a particularly dark period for Nigeria. They were the gory years of 

Abacha dictatorship, with all its characteristic harshness and wanton brutality. They were the years of 

the triumph of evil, even falsehood and intolerance were shamelessly woven into the creed of 

leadership, when it was anathema to stand up for one’s rights. The ASUU (Academic Staff Union of 

Universities) strike of 1996 was one of the many moments in history when the above scenario was 

most vividly dramatized. In its characteristic nihilist manner, the Abacha administration frustrated… 

and banned ASUU as a way of halting the strike. The university of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) was the 

guinea pig for the government’s tactics. The ASUU strike coincided with the bloom of Professor 

Umaru Gomwalk’s sole administratorship at UNN in 1996. It was the first time in Nigeria’s educational 

history that a university had a sole administrator. Professor Gomwalk’s appointment at the University 

of Nigeria—a university founded by Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria’s greatest nationalist—was not only one 

of the many evil triumphs of the military over the larger society; it was also an aberration and a rape of 

the academic community. A sole administrator appointed by a military despot to run a first-rate 

university would certainly go against… principles. First, he refused to recognize ASUU-UNN as an 

umbrella body for faculty on campus. He sacked over 100 members of the faculty in order to intimidate 

them to go back to work. He publicly tore an order of the Federal High Court given at Enugu in 1996. 

On one occasion, his agents at Nsukka detained and beat up a court bailiff attached to the Federal High 

Court in Enugu. At his behest, 17 academics were detained and later arraigned for charges of sedition 

and arson. Even when the case was struck out of court for “lack of merit” he refused to reinstate the 

affected academics who he had suspended. Above all, his tenure generated the worst brain-drain ever 

experienced at the University of Nigeria. History shall be the ultimate witness of those who were 

persecuted for holding on to the truth during the crisis at Nsukka…the tragedy of Nsukka and the entire 

education industry is the tragedy of their generation; the folly of a wasted generation.  

These are the political and sociohistorical milieu from where Adichie drew inspirations regarding the 

conflict involving some members of staff of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka over the appointment of 

a sole administrator to pilot the affairs of the institution. The character of Aunty Ifeoma belongs to the 



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category “of those who were persecuted for holding on to the truth during the crisis at Nsukka” 

(Ikwuemesi, p. 136). Also, Oluigbo (2017) corroborates Ikwuemesi’s historical accounts when he 

states: 

The university had been embroiled in a deep-seated crisis that dated back to the days of Prof. Umaru D. 

Gomwalk as sole administrator. Under Gomwalk, that prestigious institution of higher learning founded 

by Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and established by an Act of Parliament on May 18, 1955 was embroiled in a 

crises of immense proportions…The immediate cause of the crisis seemed to be the removal of Prof. 

Oleka Kelechi as Vice Chancellor and the appointment of Prof. U.D. Gomwalk as Sole Administrator 

of the university by the Sani Abacha military junta. Many of the university’s academics and students 

saw Gomwalk as a spoiler, the parabolic tare among the wheat planted by the enemy, the Abacha 

dictatorship, to destroy the institution that was the pride of Nigeria. He was seen as an instrument for 

“the destruction of the structures and psyche of the university system.” Gomwalk increased students’ 

school fees without Federal Government approval, ejected students from their hostels at night, while 

the security outfit he set up to “curtail his enemies” constantly harassed students, especially in the 

female hostels. The harassment of students in the male hostels and the students’ attempt to resist it led 

to the shooting of a student, following which the students unleashed mayhem.  

For Nweze (1997), “All the segments of the university have known no peace since the arrival of the 

sole administrator. The first victim of Gomwalk’s entrance into the university campus were the students 

who in one fell swoop lost the Electronics Engineering laboratory and the art theater.” These are the 

complex and precarious sociopolitical conditions that informed Aunty Ifeoma’s protest against the 

appointment of a sole administrator by a military despot to run the affairs of the University of Nigeria 

instead of a vice chancellor which, according to her, ought to be voted for by “a governing council” 

(PH, p. 217). It was also these underlying sociohistorical and political conditions that prompted 

Adichie’s representation of the engulfing students’ protests and riots; which in the novel as in historical 

reality had a myriad of catastrophic consequences for the students who lost an entire academic session 

and yet returned to pay what Oluigbo (2017) refers to as “reparation fee” for the damages done to the 

institution’s infrastructure.  

At the heat of the crises, it is observed that even the sole administrator himself suffers a great deal of 

humiliation orchestrated by his own actions. This is what it implies when it is stated that he and his 

wife are “smuggled out in the boot of an old Peugeot 404” (PH, p. 224) as though they are contraband 

materials being smuggled out from the prying eyes of Nigerian Customs officials to avoid confiscation. 

Ideally, the head of a prestigious institution like the University of Nigeria ought to be a respectable 

figure who ought not to be “smuggled out” in that manner under normal circumstances. But honour 

gives way to a show of shame because abnormalities and aberrations have become the order of the day 

in the nation under the jackboot of a tyrant. Thus it can be seen that the conflict is full of losses for 

students, staff and the sole administrator himself. Later on, the reader is informed that the Head of State 

“died atop a prostitute, foaming at the mouth and jerking” (PH, p.289). Adichie uses the multiplicity of 



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losses resulting from these conflicts and bad governance to convey a number of messages to the reader. 

One of such messages is that when we wittingly or unwittingly refuse to collectively fix the problems 

of our nation, everyone turns out a loser in one way or the other in the end irrespective of status.  

It is significant to note that none of the sociopolitical conflicts represented in Purple Hibiscus as 

derived from remarkable sociohistorical circumstances in the country have been resolved in the 

Nigerian nation till date. The conflicts have even become endemic, even taking bolder dimensions. Just 

as the character of Nwankiti Ogechi - a pro-democracy crusader is harassed by state security agents and 

eventually assassinated by them, even for his non-violent protests, a number of real progressive and 

pro-democracy activists agitating for genuine national reforms are still being harassed and incarcerated 

today by Nigeria’s Department of State Security (DSS). The latest of such incessant attacks on human 

rights and pro-democracy crusaders was the show of shame portrayed in the attempted unlawful 

rearrest of Omoyele Sowore even in the premises of a Federal High Court already sitting in Abuja on 

Friday December 6, 2019. Adesomoju (2019) states that 

“Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court in Abuja abruptly suspended sitting and fled her 

court on Friday as operatives of the Department of State Service invaded the courtroom to rearrest 

Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore, less than 24 hours of releasing him from earlier illegal 

custody.” 

Such occurrences after over two decades of uninterrupted democratic experiment and supposedly 

civilian administration in Nigeria portrays nothing short of stagnation. In other words, to think that 

such things are taking place under a democratically elected government is, to say the least, disgusting, 

even scandalous. In his reaction to the development when he was interviewed in the court premises 

after the sordid events, Femi Falana, Sowore’s Counsel who also happens to be a long- standing 

pro-democracy crusader described the incidents as “horrendous, bizarre, and barbaric contempt of court 

never witnessed under even the most brutal of past dictators that had ever ruled Nigeria” (In 

Adesomoju, 2019). Ironically, what successive military regimes could not do to the Nigerian justice 

system in all their years of iron-fisted tyranny was what a supposedly democratic dispensation did to 

the system and to fellow civilians on December 6, 2019 without an iota, even a pretense of an apology 

to the same citizens that voted them into power.  

Again, just as in the case of the character of Ade Coker, journalists in Nigeria are still being harassed, 

detained, even incarcerated for trumped-up charges in the process of performing their professional and 

ethical duties as the fourth estate. The latest of such unlawful arrests, detention, arraignment and 

incarceration is that involving Mr Agba Jalingo the publisher of Cross River Watch and other journalists 

working under him for “criticizing” the Cross River State Government under the leadership of no less a 

figure than the ‘enlightened’ Professor Ben Ayade. Jalingo spent 179 days in incarceration before being 

released on 16th February, 2020. Eniola (2020) states that, “Jalingo, who is the publisher of Cross River 

Watch, was first arrested by the police in August 2019 on the orders of the Ben Ayade-led Cross River 

State Government.” Currently, the anti-hate speech bill is in the offing; a bill which many analysts 



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believe is being sponsored and targeted to be used to stifle freedom of expression by the citizens of the 

country. The so called anti-hate speech bill, if it succeeds and passed into law, can only achievie what 

decree number 4 achieved for the Buhari junta in the early 1980s. Reminiscing on what the obnoxious 

decree achieved for the Junta at the time, Vourlias (2015) states: 

Journalists jailed by Muhammadu Buhari’s regime in the 1980s are ready to forgive, but others are 

skeptical. When Muhammadu Buhari hit the campaign trail in Nigeria earlier this year, he got help 

from an unlikely source: Tunde Thompson. As a reporter for the Lagos-based Guardian newspaper in 

the 1980s, Thompson was one of two journalists jailed under the repressive military regime led by 

Buhari. Thompson was a casualty of Decree 4, a draconian piece of legislation that allowed the 

government to imprison any journalist who embarrassed the country’s military leaders - a nebulous 

charge that was frequently invoked to muzzle the press and the civil society during the 18 months of 

Buhari’s rule. After Thompson and his colleague Nduka Irabor published a report on diplomatic 

postings that involved top military brass, the two were arrested in February 1984, and held for eight 

months.  

The ongoing experiences of journalists and civil rights activists in Nigeria prove beyond all reasonable 

doubts that press freedom is still not well guaranteed. This is one of the problems Adichie demonstrates 

in Purple Hibiscus through the character of Ade Coker and others concerning the Nigeria of the 1980s 

and 1990s under the jackboots of military despots like Generals Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim 

Babangida and Sani Abacha. The prevalence of the same phenomenon till now really shows that 

Nigeria as a nation is yet to resolve such a conflict as represented by Adichie in her novel under study. 

Currently, university lectures are still on strike for the same reasons they embarked on strike in 1996, 

etc. These show that the country has not made any significant progress from where it was in the 80s 

and 90s. If anything, the nation is rather retrogressing in view of the fact that in addition to human 

rights violations, we have remained, to borrow the words of Brigadier Sani Abacha in his coup 

broadcast of 31st December 1983, “...a debtor and a beggar nation.” Ironically, it was the same coup 

that installed Muhammadu Buhari as Head of State. 

 

4. Conclusion 

The seemingly endless and unmitigated re-occurrences of certain remarkable political and 

socioeconomic altercations deducted from notable sociohistorical circumstances in Nigeria as 

represented in Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus aptly casts the nation in the unfortunate mould 

of the Igbo proverbial deaf grasshopper annihilated by a hornbill. This underscores the reason why after 

over six decades of freedom from British imperialism; after passing through the fiery fires of a 

thirty-month avoidable fratricidal civil war; after several years of being under the brutal jackboots of 

some of the most despotic and repressive military rulers the world has ever known; after over two 

decades of uninterrupted democratic experimentation, there is still the prevalence of arbitrary 

apprehension of journalists, pro-democracy crusaders and human rights activists, even as incessant 



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industrial disharmony continue to ravage the nation’s educational and indeed other sectors of the 

economy. As these infernos devour the House, the pathetic pretenses, prevarications and pontifications 

of the supposedly firefighters and householders make the entire scenario to appear more gloomy and 

precarious. These are not signs of growth and maturation for the nation and demonstrate the need to 

take responsibility for positive change.  

 

5. Acknowledgements 

Every meaningful research endeavour may be likened to the conception and delivery of a baby by a 

woman. Between the period of a woman’s conception, labour and the successful delivery of her baby 

lie the invaluable contributions of nurses and midwives. Indeed, this study and its publication would 

not have become a reality without the grace from above, and without the diligent nurturing of many 

whose intellectual and moral property shaped it in one form or the other. 

First and foremost, I’m measurelessly grateful to God Almighty the Architect and Sustainer of the 

entire universe for His grace and mercy. I’m also thankful to all my family members for their 

unquantifiable supports in different ways at the various stages of articulating this study. Although your 

names are too numerous to mention, your encouragements and supports are evergreen in my heart. My 

priceless parents Mr Andrew Ike (late) and Mrs Christiana Ike deserve a million thanks for laying the 

foundation upon which the house is built. I sincerely appreciate Doris Jason the quintessential Editor of 

English Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies for prompting and for trusting. God bless you all 

immeasurably. 

  

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