From Anti-colonial Revolutions to Postcolonial Implosions: Oil Politics, Discontent and Militancy in Niger Delta Drama

In our essay entitled “Oil Politics and Violence in Postcolonial Niger Delta Drama” we examined oil politics and violence in selected Niger Delta plays such as Ola Rotimi’s Ovoramwen Nogbaisi, and Akassa You Mi; Miesoinuma Minima’s King Jaja or The Tragedy of a Nationalist and Odum Egege; Esiaba Irobi’s Hangmen Also Die; and Isaac Attah Ogezi’s Under a Darkling Sky, comparing the images of the Niger Delta of the palm oil (and slave trade) era with those of the crude oil period (post independence, 1960s-1990s, to be precise). In this essay, focus is on Niger Delta drama of the 21st century, the militancy era. Palm oil politics in Niger Delta drama was largely in the form of anti-colonial (communal) agitation, local communities versus imperial powers or trade and diplomacy between local chiefs and their European powers, but crude oil politics in 21st-century Niger Delta is divisive, anti communal and characterized by militancy whose violence hardly discriminates between foreign oppressors and community members. The violence of this militancy may have initially targeted external enemies, but it has turned inwards. Oil, with its politics of corruption and exclusion, has made the Niger Delta almost the most volatile region in 21st-century Nigeria, second only to the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East. Using post-colonialism as its theoretical framework, this paper focuses on oil politics, discontent and militancy in 21st-century Niger Delta drama in Ahmed Yerima’s Hard Ground, Eni Joiogho Umuko’s The Scent of Crude Oil, Oyeh Otu’s Shanty Town, Uzo Nwamara’s Dance of the Delta and Chika Onu’s Dombraye. The study reveals that the miscarriage of militant agitations which result in criminality and general insecurity hinders progress and development in the region.