The Niger Delta and the Quest for Street Politics in Jowhor Ile’s "And After Many Days"

Abstract

This article examines the protest tradition in the Nigerian Niger-Delta fiction and advocates for the necessity of street politics as an alternative to a mere expression of anger; using Jowhor Ile’s debut and adroit novel, And after many Days (2016), which won the Etisalat Prize for literature in 2017. The article adopts the qualitative research method to explore the dimensions of violence meted on the people of the region. It argues that street politics will suffice in alleviating the region’s problems. Street politics is the politics of dissent and active non-compliance which tends to arm the people for active resistance against the forces of exploitation. Using postcolonial ecocritical lens, the article contends that multi-national companies operating in the region connive with local political leaders to rob the people of their God-given resources. The paper concludes that if the region’s crisis must be addressed, internal colonialism must be dealt with, and this can only be achieved by the creation of active dissidents, through street politics, similar to the Arab Spring.