Summary and Analysis of Isidore Okpewho The Last Duty
Background of Isidore Okpewho The Last Duty
Isidore Okpewho was born on 9th November, 1941, in Agbor, Delta state, Nigeria. His Urhobo father, David Okpewho, was from Abraka, in Delta State, a retired Senior Laboratory Technician, and his Igbo mother was from Asaba. Subsequently pursuing his Doctorate in the US, he became an academic there, teaching at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York form 1974, to 1976, University of Ibadan, from 1976 to 1990, Harvard University from 1990 to 1991, and Binghamton University.
Prolific in his output, Okpewho wrote, co-wrote and edited some 14 books, dozens of articles and a seminal booklet, A portrait of the Artist as a scholar (an inaugural Lecture Theatre, university of Ibadan, on 18th May, 1989).
He is the author of four respected novels, which are widely studied in Africa and other part of the world, and translated into other Languages. His works are:
The Victims (1970)
The Last Duty (1976)
Tides (1993)
The Epic in Africa (1979)
Myth in Africa (1983)
Call me By my Rightful Name (2004)
In the words of Niyi Osundare:
Novelist, Poet, Folklorist, Scholar, and University administrator, Okpewho, was a jack of many trades, and master of all, who left his mind – prints on virtually every aspect of African literature and literary studies. With his foundational books, The Topic in Africa and Myth in Africa, Okpewho summoned all his scholarly prowess as a truly First Class classics scholar and carved out a niche for African Oral love and its inexhaustible possibilities at a time when virtually every claim to high culture and intellectual accomplishment was denied to the “Dark Continent. (24)
Summary and Analysis of Isidore Okpewho The Last Duty
The text explores the effect of war on Aku, a young woman whose husband is imprisoned on allegations of collaborating with rebel soldiers (5). Alone and with a son to cater for, Aku struggles to survive in a town she is hated as she belongs to the tribe of the rebels called “Simba”. This makes things even harder for fear of being attacked by a mob incited by the violent and traumatic experience of war. (11)
Okpewho cleverly uses the character of Chief Toje to expose the wicked and deceptive machinations of the leaders we have in the Nigerian Society. Chief Toje, a rubber business tycoon, is a character portrayed as arrogant, cunning and self-seeking. He feeds lies to the commander of soldiers, Major Akuya Bello about his business rival, Mukoro Oshevire who is Aku’s husband, accusing him of being a Simbian rebel collaborator. According to Chief Toje:
I made a secret report to Major Akuja Bello, went over secretly to tell him what the whole town knew Oshevire did, merely because I did not want this to be an open scandal involving my name. But the major saw with me and took the report to the authorities at Iddu and thereafter, Oshevire was bundled off there and thrown into detention. (31)
Here, Okpewho captures the evil anticipation and man’s inhumanity to a fellow man. Major Akuya Bello is quick to arrest Oshevire without any investigation and sends him off to prison since the information is coming from an important, respectable and “honorable” Chief Like Toje. With Oshevire languishing in jail, Chief Toje decides to solve the problem of his ineffective manhood by making lewd advances towards Aku. (23)
Although suspicious of Chief Toje’s intentions, Aku cannot put up much of a fight to starve off Chief Toje as he is her only hope of survival. Toje lavishes her with gifts of food, money and material things on her and her son which is a welcome relief for her as she has no other means of survival. According to Aku:
For several months now, Toje has shown us kindness. He has continued to buy clothes, food and other necessities for us and to give me money from time to time. I feel very certain that but for his subvention, my child and I would collapse under the weight of our rejection by the community. But here lies the danger. It seems I am having to pay a price for the assistance that he is rendering… and what a price he seems to ask! (12)
Odibo is the errand boy that serves as an intermediary between Toje and Aku. Having been born with a deformed left hand, Odibo relies on Toje for survival and has to suffer the degradation and verbal abuse usually meted out to him by Chief Toje. According to Odibo:
I know I am nothing. I know I have nothing. But why does he keep making me feel so bad? The way he looks at me, it seems he does not believe that I delivered the parcels. He never seems to trust me (6). What use is this awkward mass of a body, he said, if you cannot help yourself and you have no mind, nothing? All you have is a huge body. And that is no use to anyone. No use at all, not even to yourself. Utterly useless (60).
Here, Odibo is resentful of Chief Toje for making him feel less of a man because of his deformity. His feelings of resentment are of first directed towards Aku because Chief Toje takes to humiliating him in her presence. As time goes on, he gets attracted to her, an emotion which she shockingly responds to (180-181). Unknown to him, Chief Toye being impotent only succeeds in arousing Aku without ever satisfying her and her being without a man for three years has heightened her womanly needs. She finds relief in the arms of Odibo and starts a secret affair with him. According to Aku:
Can I swear that I never saw it coming? Frustration had driven me to the point where I would rather live the fact than the fiction of sin. Loyalty and devotion had been strained beyond all possible endurance and neither the mind nor the body could any longer fight the overwhelming presence of temptation. The passive resistance of the body could no longer be supported by the will of the mind, until the entire defense came tumbling down like an unsheltered mud wall under the relentless down surge of rain. And can I now swear that I never saw it coming? (184)
Chief Toye becomes suspicious and a confrontation occurs between the two men leading to violence. As all this goes on, Oshevire faces a tribunal that declares him innocent and he is released from prison. His freedom however does not come at the right time as he returns only to learn of all that has gone on in his absence.
Although he holds up a tough front as a man, it is easy to understand from his actions that he is crushed that not only did Chief Toje plot to have him sent to prison, but has also made a mess of his wife. Oshevire finally vindicated of his charges, his joy is short lived as on his return, he is confronted by a disgraced wife and a town where people openly laugh at him. According to Ali:
An infant would have known that when that woman wept so long and disconsolately on the ground at the feet of her man, it was not so much from joy of reunion as out of a remembered shame. (235)
Aku is asked to pack out from the village and Oshevire her husband is disgraced by his wife’s adulterous and shameful act. He could not believe that his wife could misbehave. He rhetorically asked:
But if she has allowed herself to be put to such unworthy use by two men, whatever the predicament that she found herself in, what else is there but a strong likelihood that right now she is bearing within her bosom the seed of such vile communion? And what man would choose to be alive to face every day the ill-conceived fruit of shame? No… No… (238)
The text comes to an end with Oshevire and his family trying to leave town but is shot dead by a soldier after he fails to heed a command to stop. (242) Major Ali reiterates: There is more to a soldier than his gun. (243)
The Effects of the Nigerian Civil War on Women in Isidore Okpewho’s The Last Duty
The effects of the Nigerian civil war on women is seen between two characters (Toje and Oshevire) in the novelettes the stage for the sexual exploitation of Aku, the wife of Oshevire. Toje uses the opportunity of the war situation to settle a business rivalry between Oshevire and himself. He fabricated lies against Oshevire and got him arrested under the prevailing martial laws.
The events that followed set the stage for the account of how a woman, Aku is sexually exploited and objectified by Toje and Odibo. Beyond Aku, there are also other instances of sexual exploitation in the novel. The narrative that follows illustrates these. Aku is the wife of Oshievere and the husband has been locked up in detention in Iddu for collaborating with the rebelling soldiers. Commander Ali captures the situation when he states:
Perhaps I should have known that a woman whose husband has been taken far away and who has been looked upon all over the town as a rebel perhaps I should have known that such a woman has too little chance of living a normal life (218)
The above captures the situation under which Aku lives. Aku’s husband having been taken away, she is devoid of care and protection which ultimately exposes her to abuse and exploitation.
It’s only fair exchange. She needs food, clothing, [and] maintenance very badly, with her husband far away under the firm grip of detention, she cannot help herself, alone and unattended… I am in need of self-reassurance. I need very badly to confirm to myself that I still possess within me that natural power without which a man has no claim whatsoever to that qualification. (133)
The above gives a clear indication of Toje’s motive in seeking sexual liaison with Aku. Toje understands Aku’s predicament and decides to exploit the situation to achieve a selfish aim. He is also aware that he has a failing manly power and in ‘need of self-re-assurance and needs anybody’. From the beginning, he defines his goal. He needs anybody for the purpose of measuring and ascertaining his sexual power. He needs an object to achieve his purpose and he makes Aku the object. According to Nussbaum, objectification exists when a person is treated as a tool for achieving the objectifier’s purposes (257).
It is important to note that it is the prevailing war situation that provides the opportunity for such thought ‘with her husband far away and under the firm grip of detention, she cannot help herself.’ From the explanation, it right to observe that the precarious war situation gives rise to the objectification of Aku as realised in the novel. In the excerpt below, Aku paints a pathetic picture which the war situation thrusts upon her.” on my side. The endless loneliness, the lack of protection … the fact that I now have to crawl on my knees and spread my legs! – for a living”. (161)
In the above extract, Aku bemoans her state that results from the war situation. She states the fact that since her husband was taken away she has lacked protection and loneliness has become her lot. Again it is instructive to note that the war situation and development in the community had made it difficult for her to fend for herself and her little child. This development makes it possible for her to be exploited and consequently objectified. As could be discovered the help given by Toje is not without strings as he demands sexual gratification which has now made Aku to regard herself as a whore.
It is obvious from the above scenario that Aku is sexually exploited by Toje who offers assistance in return for a sex. On the other hand, Aku is compelled by the war situation that handicaps her to offer sex in return for help rendered. The above is a clear case of objectification where Toje merely uses Aku to satisfy his sexual longing without caring about her feeling.
According to Nwagbara (8), ‘Given the crisis of the war the women’s position becomes precarious. The state of uncertainty and insecurity is made more complex by the fact that the war expose women to grave forms of harassment as soldiers and other influential members of society explore the vulnerability of this situation to their advantage.’
The above view helps to understand Aku’s situation better. Toje is an influential member of Urukpe community. He uses this influence to make sure that Aku and her son were not taken into protective custody. No doubt, the influence exercised over Major Ali by Toje is a fact in defining Aku’s sexual experiences. Also, worthy of note is the fact that Aku objectifies herself. She understands this as she states: ‘… I now have to crawl on my knees and spread my legs! – for a living’ (161).
According to Fredrickson et al (690), self-objectification occurs when one ‘introjects an objectifying third-person perspective on one’s own body evaluating it in terms of its value … to others, rather its value and function for the self.’ Aku’s situation is made worse when one understands the fact that Aku is made a fanciful sex object that “king” Toje uses to experiment and measure his recovery from impotency. He only stokes the woman’s passion but never satisfied her. She captures her experience thus:
If it was now my lot to be Toje’s whore, did I not have right at least to be purged of my desire–unwilling as I might be–as often as it suited him to invite me to play the role? Fate, I insisted, had no reason to treat me to so much undeserved sadism … (162)
In the extract, Aku expresses her pains. She shows understanding of her circumstance and the painful realization that she cannot help herself. And she is condemned to the role assigned to her, but not the one she deserves or can change. This feeling of objectification is reinforced when Aku makes the following statement:
When I got back to the bed he fell over me … with his hand he explore my groin with such blind vigour … As usual he did nothing beyond that. When the handwork was over he sat up on the bed and wept. He did not say a word in sympathy he simply turn his face towards the wall and let me have my feel of crying. Not even after I have dressed myself again and told him I was going did he offer any response (158)
In the extract, Aku recounts her sexual experience with Toje. With the loss of sexual power, Toje cannot perform the sexual exercise he craves. As reported by Aku, he does only ‘handwork’ and this is done with ‘such a blind vigour’. This shows that Toje does not care for the feeling of Aku. Aku, to Toje, is just a thing that can be used and cast away. Also worthy of note is the fact that Aku is not sexually satisfied, but inflamed with unattended passion.
This makes her cry. Toje who initiates the failed sexual encounter is not bothered as he neither shows sympathy nor offers explanation for his failed performance. This is a case of objectification as Aku’s feeling is not taken into account by Toje. In the words of Aku, ‘he did not say a word in sympathy, he simply turns his face … ‘.
Another incident in the novel that shows a case of sexual exploitation cum objectification in the scene was the brutal fight between chief Toje and Odibo at exercising control and ownership over Aku. The scene is captured given by Odibo:
‘You brute! he curses’, quaking with passion. Where is that woman?’ she has just-‘liar! he blares, pushing me aside …‘ … You slut! he spits at her. ‘You worthless harlot! ’Raising his hand, he is about to storm in and strike her. But I grab him by the hand…with my one hand I sweep his blundering arms away from my face, causing him to stumble aside and ‘that’s enough from you!’ I fall against the wall.
The woman wails aloud and pleads that we stop … In reply, and panting furiously like a lizard he swings violently at my face with his hand. The blow sends a sharp pain searing my face. In immediate reaction, I slung him hard across the mouth and back again across the eyes and he drops down on the floor at once’ (212)
Odibo, in the above extract, recounts what happened at the scene where Toje finds out that he was having sexual relationship with Aku. Toje is angry and makes to attack both Odibo and Aku for their ‘dishonourable’ conduct. Here, Toje tends to exercise ownership over Aku and denies her autonomy. Toje addresses Aku as a harlot, slut, spits at her and makes attempt to hit her severally but is restrained by Odibo who exercises control over Aku at this critical moment.
This captured in the following: ‘”You slut!’ He spits at her. “You worthless harlot!” Raising his hand, he is about to storm in and strikes her.’ It is necessary to state that what gives rise to the above scenario is the discovery of the amorous. It is to be noted that the women so abused sexually are the wives, mothers, sisters and daughters of other men. Therefore, any abuse targeted at any woman is a hurt on the collective psychology of the society. This is captured by Oshivere when he comes back from prison and discovers that his wife has been sexually abused.
…they should know that the dishonor brought upon my wife–on my household–was totally unjust. But then the stain remains. The smear is there, clear in the air as a hangman’s rope, the noose through which the head must pass. And what kind of life will I be living in the town with my family, when we know that our days are haunted by an indelible shame? (237)
It is quite pathetic to note that the community that fail to protect Aku, tends to add to her trauma and misfortune. There lies the fate of a woman.
Themes in Isidore Okpewho’s The Last Duty
The Theme of Betrayal:
It is axiomatic that against the backcloth of a violent and murderous Civil War, certain individuals, linked together by conflicting ties of honour, greed, lust, fear and love, play out an equally bloody drama. Thus, Chief Toje who is portrayed as an egotist old man, so full of himself and self-esteem, unwilling to take competition from others, plots to get rid of his business partner Oshevire. (5) Chief Toje seduces Oshevire’s wife Aku, in his absence to reassert his flawed manhood. The situation he creates, leads to a bloody fight over Aku with Odibo. (213)
Aku also betrays the love and trust of her absent husband when she yields to Toje’s sexual advances in return for security and comfort. Her actions, brings disgrace to her and the family. Her weakness leads to the loss of herself respect, her home and her husband. (242) Odibo also betrays Toje’s trust in him by getting himself involved with Aku and Chief Toje also betrays Ali’s trust in him.
The Theme of Jealousy:
The major reason for the detention of Mukoro Oshevire is jealousy. According to Chief Toje:
For I felt that Mukoro Oshevire stood in my way. And that again is why I have not hesitated to seek carnal pleasure with his forlorn wife now that I feel my manhood flawed my potency questioned. (5)
Both Chief Toje and Oshevire are rubber farmers but it happens that Oshevire’s rubber lumps are favoured in the market more than Toje’s. This jealousy makes Chief Toje to frame up Oshevire because according to him, he could have enjoyed a long and unchallenged supremacy in the business if the upstarts like Oshevire had not pushed himself into the scene. (121-122)
The Theme of Tribalism:
According to Major Ali “Time long ago forged a tie between the two tribes” (4) However, when the war visits Urukpe, the border town hosting the two tribes of Igabo and Simba, the ties are broken down. Urukpe had initially been occupied by rebel soldiers but as the text begins, it is being occupied by the federal troops.
The rebel forces are the Simba tribes and all simbians in Urukpe are regarded as enemies while the majority of the Igabo in the town demonstrates their loyalty and solidarity by assisting the federal army in eliminating rebel snipers, stranglers and even elements among the citizens who were considered pro-sessonists in their sympathies .(19) Before the Zonda war, the Igabos and the simbians freely inter-married without any iota of tribalistic tendencies.
The Theme of War:
In Okpewho’s The Last Duty, the central theme deduced is the theme of war between the Igabo and the Simbians in Urukpe community. Okpewho uses the text to expose the effects and cruel some nature of war on its victims, as well as the society at large. According to Okumagba:
The planes this time were a roaring crowd four planes, dropping bombs enough to sink the whole town under the ground. I was severely shaken and in a state of panic. As soon as the first plane swooped overhead, I put my trigger to action and let my gun rattle off. (199)
Ego Vs Over-Ambition
Apart from the rebels who wreck so much havocs and destruction on the people, much more atrocities which touch on human angles are committed by Toje who is a victim of male ego and over ambition. Despite the fact that Toje is a prominent figure in the society who is not in want of anything, he goes on to persecute Oshevire just because of his ego which he feels has been slighted by Oshevire.
His incessant abuse of Odibo and his persistent fumbling on Aku despite the fact that he has lost his manhood are all attempts to preserve his ego. This selfish need to preserve his ego naturally makes him over ambitious. He seems not to be satisfied with anything, anybody or any explanation. His egoism and over ambition later lead to his shameful downfall.
Evil of Rivalry
Human history has always been punctuated with rivalry. Arguably, every human being always sees another human being as his or her rival. This can be found in every society. With the coming of Oshevire into the rubber business, Toje begins to see him as his rival and therefore plans his elimination. After he has successfully put Oshevire in the cooler (prison), he soon finds another rivalry in his crippled nephew whom he suspects as having an affair with Aku who is not even his wife in the first place. Toje, Odibo and the Private Sule who kills a Sergeant for befriending his girlfriend are all victims of the evil of rivalry.
Evil of War
It is indisputable to say that The Last Duty deals with the psychological effect of war. The war brings enmity between families and people. It brutalizes people and destroys the masses. The effect is very complicating, in that, those involved hardly engage freely in social and/or any other activities. The novel explores the psychological impact of war on the masses and the family.
Historically, it also looks at how families, especially children, were affected by the Nigerian Civil War of 1967-70. The theme of war is the overriding issue in this novel. It is a very tragic novel. It also tells us how one can be exploited during war time.
Okpewho uses Aku and Oshevire to depict how wars affect families and the star victim is Oshevire. The ties and bonds which hitherto existed between Igabo and Simba are also destroyed by the war. By extension, it shows how the Nigerian Civil War has destroyed the bonds and ties which existed among different tribes in Nigeria. It is not an exaggeration to say that tribal bigotry in Nigeria became more glaring after the civil war.
Oppression
Throughout human history, oppression, suppression and dehumanization have always been the bane of the society. As Agbeyegbe has rightly said in the novel, there is no doubt that Oshevire and his co-detainees are mere victims of oppression and suppression by the rich class. Even in war situations the rich do not often suffer as the poor. Apart from the guns, sometimes the affluent civilians become another weapon in the hands of the soldiers to oppress and victimize people.
Toje is an epitome of oppression. He does not only oppress Oshevire and his family but also dehumanizes his crippled nephew and his workers. We are also told that he does not pay his workers well and on time. With the guns, the soldiers often victimize and dehumanize the so-called civilians.
This can be seen in the manner the soldier calls the detainees to present their evidence. Sometimes he will use the butt of the gun to call them to order. This is quite dehumanizing. In most cases, it is oppression that often causes people to revolt and this, more often than not, leads to a kind of civil war we witness in the novel.
Societal Conflicts
Okpewho uses The Last Duty to satirize conflicts in human society. There are different levels of conflicts in the novel—war conflicts, conflicts between individuals and internal conflicts within the characters themselves. On the surface, it may look as if the war is the only conflict in the novel but a closer look will reveal that there are several levels of conflicts. There is a conflict between Toje and Oshevire which makes the former raise false charges against the latter. There is also a conflict between Toje and Odibo whom Toje now sees as his rival.
Okumagba, the Private assigned to protect Oshevire’s family, is also in conflict with his nature and inclination whether to kill Aku and his son and then blames it on the war. Again, in an attempt to settle the internal conflict going on in his mind, Oshevire sets his house ablaze and leaves the town only to meet with his untimely death from the trigger happy soldiers, who shot and killed him for ignoring their order.
Poverty
The effects of poverty are often dangerous. There is no doubt that, poverty leads Aku to succumb to Toje’s evil desire which renders her like a prostitute. Aku has no means for livelihood after her husband Oshevire is jailed. To avert the brutality of hunger due to poverty, she had to accept Toje. That is why it is very good to empower women educationally, economically and politically.
Style and Narrative Techniques:
STYLE
Okwepwo uses different techniques and styles in the novel such as: Collective Evidence Technique / Internal Monologue / Confession Mode where each character often narrates his story individually. The frame work of the analysis is based on style as a choice which is one of the rubrics identified by Azuike (1992). In this case, an individual has the freedom to deviate from the normal way of writing, to have a unique presentation. Okpewho uses individualistic narrative style. Dash and ellipses are punctuation marks used in special ways.
Figures of speech such as anaphora, litotes and rhetorical questions are used to beautify the text. Okpewho’s writing is simple, yet very deep. Each character tells his own story in the form of “dramatic monologue”, thus giving the reader a good understanding of the character’s persona and the motive behind his or her actions.
The author also employs the use of “irony” to convey messages across that would ordinarily not have been effectively communicated. It is ironic that Oghenovo longs for his father, but when his father returns the little boy decides he does not like him because he makes his mother cry .(234)
It is also ironic that despite his airs of importance and sense of worth, Chief Toje is unable to pleasure to Aku, and she finds comfort with. Odibo, who has been portrayed as being a useless specimen of manhood, (158) (181)
Furthermore, the prison offers more solitude and protection for Oshevire who upon his release only comes to meet with the bad news that leads to his tragic death, when the prison that is seen as a place of confinement, was a much better place for him to have been. (242) (243) With a simple language that is easily understood, the writings of each of the characters portray their personalities. The tone of the text is that of hope for a better future with the atmosphere being tragic.
Language
Written in English language, compound and complex sentences as well as proverbs were used by the writer and the work is very attractive.
Characterization:
Characterization in the text is one of the most interesting elements used by Okpewho.
AKU: The text explores the effects of war on Aku, a young woman whose husband (Oshevire) is imprisoned on allegations of collaborating with rebel soldiers. Alone with a son to cater for, Aku struggles to survive in a town she is hated, as she belongs to the tribe of the rebel, Simba. This makes things even harder for her in Urukpe, as she can hardly venture out for fear of being attacked by a mob incited by the violent and traumatic experiences of war.
CHIEF TOJE: A rubber business tycoon is a character portrayed as arrogant, cunning and self-seeking. He feed lies to the commander of soldiers, Major Akuya Bello about his business rival, Mukoro Oshevire, accusing him of being a simbian rebel collaborator. With Oshevire languishing in jhail, Chief Toje decides to solve the problem of his ineffective manhood by making lewd advances towards Aku.
He is the callous, scheming scumbag that is perceived as upright and respectable in the society, when through his narrations in the text, we can see that he is not worth his measure in gold. He is seen as an evil man who tries to manipulate Major Ali into getting witness against Oshevire, and he is also ruthless in trying to get all he desires.
ODIBO: Odibo is the errand boy that serves as an intermediary between Toje and Aku. Having been born with a deformed left hand, Odibo relies on Chief Toje for survival, and has to suffer the degradation and verbal abuse usually meted out by Toje. He later establishes a relationship with Aku.
OGHENOVO: The son of Aku and Oshevire, a little child that is caught in the middle of war and misses a father he has never met. As he tries to make sense of all that is happening around him, he also tries to be happy by finding joy in the gift he gets from his “father”.
OSHEVIRE: Mukoro Osevire is the husband of Aku and the father of Oghenovo who is being indicted and imprisoned as a rebel collaborator by Chief Toje because of Jealousy.
MAJOR ALI: He is the new commander in Urukpe who is faced with the problems of trying to maintain peace and stability in Urukpe. He is forced to execute one of his soldiers who in a fit of jealousy fueled rage, kills a senior officer having an affair with his lover.
Minor Characters
Agbeyebge: He is one of the detainees. By all calculations, he seems to be the youngest and the most vocal among the detainees. The novel potrays him as well learned person.
Chief Onagwolor Ovuede: He is the Otota or the head of the town. He is illiterate and at such Ali cannot really relate with him as he should.
Emuakpor: He is the native doctor who prepares sheep dung for Toje to cure his impotence. Although he is poor, his astute character does not allow him to be exploited by the affluent class. Instead, he is the one who exploits them.
Eseoghene: He is a madman in Urukpe. He is the first person who meets Oshevire when he returns from detention. It is through his mouth and countenance that Oshevire comes to know that all is not well with his family.
Esiri: He is a tailor in the town.
Fegaje Omomaro: He is a neighbour to Aku.
Godinheaven: He is an herbalist who claims to have solution to every problem including a charm that can make a bullet turns to water.
Johnson Oviri: He is the assistant head of the local Red Cross.
Madam Dafe: She is the woman whose son is killed in the latest attack.
Mr. Agoloje: He is the lawyer to one of the detainees.
Mr. Emeni: He is another detainee and a former court messenger who had served the court for thirty-two years before he was arrested and detained.
Mr. Eziregbe: He is the head of the local Red Cross.
Mr. Ogbe: He is the oldest man among the detainees. Because of his age, he is fondly called Baba by his co-detainees. He is a poor farmer.
Mr. Opubor: He is the commissioner.
Mr. Rukeme: He is a witness who is paid by Toje to testify against Oshevire. For accepting financial incentives from Toje to testify against Oshevire, Rukeme can be said to be inhumane and a traitor.
Mr. Samson Ajijala Etuwewe: He is one of the detainees charged with collaborating with the rebels.
Okoro: He is another detainee.
Onome: He is Oghenovo’s friend.
Ozegbe: He is one of the detainees.
Private Okumagba: He is a private soldier in the federal troop and an indigene of Urukpe. Unlike many young people conscripted to fight in the war, he joins the federal troop voluntarily to beat back the rebels.
Robinson: He is one of Toje’s sons.
Sergeant Alao: He is the soldier in charge of food inspection.
