Umar Abdul's The Inheritor: An Exploration of the thematic Concept of Religious Chauvinism by Ubaji Isiaka Abubakar Eazy

 

                                                                                        --Ubaji Isiaka Abubakar Eazy

An ill child left in a shrine to be healed by the shrine god (while the father goes in search of herbs) is found by a White Christian priest who believes the child was kept there as a sacrifice to the idol, especially as it was left there unattended. The priest supposedly rescues this child and takes him to Rome where he grows up to become a priest. The young priest hears extraterrestrial voices ordering him to seek out his roots and interprets this as God asking him to return and show the 'light' to his father and people. Meanwhile, his father; who happens to be the priest of the village deity (Okwula); suffers from a curse of dumbness placed on him by the ancestors and which could only be cured the day his lost son comes seeking him. The questions now are: How do father and son meet? Who ends up converting who? I should like to answer these questions, but I fear you would accuse me of ruining your enjoyment of Abdul Umar's drama piece.

Many African writers as Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka have documented the conflict of values between the Western world and Africa occasioned by colonialism. One of such is the chauvinistic and condemnatory attitude of Christianity towards what it describes as 'heathenish ways'. Umar's The Inheritor shows how little Christianity comprehends of the African ontology. For instance, the White priest is quick to presume that a child left in a shrine can be for no other reason other than human sacrifice. Father Luke believes that the act of sprinkling a slaughtered chicken's blood on idols has no potent effect and scoffs at the idea of a curse being placed on Enemali's household. He also does believe that the ancestors play an important role in the people's existence and is desirous to convert the people to Christianity and have their names changed to Christian ones since he believes their 'names suggest evil'. We could perhaps say that this is unevenly balanced by the people's belief that it is quite impossible and abominable for the son of God to die. Religious chauvinism is therefore the leitmotif in Abdul Umar's The Inheritor.

In the play, we find the two supernatural forces of Christianity and the African traditional religion struggling to dominate Father Luke or Akoji (his traditional name). Father Luke is an ordained Catholic priest who comes to the realisation that he had been marked out by Okwula, the deity of his village of origin, to be its next priest before he was whisked away by a reverend father who believed he had saved the boy from becoming a sacrifice to the deity. Father Luke is now confronted with the question of either upholding his Christian faith or embracing his destiny. He must decide whether to lead his people to the Christian God or to Okwula.

The play has an interesting storyline and has minimal grammatical inconsistencies which in no way hinder the reader's enjoyment of the play. Nonetheless, I cannot help feeling that the dramatist is a bad tailor who has laid waste of a beautiful material.

As foregrounded above, the play has a good plot, but it appears the dramatist is in much haste to render his story. There is a lot more that I think the story could incorporate to make it even better. For example, the scene where Akoji as a young child was removed from the shrine by the zealous white priest ought to be part of the play; either placed at the beginning or brought in through flashback. Secondly, the anagnorisis is poorly executed. See, this part is very important in the play as it helps in the build-up of suspense; the audience are eager to know how the father would recognise the son or how the son would recognise the father and the writer must exploit this curiosity to his advantage. For instance, had the birthmark been placed somewhere on the hand of the priest, the father could have sighted it whilst Father Luke was praying for him or Father Luke would have noticed a similar birthmark on the man's back and wondered how they both had a similar birthmark prompting him to enquire how the dumb village priest came to have a similar birthmark as his. Having the father come out to immediately identify his son and revealing that the son had already been making efforts to find his father could water down the suspense which would, in turn, reduce the audience's enjoyment of the play.

A play's longevity is often propagated by the playwright's ability to create memorable characters with strong qualities. These qualities might either be admirable as that of Oedipus in Sophocles's Oedipus Rex, or be as mischievous as that of Prophet Jero in Soyinka's The Trials of Brother Jero, or even be of downright buffoonery as Nikolai Gogol's characters in The Government Inspector or as the character of Sergius in Shaw's Arms and the Man. These characters are notable because they either exhibit the best in man or show the worst of him.

In terms of characterisation, I would say two important characters are lacking in verisimilitude (or maybe this is just me accessing the characters on a stereotypical frame). For the first, I do not find it believable that Enemali made no frantic effort to locate his missing first son, knowing full well the position the boy is ordained for. The only way this could be explained off is perhaps if he had a grouse with his ancestors or god for letting the boy be kidnapped from 'their' shrine. Second, for a Catholic priest, Father Luke's resistance to the religion of his father and people is a bit too passive. The playwright failed to exploit the opportunity that such a conflict presents. For example, his quickness to kill the hen and sprinkle its blood on the idol should not have been, and his decision to perform the burial rites for his estranged father came without much hesitancy or conviction. For a man brought up in Rome to become a Catholic priest, he would have found these acts quite abominable to undertake them. Lastly, I can not relate with how the priest manages to converse with the people. If he had come all the way from Rome, should he not have an interpreter? I find this important because the playwright harps on the reverend father's ignorance by having the character ask questions like: What is Okwula? What is ache? What is Ifa?

Nonetheless, the play's diction; even though quite simple; is ornamented with colourful African proverbs and incantations. I did notice the choice of versified expressions for the older characters whilst the younger ones maintained a prosaic language; even though it is not consistent. The use of Igala words and expressions most definitely added local colour to the play and helps to tie it down to a particular setting.

Finally, Abdul Umar's The Inheritor explores the conflict of values between African traditional existence and Christianity, especially as it relates to religious chauvinism. The play explores how the ideology of both religions differ. It has a good storyline, albeit more needs to be done to make the play engaging for its audience.  Perhaps the best attestation of the play's uniqueness are the equivocal questions that rear their head at the end: Could we absolutely say the white priest supposedly well-intentioned attitude caused a destabilisation in the life of Enemali's family and people, or do we blame Okwula for letting his own be taken away from his shrine, or do we blame Enemali for making little efforts to recover the son who went missing, or was it just destiny at play? I shall be glad to hear your thoughts on these questions when you peruse the play. The night is far gone, and I must seek my bed now. Let the day break!

© Ubaji Isiaka Abubakar Eazy 2021