KADUNA STATE UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF ARTS
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND DRAMA
LIT 316: SPECIAL AUTHOR
COURSE COORDINATOR: PROFESSOR A. K. BABAJO
GROUP ONE
THE REPRESENTATION OF NIGERIAN LITERATURE: A STUDY OF THE SIGNIFICANT
ASPECTS THAT MAKE LIZI ASHIMOLE’S THE OTHER INSIDER, KELTUMA KASHAM’S
CAUCASIAN OVCHARKA, HADIZA BAGUDU’S FANTAH, AND BILKISU ABUBAKAR’S THE WOMAN IN ME WORTHY OF UNIVERSITY STUDY.
DATE: 3RD NOVEMBER, 2025.
INTRODUCTION
Nigerian literature portrays issues that are integral to the Nigerian experiences, employing indigenous settings and characters to explore the pre-colonial, colonial, and contemporary realities of the society. It helps define who we are and what we stand for as a people. Beyond its aesthetic and entertainment value, it functions as a powerful medium of education and cultural preservation, combining both form and content to engage, instruct and enlighten.
This paper seeks to examine the significant aspects that makes Lizi Ashimole’s The Other Insider, Keltuma Kasham’s Caucasian Ovcharka, Hadiza Bagudu’s Fantah, and Bilkisu Abubakar’s The Woman in Me representative of Nigerian literature and worthy of academic study in the university.
THE CONCEPT OF NIGERIAN LITERATURE AND ITS REPRESENTATION IN THE SELECTED NOVELS
Nigerian Literature is literary writing about Nigeria, by Nigerian authors that explores the country’s culture, history, and social issues through various genres such as novels, poetry, and drama. It encompasses both contemporary written works often produced in English and a rich tradition of oral literature, including folktales and proverbs. The key issues commonly addressed in Nigerian literature include identity, colonialism, post-colonialism, traditions, etc. Prominent figures in this literary tradition include Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and contemporary author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
In the context of this study, Nigerian literature is represented through the novels. These novels embody the thematic, cultural, and social preoccupations that define Nigerian writing. They reflect the nation’s realities, struggles, and aspirations across different contexts and generations.
LIZI ASHIMOLE’S THE OTHER INSIDER
Lizi Ashimole’s The Other Insider is a collection of interconnected stories that explores the Osu caste system that was very prevalent in the early Igbo society. The novel starts with the story of Agatha, a Corp member who meets Umar, a Hausa-fulani young man, while in camp and falls in love with him. Their love story drags on after youth service, getting serious enough for a marriage consideration, but their regional and religious differences stand as a barrier. The union between a christian, Eteri blood and a Muslim, kanawa blood seems impossible. Her family tries to shield her from Umar while her hot-tempered father would rather dash her out to an Osu than harmonize with his sworn enemies. The story comes to a tragic resolution as Mr Asomugha shoots both Umar and his daughter, Agatha, during Umar’s unannounced visit to ask for her hand in marriage.
Part 2 to Part 3 of the story goes back in time to portray the typical Nigerian Igbo society to the coming of the Whiteman’s religion and civilization. From Ogbonna’s kidnap and sacrifice as an Osu, which is the beginning of the Osu system in his lineage, Ashimole carries the reader through three generations. The book rounds up with the story of Agwawumma, a Diala, who marries Timothy; the grandson of Ogbonna. The author uses this generational journey to unveil the depth of the Osu caste system from the pre-colonial Igbo society to the 1980s.
Lizi Ashimole’s The Other Insider is a representative of Nigerian Literature because it integrates Nigerian cultural, social, religious and political issues depicting concerns from the pre-colonial, colonial and contemporary eras respectively. The themes to be explained in the subsequent paragraphs backs this assertion.
From Ogbonna’s story, Lizi explores the theme of Osu tradition which is integral to the Nigerian Igbo region. Using vivid imagery, she describes the ritual process from the sprinkling of the bull’s blood to slashing of Ogbonna’s ear and the pronouncement of misfortune on his lineage in place of the people of Eteri, completely initiating him into the Osu community. This tradition is not a fiction, it is a highly revered tradition of the early Igbo society. She uses Ogbonna, Adumekwe and Timothy’s characters and experiences to reveal the struggle of the Osu caste to fit into the society. The ordeal of Ama Osu settlers in Ogbonna’s story explains the geographical divide between the Diala and the Osu before civilization and development creeps in. To seal Ogbonna’s Osu ritual, Okpara pronounces over him thus; “You are one of us, yet separate from us” (Ashimole 105) signifying the Osu’s status as the Other Insider, the Osu as “a living dead, neither fully man nor spirit” (Ashimole 106), and not to be associated with. Ashimole also presents the theme of Christian-Muslim entanglement centered in the first part of the book. This is portrayed through both individualistic perspective; Agatha and Umar, and a wider view; the Igbo and the Hausa-Fulani regions. Following an actual historical event, Ashimole builds this entanglement from the Biafran war though narrowing the opposition party from the whole of the nation to only the Hausa-Fulani region. The book portrays this lingering bitterness from past hurts especially through the character of Mr Asomugha, Agatha’s father. The brutal murder of his mother, Ahuikpeye, in the hands of the war soldiers plants a seed of discord in Asomugha that yearns for vengeance. He not only prohibits inter-ethnic and inter-religious marriage between Agatha and Umar, he shoots both of them for attempting.
Ashimole goes further to portray another instance of this entanglement in Pg.67, the religious resentment and bitter division on campus in Arewana ignited by female students in the hostel. The bloody chaos is as a result of a route maneuvered in front of the mosque which is often used by the “other” faith and construed as disrespectful. Umar refers to his attackers during the chaos as “her Okoro brothers” pointing out that each party is out for revenge.
Through these instances, Ashimole reveals the state of Nigeria and her citizens during and after the war. As a representative of Nigerian Literature, the text projects an actual Nigerian historical event and the aftermath of its legacy.
Ashimole’s The Other Insider stands as a representative text of Nigerian literature; socially relevant, thematically rich, and pedagogically valuable. Discussed below, are some of the worthy reasons for studying the text in Nigerian universities.
The text enables students to learn the techniques of writing. There are several ways to write a book but Ashimole chose the most intricate pattern and a complex language usage. Her aesthetic work is heavily laden with interwoven sentences yet they remain very meaningful and aligned. The author makes use of grand sentences that refer the readers back to their dictionaries throughout the text. Through her powerful writing techniques, students are challenged to upgrade their writing skills as well as get exposed to varieties of literary writings.
Writing Style: The first story is told from the perspective of the protagonist, Agatha; using the first person point of view. The rest of the stories are told using an Omniscient narrative style except for the last story where Agwawumma tells some part of the story herself which is very unique and rare. Ashimole inserts a short English poem in the first story (Ashimole 16), and a few Igbo songs in the last story. She uses a lot of synonyms for commonly used terms.
The plot type is complex and non linear, the first part of the novel is set in the contemporary era, identifying as the ending of the story but structured at the beginning. The first story begins with a flashback after the two sentences; drifting from NYSC camp to primary school (Ashimole 11). Ashimole foreshadows characters of subsequent stories like Timothy and Agwawumma in the first story (Ashimole 53). The author makes use of this device to in Pg.145, when Timothy Osuchukwu is still in elementary school, to inform the reader that he will “embrace the newwave Pentecostal movement” and come back to “Eteri as a roving evangelist” which later comes to pass. In pg.155, Ashimole uses Shanka to inform the reader that Agwawumma will marry an Osu, which she eventually does. He calls her the “involuntary wife of an Osu”.
Ashimole makes vast use of literary devices. Examples:
Oxymoron – “I screamed silently as I read my deployment letter” (Ashimole 18).
Personification – “Their whispers will guide us to what we seek” (Ashimole 103), “The moonlight washed the broad cocoyam leaves” (Ashimole 111).
Irony – Ogbonna ignorantly impregnates the daughter of Idigo, the man who perpetrates his kidnap. Hyperbole – “His intimidating size gave me a sprain in the neck” (Ashimole 35).
Allusion – Adumekwe also refers to his twelve children as the twelve disciples in the Bible (Ashimole 131). Ashimole refers to Father Tobe’s silence on the pulpit as the “Zachariah code” (Ashimole 146) allusive to his period of dumbness in the Bible.
Symbolism – Agatha’s character is a symbol of reconciliation in the first story. She tries to reconcile the Igbo and Hausa regions as well as her father and Umar. To her, the resolution of the war is meant to build a bridge of peace and harmony. She sees the NYSC compulsory service as an instrument of unification and true reconciliation. She sees the proposition of her marriage to Umar as a return from the notion of “otherness” to oneness. In the first story, those who are from the other faith and region symbolize Osu and otherness, such as Umar’s character.
Criticism: Lizi Ashimole’s The Other Insider enables students to learn how to critique novels properly. Having varying ideas, students are prone to make comments and argue about their views; why one thinks the writer is right for writing the book in a certain way and vice versa. For example; Why Ashimole chose to write intensely about the Osu caste system in an era when such a tradition is almost, entirely dead; it is not a contemporary concern. This can help improve their abilities towards literary criticism.
Historical insight: Ashimole’s text enlightens students about the Osu traditional practice; what it is, how it perceived and its impact on the victims. The students are also informed about the war as the root of the lingering conflict and bitterness between the two regions noted in the book. The frame narrative or flashback that introduces Ahuikpeye’s ordeal is, despite being told briefly, a very integral and important aspect that aids the development of the story.
KASHAM KELTUMA’S CAUCASIAN OVCHARKA
Kasham Keltuma’s Caucasian Ovtcharka is a contemporary Nigerian novel that engages with social realities, gendered oppression, and cultural traditions. Centered on a young woman forced into marriage with the physically challenged heir of a wealthy family, the narrative examines themes of betrayal, endurance, and resistance. The novel’s exploration of Nigerian womanhood within patriarchal systems, combined with its rich literary style, makes it a significant text worthy of academic study. It reflects the lived experiences of many Nigerians while demonstrating artistic and theoretical depth that supports advanced literary analysis.
One of the most significant aspects that makes Caucasian Ovtcharka representative of Nigerian literature is its thematic relevance. The novel reflects key social issues such as forced marriage, gender inequality, patriarchy, and betrayal, which are concerns that remain pressing in Nigeria today. The protagonist’s father, driven by greed and social status, coerces her into marrying his client’s son, a disabled young man (Keltuma 70), reducing her to a transactional object, a “white bone” that brings good fortune to their family. Her mother’s silence towards the actions of her father throughout the text, reinforces Virginia Woolf’s definition of patriarchy as a system that privileges men and silences women. These portrayals invite students to apply feminist theory to this literary text, critically examining how literature exposes the social mechanisms that sustain gendered subordination. This dynamic gives also gives cultural insight for students in understanding how tradition and superstition in modern society are manipulated to reinforce patriarchal power, particularly in conservative Northern Nigerian contexts.
Also, Betrayal in the novel operates as both an emotional and symbolic theme. Her husband’s killing of Valentine, her only comfort, and his ritual infidelity (Keltuma 182) represent the destruction of her trust and autonomy. Her mother’s silence during the shrine scene (Keltuma 181–184) reveals that betrayal can come even from loved ones. Academically, these events allow students to study psychological realism and understand how Keltuma turns personal pain into a critique of cultural and systemic injustice . These themes are not just literary concerns, they reflect real Nigerian experiences, especially women’s struggles under patriarchy. It explores the conflict between tradition and personal freedom while promoting feminist critique. Academically, it helps students develop analytical skills and view literature as a tool for questioning power and inspiring change.
Keltuma’s narrative techniques further enhance the novel’s academic value. Told through a first-person perspective, the narrative allows readers intimate access to the protagonist’s mind. The opening line, “I am learning to be a successful wife and honestly speaking, it’s like drinking tea with a fork” (Keltuma 1), establishes a tone of irony. Students can study how voice and perspective construct identity and resistance within oppressive systems. The novel’s strategic use of flashbacks, such as the protagonist’s first meeting with Mathias (Keltuma 35) shapes narrative structure and emotional depth. Through these techniques, students develop skills in analyzing narrative construction, and the function of temporal shifts in fiction.
Symbolism is another defining feature of the novel’s artistry. The Caucasian Ovcharka, a strong and resilient dog breed, becomes a powerful metaphor for the protagonist’s endurance in the face of cruelty and isolation. Her statement, “They saved me” (Keltuma. 175), referring to her dogs Yellow, Val, and Valentine, transforms them into symbols of unconditional love and protection. Students can engage in close reading and symbolic analysis, exploring how animals, objects, and actions carry emotions and meaning.
Linguistically, Keltuma’s expressive yet accessible use of English language bridges local experience and global readership. The language captures the cultural rhythm of Nigeria while remaining readable to a wider audience. This linguistic clarity allows students to analyze how Nigerian writers use English not merely as a colonial legacy but as a tool for cultural expression. By studying Keltuma’s prose, students appreciate how language functions as both an artistic and social critique instrument.
Kasham Keltuma’s Caucasian Ovtcharka introduces a rare Northern Nigerian voice, expanding Nigerian literature beyond dominant Southern voices. This allows students to explore regional diversity and apply intersectional feminism, promoting comparative analysis within the Nigerian literary canon. Ultimately, Keltuma’s Caucasian Ovtcharka teaches students that literature is not merely entertainment, but a medium for questioning power, challenging tradition, and envisioning social change.
BILKISU ABUBAKAR’S THE WOMAN IN ME
Bilkisu Abubakar’s The Woman in Me is a socially revealing novel that explores the realities of Northern Nigerian women. Through the experiences of Rosamund and her troubled marriage to Ibrahim, the novel explains how love, religion, culture, and patriarchy intersect to shape women’s lives, and how the voice of the woman is often silenced under the weight of tradition and religious interpretations.
The Woman in Me is rooted in the Northern cultural context. Through Rosamund’s painful experiences, Bilkisu Abubakar exposes how religion and tradition can be manipulated to justify oppression. The novel brings attention to polygamy, betrayal, and the emotional suffering that many women endure in silence. By studying this novel, university students engage with literature that speaks directly to Nigeria’s cultural differences, gender positions, and social realities. The inclusion of The Woman in Me in university curricula promotes gender consciousness and empathy. Students are encouraged to: Analyze how patriarchal systems limit women’s rights and freedom, reflect on how cultural and religious norms affect the emotional and psychological well-being of women, appreciate the resilience and inner strength of women like Rosamund, who symbolize countless Nigerian women pushing through similar struggles. The novel therefore becomes not just literature, but a tool for social education and advocacy.
The Woman in Me is a realist novel. It mirrors real people, places, and experiences. Rosamund and Ibrahim are ordinary individuals shaped by their environment, culture, and choices, not idealized heroes, but realistic representations of Nigerian men and women. The novel’s Northern Nigerian environment, marked by religion, customs, and gender roles, reflects everyday life in the region. Themes of betrayal, polygamy and patriarchy, religious control, depression, clash of culture, are real-life social problems faced by many, especially women today. Because of this realism, The Woman in Me becomes a mirror of Nigerian society, showing both its beauty and its flaws. The novel offers wide insights into Northern Nigerian culture and the role of Islamic values as interpreted in that context. While Islam itself promotes justice and fairness, the novel shows how men often misuse religion to justify dominance over women.
Through Rosamund’s experience, readers see: How religion and tradition are intertwined in the Northern lifestyle, How women’s voices are often suppressed in the name of obedience and morality, the need for reinterpretation and reform in how religion is practiced in relation to gender. For students, this provides a better understanding of religious dynamics, gender politics, and cultural diversity within Nigeria.
Studying The Woman in Me is vital because it exposes the hidden struggles of Northern women, helping to correct stereotypes and misconceptions. It promotes national unity through understanding, showing that although Nigerians come from different backgrounds, they share common struggles and human emotions.
Beyond gender, The Woman in Me is a novel about power, betrayal, and identity. Ibrahim represents the abuse of authority, a man who uses power and religion to satisfy his desires at the expense of his wife(s). Rosamund, on the other hand, represents the emotional depth and endurance of women, constantly struggling to find her voice and dignity within a society that rejects her rights and cultural belief. Through their story, Bilkisu Abubakar exposes the psychological cost of oppression and invites the reader to reflect on what love, faith, and freedom truly mean.
The authors technique includes a simple use of language and flashbacks. Her style is beautifully woven as she incorporates the Hausa indigenous language(Abubakar 113). Her text not only represents Nigerian Literature through thematic concerns alone, but the use of one of its major languages.
The text also compares foreign traditions and the Islamic and northern traditions of Nigerian through the character of Rosamond and Ibrahim which ignited a conflict in their marriages. Here, students are open to learn the diverse beliefs of different cultures, and how these irreconcilable cultures can cause problems even in marriages.
HADIZA BAGUDU’S FANTAH
The story is set among the Fulani “Bororo” nomadic community in West Africa, described as “ a quiet settlement of semi-nomadic Bororo, with less than five hundred inhabitants situated 150 km west of Maroua in the lush Savannah grassland of Fombina” (Bagudu. 6). This localised setting means the novel engages with a pastoral nomadic culture, and embeds the narrative in landscape, migration, cattle-herding, the settlement, etc. that itself gives a richly grounded cultural texture.
The novel is written in Third-Person Omniscient point of view: The narrator has access to the inner thoughts, feelings, and motivations of multiple characters. This omniscient viewpoint also provides historical insight, situating the characters’ experiences within the broader socio-political landscape of 19th-century Northern Nigeria.
Bagudu’s use of language, style and incorporation of indigenous elements is aesthetic and eye opening. The text includes some indigenous terms of places, names and cultural terms: “jauleru”, “Yottu mingel’am”, “Jambanduna Bappa?”. “Assalamu Alaikum, she said, and a familiar male voice answered, Alaikum Salaam. Yottu mingel’am.” (Bagudu 27). She makes use of simple English language which is very easy for students’ comprehension. This blending of English language with indigenous Fulfude terminologies is a stylistic choice that gives authenticity of setting and characters in the novel. The narrative combines the romance genre with a cultural-ethnographic dimension: the everyday life and worldview of a nomadic community, pastoralism, migration, social customs, etc. Bagudu says the novel is “a love story that unveils the Fulani culture” and takes readers on a captivating journey across West Africa’s landscapes, from the Fombina Empire’s grasslands to the sands of Sudan kingdom.”(Akweye TV)
The central plot revolves around love, desire, and choice. Fantah’s emotional journey and romantic tension with a stranger.
It explores the everyday life, customs, and worldview of the Fulani (Bororo) nomadic people. The narrative spans landscapes across West Africa, implying a journey or quest element.
The story centers on a Bororo girl and a man of high status, and the narrative takes us across kingdoms and landscapes. In an interview with Bagudu on Akweya TV, She says the novel is intended to “correct stereotypes” of the Fulani, emphasising their peaceful culture and respect for community, friendships and family. Thus, issues of ethnicity, cultural misunderstanding, tradition vs. change are built in.
The novel portrays the themes of love, ambition, power, and betrayal specifically through the characters of Fantah, Hayah, and Rabbeh. Fantah’s undying love for Hayah, Hayah’s ambition to regain power, and Rabbeh’s betrayal of Hayah’s trust are major issues that are integral to life today. This opens the novel to questions such as: What happens to love when ambition intervenes? What values will a person sacrifice to gain power? This review of how Fantah ends up suffering for love and is not rewarded also leaves her with questions of what would have made a difference?. The novel also exposes aspects of marriage, betrothal, concubinage, polygamy within the cultural setting.
Fantah is worthy of academic study in Nigerian universities because of it’s cultural and historical value. The novel explores the nomadic pastoral traditions, inter-ethnic relations, migration, and the politics of 19th-century kingdoms (e.g., the “Fombina Empire”, trans-Saharan routes). As such, it offers a bridge between fiction and cultural anthropology: it provides students with textured representation of a community often marginalised in Nigerian curricula, i.e. the Fulbes.
Students can study it as a platform of correcting stereotypes about the Fulani. It also exposes the Nigerian historical event of the Sokoto Caliphate, the Jihad led by Uthman Dan Fodio, the Berlin Conference and the 1960 Independence, giving students a both an entertaining and educational foothold.
Bagudu, a Northern Nigerian woman writer, writes from a perspective less present in mainstream Nigerian literatures. Hence, the novel contributes to diversifying the literary canon of Nigeria: giving voice to a region (North), a culture (Fulani/Bororo), a gender dimension (female protagonist, woman-writer) and traditions of migration/herding seldom centralized in Nigerian literature.
CONCLUSION
In summary, these novels are worthy of university study because they mirror Nigerian society, preserve culture, challenge gender norms, experiment with language, and contribute to the ongoing development of Nigerian literature. They provide new perspectives that enrich students’ understanding of what it means to be Nigerian in the 21st century, making them powerful and necessary voices in the country’s literary canon.
WORK CITED
Ashimole, Lizi. The Other Insider. 2025.
Keltuma, Keltuma. Caucasian Ovtcharka. 2020.
Abubakar, Bashir. The Woman in Me. 2010.
Bagudu, Hadiza. Fantah. 2014.
FACULTY OF ARTS
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND DRAMA
LIT 316: SPECIAL AUTHOR
COURSE COORDINATOR: PROFESSOR A. K. BABAJO
GROUP ONE
THE REPRESENTATION OF NIGERIAN LITERATURE: A STUDY OF THE SIGNIFICANT
ASPECTS THAT MAKE LIZI ASHIMOLE’S THE OTHER INSIDER, KELTUMA KASHAM’S
CAUCASIAN OVCHARKA, HADIZA BAGUDU’S FANTAH, AND BILKISU ABUBAKAR’S THE WOMAN IN ME WORTHY OF UNIVERSITY STUDY.
DATE: 3RD NOVEMBER, 2025.
INTRODUCTION
Nigerian literature portrays issues that are integral to the Nigerian experiences, employing indigenous settings and characters to explore the pre-colonial, colonial, and contemporary realities of the society. It helps define who we are and what we stand for as a people. Beyond its aesthetic and entertainment value, it functions as a powerful medium of education and cultural preservation, combining both form and content to engage, instruct and enlighten.
This paper seeks to examine the significant aspects that makes Lizi Ashimole’s The Other Insider, Keltuma Kasham’s Caucasian Ovcharka, Hadiza Bagudu’s Fantah, and Bilkisu Abubakar’s The Woman in Me representative of Nigerian literature and worthy of academic study in the university.
THE CONCEPT OF NIGERIAN LITERATURE AND ITS REPRESENTATION IN THE SELECTED NOVELS
Nigerian Literature is literary writing about Nigeria, by Nigerian authors that explores the country’s culture, history, and social issues through various genres such as novels, poetry, and drama. It encompasses both contemporary written works often produced in English and a rich tradition of oral literature, including folktales and proverbs. The key issues commonly addressed in Nigerian literature include identity, colonialism, post-colonialism, traditions, etc. Prominent figures in this literary tradition include Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and contemporary author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
In the context of this study, Nigerian literature is represented through the novels. These novels embody the thematic, cultural, and social preoccupations that define Nigerian writing. They reflect the nation’s realities, struggles, and aspirations across different contexts and generations.
LIZI ASHIMOLE’S THE OTHER INSIDER
Lizi Ashimole’s The Other Insider is a collection of interconnected stories that explores the Osu caste system that was very prevalent in the early Igbo society. The novel starts with the story of Agatha, a Corp member who meets Umar, a Hausa-fulani young man, while in camp and falls in love with him. Their love story drags on after youth service, getting serious enough for a marriage consideration, but their regional and religious differences stand as a barrier. The union between a christian, Eteri blood and a Muslim, kanawa blood seems impossible. Her family tries to shield her from Umar while her hot-tempered father would rather dash her out to an Osu than harmonize with his sworn enemies. The story comes to a tragic resolution as Mr Asomugha shoots both Umar and his daughter, Agatha, during Umar’s unannounced visit to ask for her hand in marriage.
Part 2 to Part 3 of the story goes back in time to portray the typical Nigerian Igbo society to the coming of the Whiteman’s religion and civilization. From Ogbonna’s kidnap and sacrifice as an Osu, which is the beginning of the Osu system in his lineage, Ashimole carries the reader through three generations. The book rounds up with the story of Agwawumma, a Diala, who marries Timothy; the grandson of Ogbonna. The author uses this generational journey to unveil the depth of the Osu caste system from the pre-colonial Igbo society to the 1980s.
Lizi Ashimole’s The Other Insider is a representative of Nigerian Literature because it integrates Nigerian cultural, social, religious and political issues depicting concerns from the pre-colonial, colonial and contemporary eras respectively. The themes to be explained in the subsequent paragraphs backs this assertion.
From Ogbonna’s story, Lizi explores the theme of Osu tradition which is integral to the Nigerian Igbo region. Using vivid imagery, she describes the ritual process from the sprinkling of the bull’s blood to slashing of Ogbonna’s ear and the pronouncement of misfortune on his lineage in place of the people of Eteri, completely initiating him into the Osu community. This tradition is not a fiction, it is a highly revered tradition of the early Igbo society. She uses Ogbonna, Adumekwe and Timothy’s characters and experiences to reveal the struggle of the Osu caste to fit into the society. The ordeal of Ama Osu settlers in Ogbonna’s story explains the geographical divide between the Diala and the Osu before civilization and development creeps in. To seal Ogbonna’s Osu ritual, Okpara pronounces over him thus; “You are one of us, yet separate from us” (Ashimole 105) signifying the Osu’s status as the Other Insider, the Osu as “a living dead, neither fully man nor spirit” (Ashimole 106), and not to be associated with. Ashimole also presents the theme of Christian-Muslim entanglement centered in the first part of the book. This is portrayed through both individualistic perspective; Agatha and Umar, and a wider view; the Igbo and the Hausa-Fulani regions. Following an actual historical event, Ashimole builds this entanglement from the Biafran war though narrowing the opposition party from the whole of the nation to only the Hausa-Fulani region. The book portrays this lingering bitterness from past hurts especially through the character of Mr Asomugha, Agatha’s father. The brutal murder of his mother, Ahuikpeye, in the hands of the war soldiers plants a seed of discord in Asomugha that yearns for vengeance. He not only prohibits inter-ethnic and inter-religious marriage between Agatha and Umar, he shoots both of them for attempting.
Ashimole goes further to portray another instance of this entanglement in Pg.67, the religious resentment and bitter division on campus in Arewana ignited by female students in the hostel. The bloody chaos is as a result of a route maneuvered in front of the mosque which is often used by the “other” faith and construed as disrespectful. Umar refers to his attackers during the chaos as “her Okoro brothers” pointing out that each party is out for revenge.
Through these instances, Ashimole reveals the state of Nigeria and her citizens during and after the war. As a representative of Nigerian Literature, the text projects an actual Nigerian historical event and the aftermath of its legacy.
Ashimole’s The Other Insider stands as a representative text of Nigerian literature; socially relevant, thematically rich, and pedagogically valuable. Discussed below, are some of the worthy reasons for studying the text in Nigerian universities.
The text enables students to learn the techniques of writing. There are several ways to write a book but Ashimole chose the most intricate pattern and a complex language usage. Her aesthetic work is heavily laden with interwoven sentences yet they remain very meaningful and aligned. The author makes use of grand sentences that refer the readers back to their dictionaries throughout the text. Through her powerful writing techniques, students are challenged to upgrade their writing skills as well as get exposed to varieties of literary writings.
Writing Style: The first story is told from the perspective of the protagonist, Agatha; using the first person point of view. The rest of the stories are told using an Omniscient narrative style except for the last story where Agwawumma tells some part of the story herself which is very unique and rare. Ashimole inserts a short English poem in the first story (Ashimole 16), and a few Igbo songs in the last story. She uses a lot of synonyms for commonly used terms.
The plot type is complex and non linear, the first part of the novel is set in the contemporary era, identifying as the ending of the story but structured at the beginning. The first story begins with a flashback after the two sentences; drifting from NYSC camp to primary school (Ashimole 11). Ashimole foreshadows characters of subsequent stories like Timothy and Agwawumma in the first story (Ashimole 53). The author makes use of this device to in Pg.145, when Timothy Osuchukwu is still in elementary school, to inform the reader that he will “embrace the newwave Pentecostal movement” and come back to “Eteri as a roving evangelist” which later comes to pass. In pg.155, Ashimole uses Shanka to inform the reader that Agwawumma will marry an Osu, which she eventually does. He calls her the “involuntary wife of an Osu”.
Ashimole makes vast use of literary devices. Examples:
Oxymoron – “I screamed silently as I read my deployment letter” (Ashimole 18).
Personification – “Their whispers will guide us to what we seek” (Ashimole 103), “The moonlight washed the broad cocoyam leaves” (Ashimole 111).
Irony – Ogbonna ignorantly impregnates the daughter of Idigo, the man who perpetrates his kidnap. Hyperbole – “His intimidating size gave me a sprain in the neck” (Ashimole 35).
Allusion – Adumekwe also refers to his twelve children as the twelve disciples in the Bible (Ashimole 131). Ashimole refers to Father Tobe’s silence on the pulpit as the “Zachariah code” (Ashimole 146) allusive to his period of dumbness in the Bible.
Symbolism – Agatha’s character is a symbol of reconciliation in the first story. She tries to reconcile the Igbo and Hausa regions as well as her father and Umar. To her, the resolution of the war is meant to build a bridge of peace and harmony. She sees the NYSC compulsory service as an instrument of unification and true reconciliation. She sees the proposition of her marriage to Umar as a return from the notion of “otherness” to oneness. In the first story, those who are from the other faith and region symbolize Osu and otherness, such as Umar’s character.
Criticism: Lizi Ashimole’s The Other Insider enables students to learn how to critique novels properly. Having varying ideas, students are prone to make comments and argue about their views; why one thinks the writer is right for writing the book in a certain way and vice versa. For example; Why Ashimole chose to write intensely about the Osu caste system in an era when such a tradition is almost, entirely dead; it is not a contemporary concern. This can help improve their abilities towards literary criticism.
Historical insight: Ashimole’s text enlightens students about the Osu traditional practice; what it is, how it perceived and its impact on the victims. The students are also informed about the war as the root of the lingering conflict and bitterness between the two regions noted in the book. The frame narrative or flashback that introduces Ahuikpeye’s ordeal is, despite being told briefly, a very integral and important aspect that aids the development of the story.
KASHAM KELTUMA’S CAUCASIAN OVCHARKA
Kasham Keltuma’s Caucasian Ovtcharka is a contemporary Nigerian novel that engages with social realities, gendered oppression, and cultural traditions. Centered on a young woman forced into marriage with the physically challenged heir of a wealthy family, the narrative examines themes of betrayal, endurance, and resistance. The novel’s exploration of Nigerian womanhood within patriarchal systems, combined with its rich literary style, makes it a significant text worthy of academic study. It reflects the lived experiences of many Nigerians while demonstrating artistic and theoretical depth that supports advanced literary analysis.
One of the most significant aspects that makes Caucasian Ovtcharka representative of Nigerian literature is its thematic relevance. The novel reflects key social issues such as forced marriage, gender inequality, patriarchy, and betrayal, which are concerns that remain pressing in Nigeria today. The protagonist’s father, driven by greed and social status, coerces her into marrying his client’s son, a disabled young man (Keltuma 70), reducing her to a transactional object, a “white bone” that brings good fortune to their family. Her mother’s silence towards the actions of her father throughout the text, reinforces Virginia Woolf’s definition of patriarchy as a system that privileges men and silences women. These portrayals invite students to apply feminist theory to this literary text, critically examining how literature exposes the social mechanisms that sustain gendered subordination. This dynamic gives also gives cultural insight for students in understanding how tradition and superstition in modern society are manipulated to reinforce patriarchal power, particularly in conservative Northern Nigerian contexts.
Also, Betrayal in the novel operates as both an emotional and symbolic theme. Her husband’s killing of Valentine, her only comfort, and his ritual infidelity (Keltuma 182) represent the destruction of her trust and autonomy. Her mother’s silence during the shrine scene (Keltuma 181–184) reveals that betrayal can come even from loved ones. Academically, these events allow students to study psychological realism and understand how Keltuma turns personal pain into a critique of cultural and systemic injustice . These themes are not just literary concerns, they reflect real Nigerian experiences, especially women’s struggles under patriarchy. It explores the conflict between tradition and personal freedom while promoting feminist critique. Academically, it helps students develop analytical skills and view literature as a tool for questioning power and inspiring change.
Keltuma’s narrative techniques further enhance the novel’s academic value. Told through a first-person perspective, the narrative allows readers intimate access to the protagonist’s mind. The opening line, “I am learning to be a successful wife and honestly speaking, it’s like drinking tea with a fork” (Keltuma 1), establishes a tone of irony. Students can study how voice and perspective construct identity and resistance within oppressive systems. The novel’s strategic use of flashbacks, such as the protagonist’s first meeting with Mathias (Keltuma 35) shapes narrative structure and emotional depth. Through these techniques, students develop skills in analyzing narrative construction, and the function of temporal shifts in fiction.
Symbolism is another defining feature of the novel’s artistry. The Caucasian Ovcharka, a strong and resilient dog breed, becomes a powerful metaphor for the protagonist’s endurance in the face of cruelty and isolation. Her statement, “They saved me” (Keltuma. 175), referring to her dogs Yellow, Val, and Valentine, transforms them into symbols of unconditional love and protection. Students can engage in close reading and symbolic analysis, exploring how animals, objects, and actions carry emotions and meaning.
Linguistically, Keltuma’s expressive yet accessible use of English language bridges local experience and global readership. The language captures the cultural rhythm of Nigeria while remaining readable to a wider audience. This linguistic clarity allows students to analyze how Nigerian writers use English not merely as a colonial legacy but as a tool for cultural expression. By studying Keltuma’s prose, students appreciate how language functions as both an artistic and social critique instrument.
Kasham Keltuma’s Caucasian Ovtcharka introduces a rare Northern Nigerian voice, expanding Nigerian literature beyond dominant Southern voices. This allows students to explore regional diversity and apply intersectional feminism, promoting comparative analysis within the Nigerian literary canon. Ultimately, Keltuma’s Caucasian Ovtcharka teaches students that literature is not merely entertainment, but a medium for questioning power, challenging tradition, and envisioning social change.
BILKISU ABUBAKAR’S THE WOMAN IN ME
Bilkisu Abubakar’s The Woman in Me is a socially revealing novel that explores the realities of Northern Nigerian women. Through the experiences of Rosamund and her troubled marriage to Ibrahim, the novel explains how love, religion, culture, and patriarchy intersect to shape women’s lives, and how the voice of the woman is often silenced under the weight of tradition and religious interpretations.
The Woman in Me is rooted in the Northern cultural context. Through Rosamund’s painful experiences, Bilkisu Abubakar exposes how religion and tradition can be manipulated to justify oppression. The novel brings attention to polygamy, betrayal, and the emotional suffering that many women endure in silence. By studying this novel, university students engage with literature that speaks directly to Nigeria’s cultural differences, gender positions, and social realities. The inclusion of The Woman in Me in university curricula promotes gender consciousness and empathy. Students are encouraged to: Analyze how patriarchal systems limit women’s rights and freedom, reflect on how cultural and religious norms affect the emotional and psychological well-being of women, appreciate the resilience and inner strength of women like Rosamund, who symbolize countless Nigerian women pushing through similar struggles. The novel therefore becomes not just literature, but a tool for social education and advocacy.
The Woman in Me is a realist novel. It mirrors real people, places, and experiences. Rosamund and Ibrahim are ordinary individuals shaped by their environment, culture, and choices, not idealized heroes, but realistic representations of Nigerian men and women. The novel’s Northern Nigerian environment, marked by religion, customs, and gender roles, reflects everyday life in the region. Themes of betrayal, polygamy and patriarchy, religious control, depression, clash of culture, are real-life social problems faced by many, especially women today. Because of this realism, The Woman in Me becomes a mirror of Nigerian society, showing both its beauty and its flaws. The novel offers wide insights into Northern Nigerian culture and the role of Islamic values as interpreted in that context. While Islam itself promotes justice and fairness, the novel shows how men often misuse religion to justify dominance over women.
Through Rosamund’s experience, readers see: How religion and tradition are intertwined in the Northern lifestyle, How women’s voices are often suppressed in the name of obedience and morality, the need for reinterpretation and reform in how religion is practiced in relation to gender. For students, this provides a better understanding of religious dynamics, gender politics, and cultural diversity within Nigeria.
Studying The Woman in Me is vital because it exposes the hidden struggles of Northern women, helping to correct stereotypes and misconceptions. It promotes national unity through understanding, showing that although Nigerians come from different backgrounds, they share common struggles and human emotions.
Beyond gender, The Woman in Me is a novel about power, betrayal, and identity. Ibrahim represents the abuse of authority, a man who uses power and religion to satisfy his desires at the expense of his wife(s). Rosamund, on the other hand, represents the emotional depth and endurance of women, constantly struggling to find her voice and dignity within a society that rejects her rights and cultural belief. Through their story, Bilkisu Abubakar exposes the psychological cost of oppression and invites the reader to reflect on what love, faith, and freedom truly mean.
The authors technique includes a simple use of language and flashbacks. Her style is beautifully woven as she incorporates the Hausa indigenous language(Abubakar 113). Her text not only represents Nigerian Literature through thematic concerns alone, but the use of one of its major languages.
The text also compares foreign traditions and the Islamic and northern traditions of Nigerian through the character of Rosamond and Ibrahim which ignited a conflict in their marriages. Here, students are open to learn the diverse beliefs of different cultures, and how these irreconcilable cultures can cause problems even in marriages.
HADIZA BAGUDU’S FANTAH
The story is set among the Fulani “Bororo” nomadic community in West Africa, described as “ a quiet settlement of semi-nomadic Bororo, with less than five hundred inhabitants situated 150 km west of Maroua in the lush Savannah grassland of Fombina” (Bagudu. 6). This localised setting means the novel engages with a pastoral nomadic culture, and embeds the narrative in landscape, migration, cattle-herding, the settlement, etc. that itself gives a richly grounded cultural texture.
The novel is written in Third-Person Omniscient point of view: The narrator has access to the inner thoughts, feelings, and motivations of multiple characters. This omniscient viewpoint also provides historical insight, situating the characters’ experiences within the broader socio-political landscape of 19th-century Northern Nigeria.
Bagudu’s use of language, style and incorporation of indigenous elements is aesthetic and eye opening. The text includes some indigenous terms of places, names and cultural terms: “jauleru”, “Yottu mingel’am”, “Jambanduna Bappa?”. “Assalamu Alaikum, she said, and a familiar male voice answered, Alaikum Salaam. Yottu mingel’am.” (Bagudu 27). She makes use of simple English language which is very easy for students’ comprehension. This blending of English language with indigenous Fulfude terminologies is a stylistic choice that gives authenticity of setting and characters in the novel. The narrative combines the romance genre with a cultural-ethnographic dimension: the everyday life and worldview of a nomadic community, pastoralism, migration, social customs, etc. Bagudu says the novel is “a love story that unveils the Fulani culture” and takes readers on a captivating journey across West Africa’s landscapes, from the Fombina Empire’s grasslands to the sands of Sudan kingdom.”(Akweye TV)
The central plot revolves around love, desire, and choice. Fantah’s emotional journey and romantic tension with a stranger.
It explores the everyday life, customs, and worldview of the Fulani (Bororo) nomadic people. The narrative spans landscapes across West Africa, implying a journey or quest element.
The story centers on a Bororo girl and a man of high status, and the narrative takes us across kingdoms and landscapes. In an interview with Bagudu on Akweya TV, She says the novel is intended to “correct stereotypes” of the Fulani, emphasising their peaceful culture and respect for community, friendships and family. Thus, issues of ethnicity, cultural misunderstanding, tradition vs. change are built in.
The novel portrays the themes of love, ambition, power, and betrayal specifically through the characters of Fantah, Hayah, and Rabbeh. Fantah’s undying love for Hayah, Hayah’s ambition to regain power, and Rabbeh’s betrayal of Hayah’s trust are major issues that are integral to life today. This opens the novel to questions such as: What happens to love when ambition intervenes? What values will a person sacrifice to gain power? This review of how Fantah ends up suffering for love and is not rewarded also leaves her with questions of what would have made a difference?. The novel also exposes aspects of marriage, betrothal, concubinage, polygamy within the cultural setting.
Fantah is worthy of academic study in Nigerian universities because of it’s cultural and historical value. The novel explores the nomadic pastoral traditions, inter-ethnic relations, migration, and the politics of 19th-century kingdoms (e.g., the “Fombina Empire”, trans-Saharan routes). As such, it offers a bridge between fiction and cultural anthropology: it provides students with textured representation of a community often marginalised in Nigerian curricula, i.e. the Fulbes.
Students can study it as a platform of correcting stereotypes about the Fulani. It also exposes the Nigerian historical event of the Sokoto Caliphate, the Jihad led by Uthman Dan Fodio, the Berlin Conference and the 1960 Independence, giving students a both an entertaining and educational foothold.
Bagudu, a Northern Nigerian woman writer, writes from a perspective less present in mainstream Nigerian literatures. Hence, the novel contributes to diversifying the literary canon of Nigeria: giving voice to a region (North), a culture (Fulani/Bororo), a gender dimension (female protagonist, woman-writer) and traditions of migration/herding seldom centralized in Nigerian literature.
CONCLUSION
In summary, these novels are worthy of university study because they mirror Nigerian society, preserve culture, challenge gender norms, experiment with language, and contribute to the ongoing development of Nigerian literature. They provide new perspectives that enrich students’ understanding of what it means to be Nigerian in the 21st century, making them powerful and necessary voices in the country’s literary canon.
WORK CITED
Ashimole, Lizi. The Other Insider. 2025.
Keltuma, Keltuma. Caucasian Ovtcharka. 2020.
Abubakar, Bashir. The Woman in Me. 2010.
Bagudu, Hadiza. Fantah. 2014.
