Okey Ndibe

Okey Ndibe (born 1960) is a Nigerian-American novelist, political columnist, and academic. He was the founding editor of the international magazine African Commentary and is widely recognised for his fiction exploring state corruption, memory, and the African immigrant experience. Quotes Remember this: a story that must be told never forgives silence. Speech is the mouth's debt to a story. Chapter 1, text analyzed in global post-colonial literary reviews including Premium Times Nigeria. What I know are simple truths. I know that the fabric of memory is reinforced by stories, rent by silences. I know that power dreads memory. I know that memory outlasts power's viciousness. I know . . . that a voiceless man is as good as dead. Statement of the protagonist Bukuru regarding political tyranny, cited in political studies via the Ahyu Journal of Language and Literature. Books, like one's children, have a way of growing up rather fast. In the process, they spring surprises on their unsuspecting parent! Reflecting on the evolution and character dynamics of his prose fiction, interviewed via AFREADA African Literary Magazine. I wish we were a country where universal objection to corruption was the norm. We are far, very far from that. Speaking on corruption in Nigeria In a country of more than a hundred and fifty million people, the self-styled party of change is apparently unable to find any governorship aspirant untouched by scandal or the appearance of it. On the quality of governorship aspirants in Nigeria One of the joys of being a columnist is to occasionally receive a remarkably cogent response to one of my pieces. Sometimes, the response comes from a reader who agrees with me, but who wishes to shed fresh light on an issue. Reflecting on his experience as a columnist One sad tendency in Nigerian politics is the habit of arguing that one mediocre politician has a better record than another mediocre colleague. Commenting on mediocrity in Nigerian politics There’s nothing more exasperating than to listen to Nigerians, especially public officials or their hirelings, who insist that our country is a coherent entity. These official apologists are quick to euphemize Nigeria’s myriad crises as mere teething problems. Critiquing official narratives about Nigeria If anybody was in doubt that Nigeria is a contraption maintained to serve the greed of a few, I hope the sordid drama of elections has dispelled it. On Nigeria's political system External links Category:1960 births Category:Living people Category:Nigerian writers