The tragic fictional work: “Raped to the Grave (2021, BookLeaf),” is written by Simon Teryila Zaki, who holds a degree in philosophy from the Dominican Institute, an affiliate of the University of Ibadan. In this book: “Raped to the Grave,” the author introduces to us Terseer and his wife, Ashekuma, a couple whose mainstay is farming. Terseer and his wife are successful in their farm business.
But on this day that we meet them, a grave tragedy befalls their family. They arrive at their very large farm and to their shock and anger, their yam and soya farm is invaded by dangerous looking herdsmen and their cattle are eating up the yams. The herdsmen are uprooting the tubers and feeding them to the cows, and helping themselves too by roasting some tubers for themselves.
Thy beat up Terseer, and gang-rape his wife, and afterwards kill them both, leaving behind their two-year old daughter. Soon, the village slumps into intermittent bouts of tragedies. The traps of the most powerful hunter in the village unusually fail to catch any animal. He goes to check them up, but returns home dejected and empty-handed.
The village’s best palm wine tapper is also stung by a scorpion on a palm tree. He falls, landing heavily and fracturing his legs.
In this book, the author dedicates space to showcasing the rustic life of farmers and village life in a setting that suggests the farmlands and mountains of Benue State of Nigeria. We here are fed to a treat of the author’s powerful demonstration of his knowledge of the terrain, the culture and practices of the people. Terseer and his family are not yet back, so a search party is organised to look for them. At last their remains are found on their farm. Their baby is also found, weak, hungry and thirsty.
The remains of Terseer and Ashekuma, his wife, are buried amid great wailing by the villagers, and a charring charge from the head of the village calling them to protect their land and farms, since the leaders have failed to protect them.
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From there the author beams his light on Tyopenda and his sweet and sour life. His father’s story of lazy drunkenness and indolent thievery is relayed in this work.
Soon after, following his disgraceful act of stealing ogogoro from Area Mama’s shop, and his wife’s desertion with her children, Akangegbagir, Tyopenda’s father, sneaks out of the house and kills himself.
In this bittersweet experience of Tyopenda, he arrives at a juncture where he contemplates suicide. But as fate would have it, Terseer appears on the scene. And there begins their friendship.
It is instructive to state that the author points the reader to the spirit of community and commonality that typifies the rustic African people, especially those who reside in the rural farming communities of pre-colonial times. In this Tiv community, everybody cares for everybody.
In this book, the author laments the gradual erasure of society’s culture, values and traditions and the elevation of western culture. What is hurtful here is that even families now speak foreign languages to their children, and deride children who speak their mother tongues.
In this book is a tragic tale told about a defenceless people at the mercy of heartless herdsmen whose mainstay is to kill farmers and possess their land. It is a tale of marauding gangsters sacking whole villages and raping women and killing them afterwards with the same gusto.
Spanning 11 chapters and 111 pages, the book is a tragic portrayal of the fate of innocent people thrown into internally displaced persons camps where the facilities are grossly inadequate.
The author’s powerful description vividly delivers his solemn message to the reader, calling the reader into sober reflection in a strongly emotive narration of the Nigerian debacle.
. Olatunbosun is a broadcast journalist, fact-checker and book reviewer at Splash FM 105.5, Ibadan. He can be reached via 08023517565 (SMS & WhatsApp only) and email molatunbosun@splashfm1055.com.
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