Title: Animal Democracy
Author: George Nnamani
Publisher: Aguqo Press
year: 2022
pagination: 165
REVIEWER: Henry Akubuiro
George Orwell’s Animal Farm is one of the most popular works of fiction by the writer and one which its plot and themes reverberate across the literary world. In Animal Farm, Orwell’s political satire looks at equality, where all barnyard animals live free from their human masters’ tyranny. Having embraced Animalism, the animals staged a revolution to achieve an idealistic state of justice and progress. A pig with vaulting ambition, Napoleon, however, morphed into a totalitarian dictator.
This allegorical fiction interrogates the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the early years of the Soviet Union. While Animalism stands for communism, Manor Farm is emblematic of Russia, with the farmer, Mr. Jones, allegorical of the Russian Czar, while Napoleon stands for Stalin, and the dogs as his secret police.
77 years after George Orwell’s Animal Farm was published, a Nigerian writer, George Nnamani, has created a similar allegorical piece, Animal Democracy. Just like in the former, the setting of Animal Democracy is a dystopia, in contrast with an ideal utopia. In this imaginary Animalia setting, animus and bestiality are a given. Nnamani parodies African democracy and its major and minor actors, leaving a disturbing verdict on how far we have descended. Animalia, as depicted by Nnamani, is a failed kingdom where both the electorate and the establishments are guilty of masterminding the rot and social inequality in real life.
In the dystopian world created by Nnamani, “life was indeed nasty, brutish, and short; a scenario of the survival of the fittest” (p.3). The disunity in the animal kingdom before now was quite unfortunate, for the animals had created a common language called Brutalk, understood and spoken by everybody; it’s also non verbal.
This new Animalia was created out of a virgin area, an uninhabited terra nullius, somewhere between Africa and Europe. It ran into thousands of square kilometers and “was just perfect for an animal kingdom, having never recorded any human presence” (p. 5). As time went on, the animals began to have an organised society and moved towards having a king, leading to a wave of socio-political activism. Thus, ANEC (Animal Electoral Commission) was created, headed by Minimini, an old sagely monkey with sunken cheeks —the first animal to hold a public office. It was decided that the elected leader of Animalia would be called “Pisident”.
There is little difference between the animals and humans in this book, especially the kind of humans that populate the Nigerian polity and African political scene in general. In the lead up to the election, gradually “the polity got heated up with each passing day. Now and then, opposing groups of campaigners clashed violently” (p. 45). An alpha male chimpanzee, known as Chimpa, was one of the candidates (he migrated from Zulu village). Chimpa had drummed it to the ears of other animals that apes were human descendants of Cain, the son of Abraham, that “what a man can do, a ape given political position, can do better”.
Different predators had different agendas in this kingdom. For instance, Udele, the leader of the vultures, wasn’t keen on contesting for any office. He was interested in electoral violence or massacre so that he would have plenty of carcasses to feed on. Among the candidates for the election, the most miserable was Kuku, a barn owl of fine plumage. He was full of theories but with no known practical formula to bring them to fruition. His overriding ambition was to take over the world from humans, with fellow animals.
Midway, Nnamani throws Ahidjo the lion and Totombe the tortoise into the fray to add zest and deepen the twists of the narrative. Their entry heated the polity, with all manners of propaganda and schemes gaining ground. Rented crowds were reportedly hired by some aspirants during rallies. Thugs were deployed to disrupt rallies. Some animals, however, withdrew from the race voluntarily. At the end of the day, the election was narrowed down to brawn and intellect, exemplified by Ahidjo the lion (the strongest animal) and Totombe the tortoise (the most cunning). The two candidates were going to square it off under two parties —Animal Welfare Party and Animal Security Party —belonging to Trtombe and Ahidjo respectively.
Nnamani also introduced goebbelsian propaganda and its reverse into the narrative, which produce ridiculous and tense moments. A hurricane, then, struck Animalia, causing panic and disaster. Some animals were submerged in the flood, with some habitats destroyed. The animals soon gathered themselves and looked towards the election. Claro regales the animal kingdom with propaganda, working in concert with Ahidjo.
But it was Totombe who had the last laugh, using technicality to win the domineering lion, the latter having bowed to him unconsciously on the Election Day. Animal Democracy is a novella that limns deceit, gullibility, violence, corruption and intrigues in one broth. Readers will find it hilarious yet sublime.