When Dr. MarkAnthony Nze released the first book, ‘The Street Hustler’, it kept everyone wanting for more at the end. No one could wait to lay hands on the sequel because everyone was on their toes, we wanted to know what became of Ikenna. It was therefore ecstatic when the second book, ‘The Street Boss’ was released. It held everyone spell bound and rooted to their seats but nothing prepared us for what was to come in the final book of the trilogy, ‘The Political Boss’. The books are written around family, love, hate, struggles, poverty, hard-work, politics and death.
Ikenna was born into the family of Obinna and Nneka Amanze. He has three siblings; a sister and two brothers named Akunna, Chizitere and Ngozika, respectively. It is a happy family who have love at the centre of their relations but, is the love in the family enough to take them through life?
Obinna’s brothers, Obum and Kalu have vowed never to allow them have peace. Obum once found himself at the receiving end of Ikenna’s fist when he was trying to strangle Nneka. Nneka was a short time away from being the wife of Obum when she realised his evil ways. She confronts him, ends the relationship and walks out on him. In his pride and arrogance, he was more concerned about being dumped by Nneka than at her complaints. He goes after her, attempts strangling her to death but finds himself flat on his back and unconscious when Obinna, his brother, intervened with a blow.
Obinna and Nneka going ahead to get married breaks the camel’s back. Obum who had somehow manipulated their other brother, Kalu, into believing him, declared Obinna and Nneka his sworn enemies. When they began to have children, he added the children to the list of enemies.
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Life would however, take a cruel turn for the family when Obinna dies due to a lack of funds to ensure he gets medical treatment for an ailment. Thinking that it was the worst that could happen, no one was ready for the suffering that the family would have to endure afterwards. Funds to finance their needs were scarce, hence, Ikenna chose to work instead of continuing his education but his mother was not having it. Somehow, with the aid of the scholarships that were awarded to Ikenna due to his hard work, he was able to go through school and graduate in flying colours.
The worst that could possibly befall the family happened when Akunna got married to Pastor Addo. He turned out to not only be a wolf in sheep’s clothing but also went on to align with the sworn enemies of the family, Obum and Kalu. In no time at all, the manipulative duo had turned pastor Addo against Akunna’s family. Eventually, Akunna is also influenced and made to denounce her family. It seemed like it was over for the family. All expectations of hope had been shriveled away and replaced with the gaping hole of emptiness.
It all seemed worse when Ikenna couldn’t land a job after graduating in flying colours from the university. Hope, however, came calling when he came across an old friend, Abel. Abel will go on to be a vital part of his story, beginning with encouraging him to extend his search for a job into the city of Lasgidi.
Ikenna will make the much needed move to Lasgidi, meet an angel in disguise, in the person of a woman called Aaliyah. She would ensure that he gets settled into life in Lasgidi. In no time at all, Ikenna gets a full time job, begins to wish for more and gets introduced to trading by Abel. He makes it big, but because he has always been one to reach for more, he would delve into the automobile business. All seemed well until he joined the Car Accessories Association, “The CAA”, in his bid to serve humanity.
It was while serving in the CAA that he noticed the rot eating deep into it, corruption and greed. Adekunle Jibola, the secretary of the association only cares for himself and his goons. He wasn’t interested in anything that wasn’t siphoning the association’s funds. Ikenna wasn’t going to be a party to that. He begins to find ways to curtail the menace. Gradually, the members see his efforts towards eradicating corruption and ensuring that the purpose of the association was being fulfilled. They decided he was the best person to lead the association. Ikenna is declared the new secretary of the CAA.
This certainly didn’t go down well with Adekunle Jibola and his associates. They resorted to taking measures to silence him. The first book, “The Street Hustler” came to a close with Ikenna being followed.
The second book in the trilogy, “The Street Boss” kicked off with so much conspiracy and plans to take Ikenna out. These plots were spearheaded by a greater authority in the CAA, the president. Mr. Babatunde Oluwole was being irked by the audacity of the little boy who was ensuring that there were no loop holes for them to steal from. Various other big fishes in the CAA such as, Hassan Buhari, Laide Osun, Mbadinuju and Nana Elbar, were also not pleased at him. At the end of the book two, Ikenna had garnered enough enemies wanting to bring him down but also enough followers, including his secretary, Jane, who believed in his cause and wanted to see him go up. Those followers were sufficient enough when it was time to determine who the next president would be.
This simply meant amassing more enemies for himself. All the forces would come together to make sure that Ikenna is eliminated. They sent assassins after him. The assassins succeeded in getting Ikenna shot. At this point, the suspense is mind shattering.
The third book is titled ‘The Political Boss’. True to its title, Ikenna proved to be the political boss, following the events that took place. He survived the shooting under the care of Dr. Nwachi. He eventually marries her and they have four children. His life was seemingly perfect until he caught the unwanted attention of the country’s president.
The president had caught whiff of the trailblazer who was fighting corruption and how he had unseated the authorities.
Hairs are ruffled, grander scaled plots become the order of the day. Various assassination attempts were made at him and, the most instigating of all, kidnapping his brothers. In a shocking turn of events however, the people protest the abductions which led to the release of his brothers and subsequently, a call for a new president came. Guess who became the new president of the country, you guessed right; Ikenna.
At this point, the tears would most likely be flowing uncontrollably as it couldn’t have turned out better. Dr. MarkAnthony Nze has done justice to his attempt at elucidating the trials that the straight forward and honest politician or person faces in the midst of a rotten system that is bedeviled by Corruption and greed.
This trilogy is a perfect depiction of the reality of many countries of the world. What more exposition could we possibly ask for?
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK