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Some of the characters in A Man of the People are Odili Samalu, Chief Nanga, Edna Odo, Maxwell Kulamo, Elsie, Hezekiah Samalu, Eunice, Chief Koko, Josiah, Mrs. Nanga, Jonathan Nwege, Jean, Andrew Kadibe, Odo, Boniface, Dr. Makinde, Peter, John, Mrs. Eleanor John, Jalio, Dogo, and Couple. In this section, we are going to examine these characters.
Odili Samalu
Odili is the narrator of the novel. He is a young university graduate who initially works as a teacher at Anata Grammar School. He has a cynical view of the corrupt politicians running his country. He specifically despises the anti-intellectual populism that brought leaders like Chief Nanga to power.
Odili is portrayed as a hypocritical character. One wouldn’t have expected him to accept an invitation to stay at Chief Nanga’s luxurious Bori mansion, given his high-minded political principles. However, he does accept it with the intention to use the politician’s mansion as a convenient location to sleep with his girlfriend, Elsie.
After Nanga sleeps with Elsie, Odili’s wounded pride drives him to seek revenge by joining a rival political party, the Common People’s Convention, and attempting to seduce Nanga’s intended second wife, Edna.
Over the course of his political campaign, Odili sheds his naive idealism, falls genuinely in love with Edna, and is brutally beaten by Nanga’s thugs. This first-hand experience makes him come to terms with the harsh realities of his country’s political system.
Chief the Honourable M. A. Nanga, M.P.
Chief Nanga is the country’s Minister of Culture, widely known as the most approachable, charismatic politician in the country. Before entering politics, Nanga was a popular scoutmaster. He taught Odili in standard three back in 1948.
Nanga is a master manipulator who rose to his powerful ministerial position by leading a vicious pack of sycophants to denounce the educated ex-ministers during a national financial crisis.
Although he publicly champions anti-intellectualism and mocks those with university degrees, Nanga secretly covets academic prestige, as seen in how he eagerly anticipates receiving an unearned “Doctor of Laws” degree from a small American college.
His corrupt and predatory nature is fully exposed when he takes Odili’s girlfriend, Elsie, to bed, and when he aggressively uses his political position to demand kickbacks to build luxury flats.
Edna Odo
Edna is a beautiful young woman whom Chief Nanga is sponsoring at a Women’s Training College so she can eventually become his sophisticated “parlour-wife.” She comes from a poor background, and her greedy father treats her marriage to the wealthy Minister purely as a lucrative economic transaction.
Initially, she rejects Odili’s romantic advances out of fear of her father and a sense of obligation to Nanga, who has already paid her bride-price. Later, Edna explicitly writes to Odili that she does not truly want to marry the Minister, though she feels helplessly trapped by the financial arrangements.
After Nanga’s downfall following a military coup, she admits her true feelings. She reconciles with Odili and agrees to marry him once he repays Nanga’s bride-price.
Maxwell (Max) Kulamo
Max is Odili’s former schoolmate, known back then as “Cool Max” or “Diligent.” He now works as a lawyer in the capital city of Bori. He is one of the key founding members of the Common People’s Convention (C.P.C.), a radical political party created by young intellectuals to oppose the corrupt ruling government.
Although he postures as an idealistic reformer, Max makes severe moral compromise by secretly accepting a one-thousand-pound bribe from Chief Koko to step down from the election. He cynically rationalises this corruption by claiming the signed agreement has no legal force and that the party needs the funds to fight a “dirty war” against well-funded opponents.
Max is tragically murdered on election day when he is deliberately run over by Chief Koko’s jeep while investigating ballot-rigging. He is posthumously named a “Hero of the Revolution.”
Elsie
Elsie is a vivacious student nurse whom Odili first meets at a university party organised by the Students’ Christian Movement. Odili pursues a casual romantic relationship with her, even though she is technically engaged to a medical student in Edinburgh named Ralph.
She provides the catalyst for the novel’s main conflict when Odili brings her to Chief Nanga’s Bori mansion for a rendezvous during her days off. During this visit, Nanga aggressively pursues and sleeps with her.
Odili is profoundly humiliated when he hears her screaming Nanga’s name in the night. Following this betrayal, Odili bitterly dismisses Elsie as a common harlot, and completely cuts ties with her to focus on his political revenge against the Minister.
Hezekiah Samalu
Hezekiah is Odili’s father. He is a retired District Interpreter who used his immense power during the colonial era to extract bribes and amass wealth from terrified villagers. He is a local chairman of the ruling P.O.P. party. He has a deeply cynical, transactional view of politics in that he sees it as a source of personal material gain.
Hezekiah has a massive family of five wives and around thirty-five children. As a result, he has a somewhat estranged relationship with Odili, who resents his father’s constant acquisition of new wives.
Even though he and Odili have ideological differences, coupled with the fact that Odili rebelled against the P.O.P, Hezekiah surprisingly allows Odili to launch his rival political campaign from his compound out of being fair to his own son.
Consequently, he faces punitive taxes and police harassment from his own party due to Odili’s defiance. But in all this, he proudly stands by his son and refuses to sign a document denouncing him.
Eunice
Eunice is a beautiful, sophisticated lawyer and the fiancée of Max Kulamo, whom she met at the London School of Economics. She is a dedicated member of the Common People’s Convention. She plays an active role in the party’s strategic planning and campaigning alongside Max.
When Max is deliberately run over and killed by Chief Koko’s jeep on election day, Eunice reacts with cold, uncompromising determination. She pulls a pistol from her handbag and shoots Chief Koko twice in the chest to avenge Max’s murder, before finally breaking down in tears.
Following the military coup, she is released from prison by the new regime. Odili views her solitary act of vengeance as the only true instance of justice in their apathetic society.
Chief S. I. Koko
Chief Koko is the jovial, overweight Minister for Overseas Training in the post-independence government. He is incredibly paranoid and cowardly, as seen in how he famously causes a massive scene when he mistakenly believes his cook has poisoned his coffee, which turns out merely to be locally manufactured “OHMS” coffee.
Like his colleague Chief Nanga, Koko relies on massive bribery and intimidation to maintain his political power. As a matter of fact, he pays Max a one-thousand-pound bribe in an attempt to make him drop out of the election.
He is directly responsible for Max’s death. He has his men run Max over with a jeep when he attempts to investigate election fraud. Koko’s corrupt and violent life is abruptly ended when Max’s fiancée, Eunice, shoots him dead on the spot.
Josiah
Josiah is the owner of a local shop and bar in Anata, where many villagers and teachers frequent to drink. He becomes a despised pariah in the village after committing a grave abomination: he is caught stealing a blind beggar’s walking stick in order to make “medicine for trade” to artificially attract customers. The villagers enact swift collective justice by completely boycotting his business, which leads to his financial ruin and temporary disappearance.
Desperate for a comeback, Josiah briefly offers his services to Odili’s political campaign, but Odili firmly rejects him, knowing his involvement would taint the C.P.C’s reputation. In retaliation, Josiah acts as an informant for Chief Nanga. He points Odili out in the crowd at Nanga’s inaugural campaign rally, which directly leads to Odili’s severe beating at the hands of the mob.
Mrs. Nanga
Mrs. Nanga is Chief Nanga’s loyal first wife and the mother of his seven children. She is a somewhat traditional who speaks primarily in her native language and pidgin.
She is bitterly aware that her husband considers her too “bush” for his sophisticated life in the capital and he is grooming a younger, educated girl to be his “parlour-wife.”
When Odili visits Bori, she treats him with great hospitality. She serves him meals and makes sure he is comfortable in the guest suite. However, her fundamental loyalty remains tethered to her husband’s power; when Odili officially challenges Nanga’s political seat, she furiously curses Odili and kicks him off her property.
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Mr. Jonathan Nwege
Mr. Jonathan Nwege is the thin, wiry Proprietor and Principal of Anata Grammar School, where Odili is employed at the beginning of the novel. He is a highly sycophantic man who is active in local politics and constantly grumbles about his loyalty to the ruling party not being rewarded with a lucrative board appointment. He desperately hopes to be placed on a new corporation that will oversee the disposal of unserviceable government property, such as old mattresses and disused typewriters.
He is also the subject of a popular local joke stemming from his days as a poor teacher, when he supposedly rode a rickety bicycle down a hill and yelled “Push me down and take my threepence” to pedestrians to avoid a crash.
Later in the novel, after Odili launches his rival political campaign against Chief Nanga, Nwege proves his party loyalty by physically locking Odili out of the school hall and abruptly dismissing him from his teaching job.
Jean
Jean is a young, highly sophisticated, and bumptious white American woman who resides in the capital city of Bori with her husband, John. She exhibits a breezy familiarity with Chief Nanga, which Odili finds shocking. She casually addresses the powerful Minister by his discarded Christian name, “Micah.”
Even though her husband is present, she actively flirts with Odili. She correctly interprets his leg-shaking as a sign of sexual desire, and takes him back to her house to sleep with him.
However, Odili quickly becomes annoyed by her tendency to analytically discuss their sexual encounter right after it happens; something she treats like a “post-mortem.” In the same vein, she offends Odili’s defensive sense of nationalism by taking him on a midnight drive through the city’s worst, maggot-ridden slums, which Odili perceives as a patronising display of foreign superiority.
Andrew Kadibe
Andrew Kadibe is Odili’s close friend and a fellow teacher at the Anata Grammar School. He hails from the exact same village as Chief Nanga, which makes him reluctant to openly side with Odili when Odili protests against the obsequious reception planned for the Minister.
Andrew suffers from a lingering colonial inferiority complex. This is evident in his open admittance that the greatest delight of his European visit was having a white taxi driver call him “Sir” and carry his bags.
He is the one who foolishly calls Chief Nanga by his old, mocking nickname, “M.A. Minus Opportunity,” during the school reception. This mockery draws a furious glare from the powerful politician.
Andrew and Odili share a very casual, joking relationship. They are always trying to trick each other by knocking on doors and mimicking high-pitched female voices.
Odo
Odo is Edna’s father. He is an avaricious man who views his daughter’s impending marriage to Chief Nanga purely as an endless source of personal wealth. Whenever Odili visits Odo’s compound, he usually finds him sitting in his front room, busily making the traditional rope used for tying yams in the barn. Odo shows absolutely no sympathy for his sick wife’s suffering or his daughter’s reluctance. He explicitly states that he intends to “eat until [he is] tired” from Nanga’s fortune.
When Odili’s political rebellion becomes known, Odo violently turns against Odili. He rushes at him with a raised machete and threatens to kill him. He later mocks Odili’s political campaign by comparing Odili to a tiny tick trying to challenge a massive bull, and cynically advises Odili to simply embezzle the campaign funds for himself.
Boniface
Boniface is a tough, crazy-acting young man whom Odili hires to lead his political bodyguard during the violent C.P.C. campaign. He is not originally from Odili’s village and initially did not even speak the local language. He prefers to communicate in pidgin English.
He has a reputation for eccentric and dangerous behaviour, which he claims is the result of a childhood accident where he fell out of a mango tree and landed on his head. Rumour also has it that he possesses only a single, solid bone in his forearm instead of the normal two.
Boniface fully embraces the lawless, brutal reality of local politics. He once demands twenty-five pounds from Odili to hire men to burn Chief Nanga’s car. He also warns Odili that his “gentlemanity” will never win an election.
Dr. Makinde
Dr. Makinde is the former Minister of Finance who was dismissed from the government during the 1960 financial crisis. He is a highly educated and first-rate economist who holds a Ph.D. in public finance.
During a slump in the international coffee market, Dr. Makinde presented a sound, rational plan to deal with the crisis by cutting the prices paid to farmers. However, the Prime Minister rejected this plan for fear of losing the upcoming election. He sacked Makinde, and branded him and his educated colleagues the “Miscreant Gang.”
Makinde’s dismissal sparked a wave of anti-intellectualism across the nation. He was publicly disgraced when angry mobs destroyed his car and stoned his house.
Peter
Peter is Odili’s fifteen-year-old houseboy who earns one pound a month and receives free board and lodging. He holds a standard six certificate, but because of the country’s lack of opportunities, he is relegated to working as a domestic servant rather than securing a job as a messenger or teacher.
He is an avid reader in his spare time, though he prefers dubious literature like an Indian book titled How to Solve the Fair Sex. He is particularly fond of Jollof rice and jumps at the opportunity to cook it for Odili whenever he is given the choice.
Beyond all, he is portrayed as generous. He shows this touching generosity by buying a rayon head-tie for his mother and tobacco for his father when returning to his village for the holidays.
John
John is Jean’s husband. He is a quiet white American who works as an expert advising the African government on its public image in the United States. He appears somewhat cowed by his lively and bumptious wife, but he is considered an excellent ambassador for his country.
During a dinner party, he passionately defends America’s racial progress. He claims that things are improving. He also points out that lynching was not solely a racial issue in the past. He makes the astounding claim that the United States is the only powerful country in the history of the world that possessed the power to conquer others but chose not to do so. He uses the example of America refraining from dropping atom bombs on Moscow or Leningrad in 1945 as evidence of its commitment to outdated concepts like freedom.
Mrs. Eleanor John
Mrs. Eleanor John is a highly influential party woman and “merchant princess” from the coastal town of Pokoma who travels in Chief Nanga’s entourage. She is an orphaned woman with no formal school education who used her good looks and iron determination to rise from a street hawker to a major trader in imported second-hand clothing. She is heavily painted and perfumed, and she prominently wears massive coral beads worth hundreds of pounds.
She holds a position on the Library Commission, one of the statutory boards under Chief Nanga’s ministerial portfolio. This goes to show the government’s nepotistic appointments, because she is clearly not qualified for the position, given her lack of education.
She dismisses the complaints of the poor. She argues that those who have not experienced the troubles of the wealthy do not understand them, to which others point out that the poor would gladly accept a rich man’s troubles.
Jalio
Jalio is an old university acquaintance of Odili who serves as the President of the Writers’ Society. He recently published a novel titled The Song of the Black Bird. He adopts a highly non-conformist persona, given that he designs his own eccentric clothing. He suffers a humiliating public dressing-down from Chief Nanga for wearing his self-designed outfit to a book exhibition attended by foreign ambassadors.
Although he seems to have this rebellious and unconventional image, he behaves with sycophantic eagerness when approached by foreign diplomats for autographs. He is not the only one guilty of this. Even the Minister, who initially treats him with utter contempt, later flatters him as a “well-comported young man” after noticing the respect he receives from foreign dignitaries.
Dogo
Dogo is Chief Nanga’s massive, tough-looking, one-eyed stalwart and bodyguard. He aggressively enforces respect for the Minister, as he loudly reprimands anyone who fails to show proper deference to Nanga’s age and authority.
He demonstrates fierce loyalty to his employer. This is evident in how he rushes out in his sleeping loin-cloth to confront Odili after Odili hurls insults at Nanga in the middle of the night. Later in the novel, Dogo is assigned to guard Edna’s family compound, where he threatens to castrate Odili if he ever returns to the house.
For all his toughness, Dogo suffers a karmic bodily injury at the end of the novel. He is severely injured and loses an ear during a violent clash between the politicians’ disbanded private armies of thugs.
Couple
Couple is a local politician and councillor in Urua who earned his nickname from his former career as a police corporal. He previously served two years in prison for corruptly receiving ten shillings from a lorry driver, though he claims he was framed by enemies. He is involved in a local corruption scheme in which he supplies stones for the village water project, and secretly resells the same heap of stones multiple times in collusion with the Local Council Treasurer.
During Max’s political rally, Couple brazenly defends the corrupt government. He argues that the politicians are justified because they bring water and electricity; that they allow the villagers to “eat” as well with the provision of these basic amenities. When members of the crowd mock him for his own corruption and accuse him of “eating aged guinea-fowls,” he remains completely unfazed by the public reprimand.
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