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Some of the characters in From Zia, with Love are Miguel Domingo, Detiba, Emuke, Commandant Hyacinth, Sebe Irawe, Major Awam, the Wing-Commander, the Superintendent, and the Student. In this section, we shall look into these characters and several others in From Zia, with Love.
Miguel Domingo
Miguel Domingo is a wealthy, educated socialite and former journalist who finds himself detained in a maximum-security prison, alongside common criminals. He is described as a “colonial aristocrat” and a “favourite media gossip socialite.” He represents the elite class whose privileges are suddenly stripped away by the military regime. He is profoundly shocked by his impending execution. He had driven past the prison walls countless times without ever imagining he would be trapped inside.
Miguel strongly condemns the geopolitical hypocrisy of the regime. He argues that they shed innocent blood merely to gain favour with international powers like Ronald Reagan while ignoring larger state-sponsored drug trades. The sheer desperation of his situation drives him to secretly hold onto a fake bandufu invisibility charm for protection from his impending doom.
In his final moments, after the false hope of a “Review Panel” is shattered, he faces his fate with quiet dignity. He does this by dropping his folded jacket and simply stating, “I’m ready.”
Detiba
Detiba is an intellectual and analytical political detainee who shares Cell ‘C’ with Miguel and Emuke. He is, more or less, the philosophical voice of reason among the condemned men, given that he tries to maintain calm when Emuke becomes agitated or terrified. Detiba brilliantly articulates the core absurdity of the regime’s retroactive justice system by comparing it to a football referee changing the rules halfway through a game to penalise a past play.
He is highly critical of the military’s involvement in politics. Their interference inevitably leads to cyclical violence and bloody executions, similar to what occurred in post-colonial Ghana. When the corrupt warder attempts to sell them an invisibility charm, Detiba instantly recognises the scam. He mockingly points out that the charm’s creator is locked in the very same prison. In the end, his intelligence and logical arguments are completely powerless to save him from the firing squad.
Emuke
Emuke is a pragmatic, working-class businessman and former smuggler. He primarily speaks in Pidgin English, and represents the voice of the common man. He harbors a deep resentment towards his wealthy cellmate Miguel. This resentment is fuelled by the belief that wealthy tycoons usually use their money and influence to avoid justice while petty criminals suffer.
Emuke reflects on his past experiences as a deckhand in Ghana, where he witnessed the bloody consequences of successive military coups and civilian mismanagement. His overwhelming fear of the firing squad makes him incredibly desperate and easily manipulated by the corrupt warder’s promises of magical escape. He begs Miguel to lend him the money to purchase the fake bandufu invisibility charm. Like his cellmates, he is deceived by the Superintendent’s lie about a “Review Panel” and is led out to be executed by the state.
The Commandant
The Commandant, also known as Hyacinth, is a burly, scar-faced criminal who runs the “General Cell” as a mock military dictatorship. He insists on being addressed with full military protocol as “Commodore and Commander-in-Chief,” demanding absolute obedience from his fellow inmates.
Acting as a twisted reflection of the actual military junta, he forms his own “Cabinet” with ministers of Health, Security, and Agriculture to process absurdly bureaucratic situation reports. He forces new inmates like Miguel to theatrically enact their “curriculum vitae,” as he treats their past crimes and human suffering as personal entertainment.
The Commandant proudly views himself as an expert theatrical director. He compares his disciplinary style to the late Nigerian maestro Hubert Ogunde. His character functions as a satirical device which demonstrates that the brutal rhetoric and actions of a prison gang leader are indistinguishable from those of the nation’s ruling generals.
Number 2
Number 2 is the Commandant’s second-in-command within the General Cell’s mock military cabinet. He frequently acts as the voice of relative reason and moderation; he steps in to physically calm the Commandant down when the cell leader is on the verge of violently “exploding” over perceived subversion or incompetence.
He is fully complicit in the inmates’ twisted parody of the government and participates in their corrupt plotting. For example, when the Student reveals the massive cocaine syndicate, Number 2 eagerly jumps on the opportunity to blackmail the crime lords, eagerly chanting for a “vote” to proceed with the extortion scheme. He also helps direct the practical flow of the inmates’ forced theatrical enactments. He reminds the Commandant of time constraints such as the impending general prison inspection to ensure their performances stay on track.
Sebe Irawe
Sebe Irawe is a ruthless and highly organised underworld crime lord who runs a massive drug smuggling syndicate in partnership with military officials. He treats his criminal enterprise like a legitimate bureaucracy; he keeps an “office” with regular hours where citizens come to him to solve crimes that the actual police cannot handle.
Sebe explains that his name irawe refers to the innocent-looking leaves on the ground or water under which a deadly snake hides. In other words, his name symbolises his hidden, lethal presence in society.
Unlike his military partners who claim to rely solely on modern, practical measures, Sebe deeply believes in traditional magic and maintains an Esu shrine for protection. He points out that the criminal underworld thrives on the corruption of the state. He compares his enterprise to the water hyacinths that feed on the city’s excrement.
By the end of the play, it is heavily implied that Sebe uses his archaic rituals to successfully murder the corrupt Wing-Commander, leaving his body at a crossroads as a sacrifice.
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The Wing-Commander
The Wing-Commander is a highly corrupt, hypocritical military officer who sits on the nation’s “Eternal Ruling Council” while operating as a major drug kingpin. He utilises his elite diplomatic privileges to smuggle fifty kilograms of prime-grade cocaine into the country, which he disguises as a “fraternal gift” of fertiliser.
He admires General Zia of Pakistan for his ruthless application of Islamic law to retroactively execute a political opponent, which serves as the blueprint for the Nigerian junta’s actions. The Wing-Commander arrogantly boasts about the “Military Time-Machine.” He explains that the regime can invent laws retroactively to maintain absolute power and eliminate rivals.
He constantly mocks Sebe Irawe’s reliance on traditional shrines and sacrifices. He believes that his military decrees and “practical measures” make him invincible. His arrogance eventually leads to his gruesome downfall, as the scavengers later reveal a senior officer matching his description was ritually murdered and left at a crossroads.
The Student
The Student is a young man who worked as a drug courier for Sebe Irawe and the Wing-Commander’s syndicate. He transports a massive cocaine consignment to Milan for them. After attempting to double-cross the syndicate and split the package with an accomplice, he is brutally interrogated and tortured by Sebe.
While eavesdropping on Sebe and the Wing-Commander, he realises the full extent of their corruption and the lethal danger he is in, which prompts him to flee. In a dark twist of irony, he intentionally commits petty crimes to get himself arrested and placed in a maximum-security prison, believing it is the only place he will be safe from the cartel’s assassins.
During his forced “curriculum vitae” performance in the General Cell, he reveals the syndicate’s massive drug plot to the Commandant. His revelations inspire the mock cabinet to launch a blackmail scheme against Sebe. Of course, this shows how systemic corruption infects every level of society.
The Superintendent
The Superintendent embodies the polite, sanitised, and bureaucratic face of the military regime’s violent oppression. He apologises to the political detainees for housing them with “hard-core criminals” and courteously offers them reading material and a Scrabble set to make them comfortable.
Despite his polite demeanour, he is complicit in managing their unjust, retroactive death sentences. In an act of profound psychological manipulation, he lies to the condemned men, telling them they have been summoned before a special “Review Panel” to appeal their sentences. This deception ensures that the men dress carefully and walk quietly out of their cell. It prevents any struggle or resistance from the men. When finally pressed, he drops the facade and admits the stakes are already set up outside. He marchs the men directly to the firing squad.
The Director of Security
The Director of Security, also known as Major Awam, is a prominent member of the Commandant’s mock “Cabinet” in the General Cell. He constantly oversteps his assigned portfolio by delivering absurd intelligence reports that encroach on matters of religion, food shortages, and public transportation.
His character satirises the overarching paranoia of military intelligence, as he views every mundane civilian issue as a potential “flashpoint” for subversion. When he admits he has not identified any new detainees or subversives, he nearly causes the Commandant to “explode” with rage.
Awam shows intense interest in the Student’s revelations about the fifty kilograms of missing cocaine, eager to use his “expertise” to blackmail the cartel. In the play’s epilogue, the Trusties reveal that Awam is plotting a violent coup in the Lagos underworld to seize Sebe’s territory.
The Warder
The Warder, identified as Aremu or Amidu, is a corrupt prison guard who seeks to exploit the inmates for personal profit. He accepts bribes, such as cigarettes, to act as a courier for Miguel’s final letter to his mother, fully expecting a large payout from the grieving family.
He attempts to extort the terrified men in Cell ‘C’ by selling them a fake bandufu charm that supposedly grants invisibility. He preys upon Emuke’s intense fear of the firing squad to demand twelve thousand naira for the counterfeit magical protection. When Detiba exposes the scam and Miguel reveals he already possesses one of the fake charms, the Warder becomes furious at losing the sale. He throws Miguel’s letter onto the cell floor in disgust and hisses “Ye-ye people!” before storming off. Apparently, this shows his utter lack of empathy for the condemned men.
The Trusties
The Trusties are three privileged prisoners equipped with spades, buckets, and scrub brushes who appear in the play’s epilogue. Immediately after the political detainees are led out to be executed, these men enter the vacated cell to scavenge the dead men’s belongings. They ruthlessly fight over discarded items like bits of rope, a cigarette lighter, a necktie, and a twenty-naira note found in a shirt collar.
Their primary complaint is that the firing squad’s bullets have “no business sense” because they ruin the resale value of the victims’ clothes. As they loot, they share critical gossip about the outside world. They reveal the ritualistic murder of a senior military officer. Their incredibly cynical behaviour encapsulates the play’s theme of complete societal desensitisation, where state-sponsored murder is seen simply as a scavenging opportunity.
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Related:
- Plot Summary and Setting of From Zia, With Love by Wole Soyinka
- Dramatic Devices in From Zia, With Love by Wole Soyinka
- Themes in From Zia, With Love by Wole Soyinka
- Act 1 Summary and Analysis of From Zia, With Love by Wole Soyinka
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