Politics and Leadership Challenges in Helon Habila’s Waiting for an Angel

Abstract

Literature mirrors the society that produced it. It is about man and the happenings around him aswell as his inner conflicts. The writer draws his material from his observations and experiences.This paper entitled “Politics and Leadership Challenges in Helon Habila’s Waiting for an Angelâ€,aims at exploring the sufferings, pains, disappointments, deprivations, corruption, tyranny andoppression that characterizes the society in the novel as a result of leadership patterns, which isthe outcomes of politics of calumny by the ruling class. The leadership class is somehowestranged from the people because of the despotic nature of military leadership in most Africancountries. The novel also portrays the disillusionment of the people, the apathy of the rulers andthe attendant consequences of the dejection, poverty and miserable conditions of the people. Thenovelist also exposes the political activism which unfortunately claims many lives. The data forthis research was mainly from primary and secondary sources, while journals, books, andinternet sources formed the secondary sources. The theoretical framework is Marxism. Thenovelist exposes the issues that undermine the lives and well-being of the masses and advocateshonesty and good governance.