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THE three shortlisted writers for The Nigeria Prize for literature 2026 –Ogaga Ifowodo (Why Does God Need a Gun?), James Ngwu Eze (Unbind Me Now) and Tares Oburumu (Flora’s Love Colony) – recently shared different but related perspectives on poetry, history, identity, freedom, social criticism and the writer’s duty. Though they all write about different issues, they collectively perceive literature as more than entertainment. They address issues of faith, historical memory, oppression, identity, social crisis and the potential for change.
In Why Does God Need a Gun?, Ifowodo considers the concepts of religious belief, intolerance, fanaticism, spirituality and freedom. In Flora’s Love Colony, Tares Oburumu writes about Nigeria’s history, colonialism and identity, while in Unbind Me Now, James Ngwu Eze addresses the social issues prevalent in Nigeria today, with a message of pain, outrage, hope, and a call for collective responsibility.
Why Does God Need a Gun? is about freedom, agency, religious intolerance, fanaticism, belief and spirituality. The first section, ‘From the Forest of a Million Demons,’ relates to Leah Sharibu and her struggle with Boko Haram. Ifowodo depicts Leah as a courageous, self-determining, subjective, and feminine character. The collection also extends beyond Nigeria to Gaza and the Middle East, including the experience of Salman Rushdie, before moving on to broader themes of spirituality, animism, religious traditions and various conceptions of God. It also explores the exploitation of religious believers and the issues of good, evil and the cause of evil.
For Ifowodo, it is more important to craft an artwork than just send a message. War, love, grief and intolerance are not new concepts, but literature is important because of the way the writer uses them. His creative process begins with an impulse, image, word, phrase, or line, which is gradually developed into a poem. These impulses took about two and a half years to come to fruition in the form of Why Does God Need a Gun? He also emphasizes the need for self-criticism and the selection of the appropriate words, images and metaphors. Writing has been a life-long pursuit that started in secondary school for Ifowodo, progressed to a career in law, continued to literature studies, and finally to teaching.
Flora’s Love Colony is the work of Oburumu that is looking to reclaim and share historical memory through poetry. The collection reflects the history behind the naming and amalgamation of Nigeria, especially the contributions of Flora and Lugard. It covers the history of Nigeria from pre-colonial to the slave trade, colonialism, independence and the post-colonial era. Oburumu is especially interested in the legacy of colonialism since political independence in terms of language, clothing, cultural preferences, and a desire to leave the country. The concept of ‘japa’ is perceived in this broader perspective of the neocolonial influence and there has been calls for mental emancipation and return to Nigerian identity.
Flora’s Love Colony was created by drawing on research, imagination and empathy. A newspaper edited by Flora was the source of much of Oburumu’s information, and he admitted that he had done a “little research and a wide imagination.” The historical information was then translated into poetry by imagining what it might have been for Flora and Lugard, for example. Oburumu links the past with the present and the future, and suggests that knowledge of history can shape the future. Poems were specifically chosen as a way of communicating and the poet also highlights the importance of books and reading, inspired by his own experiences of reading books like Treasure Island, Chike and the River and Oliver Twist in childhood.
Unbind Me Now by James Ngwu Eze is a response to the realities of today’s Nigeria. The title is taken from Christopher Okigbo’s poem: “O Mother Earth, unbind me,” and it is an appeal for freedom. Eze intentionally began to develop the collection to counter a critical moment in Nigeria’s history, characterised by violence, insecurity, political and social problems and the normalisation of troubling realities. The poems, therefore, try to speak on behalf of ordinary people, using the “Voice of the Streets” to reveal the social contradictions and to voice collective agony.
Eze’s style in Unbind Me Now is also shaped by the social issues of the song. Eze uses vivid imagery and metaphors to express strong emotion, and talks of a “vocabulary of love” that has given way to a “vocabulary of outrage.” The poems also frequently conclude in a spirit of hope. The collection has a participatory quality through call and response, litany, performance and responsorial psalm forms. The work is about migration, belonging, identity, race, violence and terrorism. In the poem ‘Wanderlust,’ Eze reflects on migration and the remittances, values, influence, and knowledge that those who leave their home countries can bring back to their communities.
The three writers show the wide range of possibilities in today’s Nigeria poetry. Ifowodo’s Why Does God Need a Gun? questions belief, religious intolerance, freedom, and spirituality. Flora’s Love Colony is a means for Oburumu to build up historical memory and to explore the ongoing legacy of colonialism in Nigeria. In Eze’s Unbind Me Now, social documentation and resistance intersect as he addresses problems of the day and urges the audience to take action, to hope, and to take responsibility. However, there are differences in their approach to craft: Ifowodo’s work is more art than message, Oburumu’s more a poetry of history, and Eze’s more a language, structure, imagery, and performance of social realities.
In spite of these differences, all three writers have a sense of the social responsibility of literature. They also address issues of artificial intelligence and creativity in their conversations. Ifowodo reminds people of the importance of human intelligence, complexity and empathy, Oburumu of originality and human feeling and Eze is steadfast in his commitment to literary and cultural development. Eze also speaks of his plans to use the prize money to revitalize or launch a Coal City Literary Festival in Enugu, while Ifowodo plans to return to his alma mater with a literary prize for students, just as Oburumu wants to return to native Delta State and build libraries for school children, so they do not lack reading materials the way he did while growing up in his rural area.
In general, the three writers offer a modern Nigerian poetry that is an arena for the intersection of art, history, identity, social critique, and human responsibility. Why Does God Need a Gun? discusses belief and freedom, Flora’s Love Colony brings history back into the mix of questions of identity and colonial influence, and Unbind Me Now addresses current social issues and demands liberation, hope and collective responsibility. The works collectively capture the potential of Nigerian poetry to remember, interrogate, record and envision Nigeria’s society and future.
