The Successors is an x-tray of two
family
generations: The Atsens and the Amehs. Starting in January 1967 with
the two friends and colleagues, Okoh Ameh and Terkura Atsen, both of
whom were employees of the Provincial Hotel, Makurdi, they both were
young friends, and their friendship too was young – less than six months
they met. The enviable industrialist that Terkura later grew to be had
been foreshadowed from the outset, with his idealistically ambitious
nature. The youthful Terkura always dreamed of a future when he would
become a huge force to reckon with in all ramifications, particularly in
business. Ameh on the other hand didn’t feel equally ambitious. He
hadn’t been as equally keen about such wondrous future as Terkura was
foreseeing it. In fact, he had seen Terkura’s longing as impractical.
Ameh was simply optimistic that he would soon get a promotion at work,
and with that promotion, he believed he would only need to apply to do
some courses in that hospitality career, after which he would be able to
attain greater heights, still in the hotel business. Terkura saw his
present job of a porter at the Provincial hotel as a stepping stone to
greater heights. Though without advanced education (university), Terkura
saw that not as a barrier to reaching his set goals, although he had
been scrimping and saving with the strong determination to return to
school the coming year. Of great inspiration was Mr Eze to Terkura’s
dream. Mr Eze was one of the regular guests at the Provincial Hotel
where Terkura was working, but the professional outlook and
business-like composure of the man endeared him to the young Terkura. He
became so attached to the man that in less than six month, he had
learnt a lot from him. Terkura was so shocked when, in July 1967, the
news broke that Mr Eze had been killed in a riot in Kano. The event of
the man’s death was predicated upon the pre-civil war (1967) crisis in
Nigeria. In fact, Terkura’s high opinion of his late mentor, Mr Eze,
influenced his judgement of all Ibos, since Mr Eze, being an Ibo man was
well travelled and very educated,
While Terkura had become tired of the restrictive influence the hotel
job was having on him and his dreams, and he was thinking of quitting,
Ameh seemed to be enjoying the work the more, still being propelled by
his strong conviction that he was going to make a career out of the
hotel and service industry. Besides, while marriage was part of Ameh’s
immediate plans, Terkura never had such even in his later plans. Even
when his mother suggested that they should start the marriage
preparation between him (Terkura) and one Torkwase, Terkura politely
turned down the offer, saying marriage would be a huge distraction to
him and his dreams at that moment. When Terkura told his catechist
father, Mathew Atsen, that he would be quitting his job at the end of
the year, to enable him return to school, the father was very proud of
him, for being very ambitious, though the man would have loved the boy
to be a priest, because he said he had high sense for right and wrong.
Ameh later travelled to his hometown, Ukporo to get married to Maria,
a girl his parents had got for him. After the marriage rituals and
ceremonies, Ameh returned to Makurdi with his new bride, where both of
them had to share his one-room apartment. Aside from the inconvenience
of the compact single room, the compound was full of children and always
noisy, and the environment, very marshy, was a breeding ground for
mosquitoes. Shortly after their marriage, their first child, a male
arrived, and he was named Ifenne. After the baby’s arrival, Ameh and his
family relocated away from the flood-prone and mosquit0-infested areas
to a better accommodation. While Ameh was moving on with his married
life, Terkura was industriously in pursuit of knowledge, from Provincial
College, Yandev for Higher School Certificate to The Ahmadu Bello
University, in Zaria. Just that same time, Terkura’s younger brother,
Terngu, got married. The first part of the book ended here.
In the second part of the book, starting in 1979, Terkura Atsen had
become a grown up and shrewd entrepreneur, who had built from scratch.
Yet, he wasn’t a full-fledged business man, for he was still struggling
to get his footing in the badly run economy of the country, filled with
cruel, greedy, exploitative people, like Chief Ofega who had bluntly
refused to pay Terkura the balance of the contract he had executed on
his – Chief Ofega’s – behalf. But for some rare courage which empowered
Terkura to issue some threat to the adamant chief – obviously the rich
are allergic to threat! – Terkura might not have got the unnecessarily
withheld four hundred and eighteen thousand Naira balance, which later
salvaged his dwindling business.
In the third part of the book, set in 1985, actions shifted back to
Okoh Ameh, who had now become the father of seven children: Ifenne,
Agbo, Veronica, Innocent, Emmanuel, Ada, and Ene. However, his family
had become messed up, and he had been largely responsible for the
family’s misfortune. His life also had been in shambles! He had just
caught his sixteen year old son, Ifenne smoking hemp. He had abandoned
his wife and their seven children, in the weak hands of the wife, and
the family had helplessly fallen apart, while he frittered away his slim
income on alcoholic addiction and womanizing. What had driven him into
such life? Despite his obvious inadequacies and irresponsible, he yet
would unfairly accuse the wife, heaping the blame on her for the dismal
condition of the family. In his conspicuous absence, the wife had
stretched herself to stand in for him, so as to avoid the total collapse
of the family. Ameh would prefer to spend his time, money, and
affection outside the home with mistresses and on drinking wildly.
The complacency that had ruled his life from his youthful days had
been partly responsible for his present predicament. After his secondary
education, he had joined the Provincial Hotel, where he once worked
with Terkura. After many years in service, he was promoted from an
assistant supervisor to senior supervisor. After that single promotion,
he had stagnated at that rank. As his family expanded without a
commensurate expansion or increase in his income, be became worried and
disillusioned, especially when he saw how far his colleagues, such as
Terkura had gone in life. He felt defeated and considering himself a
failure, he took to drinking, as a gullible means of consoling himself.
Expectedly, drinking led him into womanizing. Cumulatively, his
consistent alcohol consumption, his countless flings with many different
mistresses, and the emotional torture of seeing his family destroyed,
all fatally depressed him and had a heavy toll on his health. His health
deteriorated fast, and he later died.
The death of Ameh, Ifenne’s father seemed to have made Ifenne sober.
He prematurely took up the challenge of being the head of his family, as
he began ferreting for jobs to do, to ensure he supplemented the little
his mother had always brought home from his seamstress job. After his
secondary school, Ifenne took up a bus conductor job, and he was
fortunate to have a very disciplined and kind-hearted boss like Oga Olu.
Oga Olu later had a great impact in the life of Ifenne, with his
valuable, wise advice, and total tutelage. From the wayward
cannabis-smoking boy, Ifenne gradually grew into a more go-getting young
man. David Atsen was Ifenne’s age mate, and was the son of Terkura’s
brother, Terngu. So, he was Terkura Atsen’s nephew. David was an
undergraduate student of Accounting at the University of Jos. However,
despite his age, twenty, he was having an illicit affair with a married
woman!
The fourth part of the book was set in the year 1993. Ifenne, now
twenty four, with three buses to his name on the road and other petty
business, he still yearned to acquire a university education. So, seven
years after his secondary education, he eventually gained admission to
study Political Science. It was at the university that Ifenne met
Mwuese. Mwuese was the daughter of Torkwase, the woman who Terkura was
supposed to be married to in his youth. The two hit it off, and soon
their union grew into a relationship, which after some years hit the
rock (failed). Ifenne and Mwuese later met each other three years after
graduation, and after some disagreement and agreement, they rekindled
their love.
In the fifth part of the back, Terkura Atsen died at fifty one,
approximately eight years after Okoh Ameh’s death. Before his death
however, Terkura had become more than the giant he assertively aspired
to be. He built an enduring business empire, and he was very wealthy, in
fact wealthier than his state. But he was never married before his
death. Terkura Atsen made David Atsen, his nephew (brother’s son), the
chief beneficiary of his bequest, though there were yet many other of
the late Terkura’s property that had been willed to be given to other
members of his family, all his long time employees, all the institutions
he (Terkura) attended, all the four universities in Benue State, etc.
No sooner had David Atsen acquired the bequest than he began living
an extravagant lifestyle. He expended money frivolously on needless
travels and embarked on unrestrained spending spree with women. Ifenne
and David had met each other. While Ifenne was still struggling to make
his agro-allied and his transport businesses grow stronger, David was
wildly spending away his large acquired wealth, which his uncle had
painstakingly struggled to build. While Ifenne had already successfully
settled in marriage with Mwuese, David was yet to, as he still was
enjoying the flings with his numerous girls. Because of his lascivious
lifestyle, David almost lost Ene Okoh, the only girl he genuinely loved.
Ene couldn’t condone David’s promiscuity. His resolve to try overcome
his lecherous addiction, so as to regain Ene’s trust and love eventually
had a carry-over effect on his total person. His sincere love for Ene
changed him to the real man his late uncle and benefactor had wanted him
to be. As part of his desire to change, he later joined one of the
Elite clubs that his late uncle had belonged to. David encouraged Ifenne
to run for the position of the governor in the next election, though
Ifenne wouldn’t hear of it at first, he eventually yielded. In the end,
with the powerful influence of David and other members of the Elite
Club, Ifenne Okoh Ameh became the 2nd Executive Governor of Benue State
While x-traying the lives and times of the two family generations of the
Atsens and the Amehs, the story simultaneously looks at the challenges
of succession in the society, business and politics.
