METAPHORIZED IMAGES AND MATERIALISM IN NIGERIAN DRAMA: ZULU SOFOLA’S WIZARD OF LAW IN PERSPECTIVE

Sofola’s comedy, Wizard of Law examines the materialistic attitude of the Nigerian society and addresses conflicting social values of ethics and existentialist logic of scam. Her prophetic play written in the 1970s, when the ethical value collapse hadn’t become fully apparent, parallels the current realities of the Nigerian society. The noted tenterhooks of corruption which has spread over all areas of civil society is analysed wittily in the script to reveal the transcendental element of money in Nigeria’s social ladder. The play’s characters are crafted as existentialist organisms indulging in moral vandalism just to survive the poverty monster. The writer condemns worldly women marrying for quick gains, greedy traders exploiting customers for sharp profit, covetous lawyers and the complicit Nigeria judicial system while stressing on the need for moral reassessment. Sofola’s Wizard of Law employs flat characters primarily serving the purpose of didactics, uses local language, speech posers and deductive paradoxes of outright deceit to worsen the already chaotic verbal Nigerian environment. The article significantly examines moralist imperatives and the evolving social standard of ethics.