Same Shit, Different Toilets: Terror, Outrage and the Cycle of Power in Wole Soyinka’s King Baabu

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  • Kwasu Katung John ORCIDFaculty of Arts, Ahmadu Bello University
  • Dominic James AboiAhmadu Bello University, Zaria
PDF (backup copy)Official version on IMISTDOI
Journal
Confluence Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies (e-ISSN 3085-5411)
Issue
Vol. 2 No. 3 (2026)
Section
Articles
Pages
90-102
Published
22 July 2026
DOI
https://doi.org/10.34874/PRSM.cjms-vol2iss3.8957
License
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Copyright (c) 2026 Kwasu Katung John, Dominic James Aboi

Abstract

Post-Independent Nigeria has been mired by problems of power consolidation, the challenge of leadership and its capacity to handle myriad sociopolitical issues. Critics have written on sociocultural aspects of Soyinka’s works as well as the military interventionist traits in his plays, but this paper is concerned with the transition of power from one regime to another. Wole Soyinka in King Baabu deploys biting sarcasm etched on the remarkable background of contemporary history to portray the bastardization of leadership positions by military depots-turned-politicians. Using the praxis of New Historicism, the paper interrogates the playwright’s outrage, disenchantment at the power structure, and leaders who have bullied the masses while masking their true intentions behind promises of democratic dividends. The paper concludes this seizure of power through unscrupulous means to keep in motion their corrupt practices, culminates to a case of same ‘shit’, different toilets: same people – same ideology, except for a different system taking advantage of the masses whose gullibility spurs its continuity.

Keywords

Post-IndependenceSoyinkaNigeriaSarcasmPowerNew HistoricismMilitary Dictatorship

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