By the 1970s it became clear that independence for African nations was “a return to status quo ante....not a political transfiguration but a mere metamorphosis of human varieties”(166). Political independence only ushered in a new breed of authoritarianism, the gauge for entrance into the indigenous political arrangement being multipartyism and conventional elections. Both criteria became so corrupt that they turned out to be merely vehicles for entrance into the power towers of Africa. As Africans were struggling to wrest themselves from the doldrums, another group of petty dictators, armed with artillery, took over the political landscape. The gaucheness of the new military rulers and visionless dawdle of the civilian leaders led to an interminable galloping gauntness in the fortunes of the ruled, thereby widening the gap between the high-ups and the low-downs. By this innovation Africa’s political arrangements became kaput and Africans gawkily search on for a alternative for the previous failed systems. As African political history changed, her poetry moved from the exoteric narcissism it assumed in the late 1950s and 60s to a more formidable instrument for mass activism and mobilization. The poetic voices of the moment are nimble with their creative ink in forging alternatives for Africa’s mired political state. It is this worry that has led African poets of the moment to redefine the possibilities of Africa’s poetic canvas. In order that the African predicament doesn’t linger on poetry has become functional, changing from a mere instrument for political sloganeering and propagandizing into a kind of treatise. Tanure Ojaide contends that:
Literature has to draw attention to [the] increasing gap between the haves and the have nots. Literature has become a weapon against the denial of basic human rights. In the 1960s and 1970s the focus was on political corruption, which was destroying the very fabric of good governances. In the 1980s and now socio-economic concerns have become dominant. Housing, food, health and basic needs which were taken for granted in the 1950s and early 1960s have become the focus of attention. It is understandable why the African artist is utilitarian (42).
Aware of the oracular responsibilities of the poet young African poets continue to fashion alternative outlets for their creative expression in order to inform their audiences of their warped state. For example, in Nigeria, the poets have taken advantage of the independence of the press to make public their opinions. Charles Bodunde states that:
The attempt to create and sustain poetry in Nigerian newspapers is an encouraging literary development. This attempt is made with the recognition of the nature of the newspaper medium itself. The medium easily accommodates materials, which are political, social or literary (77).
From the above we can conclude that African literatures have moved from optimistic assertions of African values and celebration of its innocent virtues to themes of disillusionment and disenchantment.
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