Majekodunmi Oseriemen Ebhohon (2025), The Great Delusion. Noirptess.
By G. G. Darah, Professor of Oral Literature and Folklore
Majekodunmi Oseriemen Ebhohon’s The Great Delusion, the 2025 ANA Drama Prize winner, is a monumental work that dramatises the African American struggle to reclaim a stolen history and identity. The play employs a robust dialectical structure to expose the fatal contradictions of a racially divided society, culminating in a Black Exodus that collapses the very system built on their oppression.
The story unfolds over three acts, each containing eleven scenes, moving in order towards a devastating ending. The first acts show a marginalised Black community fighting for freedom and asserting its identity. A festival honouring Black tradition and self-reliance is violently disrupted by the white ruling class, sparking widespread resistance. This conflict grows into a large-scale exodus of the Black population, a strategic retreat that reveals a deep truth: Black labour and ingenuity are the backbone of the society’s prosperity. Their departure causes a complete social and economic collapse.
Ebhohon skillfully personalises this profound conflict through the character of Mr Deep, the quintessential white supremacist. The play’s central irony unfolds within his own household. His wife, Margaret, advocates for racial equality and recognises the Black community as allies. Their son, Jack, maintains a friendship with Kwame, a Black boy, symbolising a potential bridge across the racial divide. When Jack requires emergency surgery, the failure of white doctors is contrasted with the heroic efforts of a Black surgeon, Dr. Mensah. Yet, even amidst this personal tragedy and evidence of Black competence, Mr. Deep remains blinded by his racist beliefs.
In the ensuing chaos, Margaret becomes a teacher, sage, and humanist. She systematically debunks the myth of white superiority by listing the achievements of Black inventors, scientists, and thinkers—whose contributions were vital to the prosperity of capitalism. Her passionate revelations serve as a stark indictment, forcing a reckoning among the misguided, but the awakening comes too late. The white community pays the ultimate price for its delusion.
Beyond its powerful political narrative, The Great Delusion functions as a magnificent piece of African folkloric theatre. Its dramaturgy acts as a microcosm of a traditional festival, combining dialogue, song, music, drumming, and a wide array of characters—from ten main protagonists to twenty supporting symbolic figures, such as ghosts and ancestral voices. This epic scale evokes the spirit of seminal works like Wole Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests and Derek Walcott’s Dream on Monkey Mountain.
The folktale motif is anchored by Granny, a resilient woman carrying “history in her voice,” and Julian, a 12-year-old girl full of “searching questions.” They serve as the narrative framework, with their intergenerational dialogue embodying the story’s didactic purpose. The play begins with Granny describing the sight of a destitute white beggar, who offers parable-like wisdom that sets the thematic stage.
“That is a man who believed himself king of all.
Yet built his throne on the backs of those he despised…
Power without justice…crumbles to ruins.”
This storytelling device, used by dramatists such as Ola Rotimi and Femi Osofisan, is employed effectively. Granny’s anecdotes, including a poignant reference to the white abolitionist martyr John Brown, weave a continuous thread of historical consciousness. The play’s epilogue returns to this framework at the graveside of Margaret, now a white heroine similar to Brown.
Here, the play offers a glimmer of hope. Julian asks if the exiled Black people ever returned.
Granny responds with a visionary tale of their triumphant return to Africa. The survivors, she explains, ignited an “Episterresurrection”—a mandate for every Black child to become a “sacred scavenger,” unearthing and revitalising their ancestors’ buried knowledge. This led to a new African Renaissance, where nations such as Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Tanzania emerged as global leaders in science, medicine, and finance.
In a powerful reversal, Granny points to an “African Aids Distribution Centre” now besieged by malnourished white people seeking help. “Africa leads the world now,” she declares.
The Bigger Issues: Reclaiming a Stolen Legacy
The Great Delusion rekindles vital debates about Africa’s role in world history. It challenges the deliberate erasure of memory resulting from the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, which violently uprooted millions of Africa’s brightest minds to build the fortunes of Europe and the Americas. The play makes a significant contribution to Diaspora civilizational literature, honouring the heroic achievements of a people who have been systematically portrayed as having no history or culture.
This act of reclamation aligns with the mission of Diaspora intellectuals like Professor John Henrik Clarke, who asserted that history tells a people “where they still must go.” From ex-slave writers like Olaudah Equiano and Frederick Douglass to Pan-Africanists like W.E.B. Du Bois and Negritude thinkers like Cheikh Anta Diop, a lineage of “geniuses in bondage” laid the groundwork for this work. The play echoes their scholarship by celebrating specific, often-overlooked Black innovators: Otis Boykin (automatic control unit), Garrett Morgan (inventor of the traffic light), George Carruthers (pioneer in space technology), and Nigeria’s Phillip Emeagwali (pioneer in computing).
The Great Delusion is not merely a play; it is a call to action. It challenges Africa and its Diaspora to harness a radical consciousness to reclaim their legacy. As Granny’s final warning resonates: “History bends not to the whip, but to the hand that dares to sow again after the storm.”
This review is based on the keynote address delivered by Distinguished Prof. G.G. Darah at the official launch of The Great Delusion at HOMEF’s Ikike Gardens, Benin City, on November 4, 2025. The play will also feature at the 2025 Lagos Book & Art Festival (November 10–16, Freedom Park, Lagos).
Majekodunmi Oseriemen Ebhohon is a playwright, media practitioner, and poet from Benin City, Nigeria. His debut play has been recognised for its “grand dramatic enactment” and its contribution to diaspora literature.
ANA 2025 Prize Winners
The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) announced the winners of its 2025 literary prizes on November 1, 2025, at an awards ceremony in Abuja. The prizes were awarded across multiple categories, with some works being declared joint winners.
The distinguished panel of judges included Prof. Musa Idris Okpanachi, Prof. Oyeh Otu, Mr Aj. Dagga Tolar, Mr Anote Ajeluorou, and Mr Nzube Nlebedim.
The sponsors are King Bubraye Dakolo of Ekpetiama Kingdom, Col. K. K. Shaw (retd.) of KMVL, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, Dr. Kabura Zakama, and Mr. Onyeka Nwelue.
Winners
• ANA/KMVL Poetry Prize
Stoning the Wind by Gbemisola Adeoti and Girls and The Silhouette of Form by Star Zahra (joint winners)
• ANA/King Dakolo Fiction Prize
Habitat of Ordinary People by Olumide Olutola.
• ANA Prize for Drama
The Great Delusion by Majekodunmi O. Ebhohon.
• ANA/Sir Chukwuemeka Sam Nwelue Non-Fiction Prize
Breaking Point by David Hundeyin.
• ANA/Ngozi Chuma-Udeh Prize for Children’s Fiction
The Boy Who Built a Titanic Craft by David Okorafor.
Event Highlights and Judges’ Comments
The awards were part of the grand dinner ceremony concluding the 44th ANA International Convention, held at the Chinua Achebe International Conference Centre in Abuja.
• Poetry Prize: The judges praised Adeoti’s work for being “profoundly rooted in tradition and patriotism,” while Zahra’s collection was noted for its “linguistic innovation and emotional resonance”.
• Fiction Prize: Olumide Olutola’s winning novel, Habitat of Ordinary People, was commended for its “authentic characterisation and social realism”.
• Drama Prize: The winning play, The Great Delusion, was described as “a powerful exploration of Black identity and Western erasure of African contributions, executed with experimental flair”.
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