‘Why Do Humans Need God To Justify A Gun?’ — Ifowodo Speaks After $100,000 Prize Win

In an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP, Ogaga Ifowodo, the poet who was awarded the Nigeria Prize for Literature, valued at $100,000, for his collection of poetry, Why Does God Need A Gun?, spoke about faith, extremism, power and the violence that has shaped parts of Nigeria’s recent history.

Asked, “If God does not need a gun, why do you think human beings so often need God to justify one?”, Ifowodo said, invoking God can become a way of shielding human motives from scrutiny.

“Because by falsely invoking the name of God, they appeal to our innate fear, awe and worship of God, hoping thereby to prevent any rational examination of their motives, their quest for power and domination over the rest of us,” he said.

“If we accept that it is God’s commands they are obeying, then we can’t question their actions, no matter how vile, murderous and evil.”

It is a response that goes directly to the heart of Why Does God Need a Gun?, a collection that interrogates religious violence and what happens when faith is used to legitimise power and brutality.

But the question of God and the gun is only one part of Ifowodo’s conversation with LEADERSHIP.

In the full interview, he speaks about Leah Sharibu and why she has become such an important figure in his poetry. He also confronts Nigeria’s tendency to forget victims of violence and explains what he believes happens to a country when tragedy becomes so frequent that people begin to live with it.

And there is an even bigger question: has Nigeria become too comfortable with religious and political violence?

Ifowodo has an answer.

Read the full exclusive interview with Ogaga Ifowodo in tomorrow’s edition of LEADERSHIP, as he speaks to Adejoke Alabi-Henry about his prize-winning collection, Leah Sharibu, religious extremism, Nigeria’s forgotten victims and why literature must refuse to look away.