Modern Nigerian literatures have shifted emphasis from countering Western hegemony, negative assumptions of Africans during colonialism to that of resisting and combating forces at home that are plunging the people into unpalatable lifestyle. This study, therefore, investigates post-independence African foibles and throes in the hands of Africans. Two Nigerian texts – Tanure Ojaide’s The Activist and Wale Okediran’s Tenants of the House – are purposively selected for analyses. The texts are subjected to critical and literary analyses to examine leadership questions in post-independence Nigeria and by extension, Africa. In doing this, characters actions and inactions as it relate to leadership in post-independence Nigeria are weighed. While Ojaide’s The Activist narrates the ordeal that trails military rule in Nigeria, Okediran’s Tenants of the House chronicles the failure and challenges facing the polity (civilian rule). The two novels achieve the same goal – denouncing and satirising ills to right the wrongs in the on-going polity. The study therefore is an attempt to show that postcolonial discourse transcends the borders of counter-discourse as it engages literatures of former colonies after the official end of colonialism.

Keywords: Leadership question, Neocolonialism, Post-independence disillusionment, Tanure Ojaide, Wale Okediran,