• Jereena Babu
• Dr Shiva Chaudhary

Colonial Nigeria had been subjected to colonisation since the early 80s which went on till the 1960’s when Nigeria finally gained Independence. The excruciating experiences with their colonisers carved in them the realisation to obtain emancipation from their fangs. Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God highlight’s the struggle of a leader-priest who tries to dismiss colonial rule and in the process loses the support and respect of his tribe. The British colonists wanted to educate the leader about their dealings and therefore invite him to join them in their leadership. The stark difference in their ruling method was that Ezeulu would not be directly in charge, rather would convey the decisions from the coloniser to his people. The policy of indirect rule as it is known suppresses the authoritarian power of the actual leader, reducing his role to a puppet leader under the actual leadership. Retaliating against this injustice was considered a crime and so Ezeulu ended up in prison for a while. With the help of the black men, indirect rule is a cover-up for the white men who have ulterior motives with the new land they landed in. The indirect method of ruling brought in by the coloniser and the experiences of the Nigerian people with the change in the ruling system brought in by the coloniser will be addressed in the course of this paper.

postcolonial Nigeria, indirect rule, puppet leader, injustice, emancipation

"Rules of Doom: Analysing the Policy of Indirect Rule as observed in Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God ", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.9, Issue 3, page no.d782-d788, March-2022, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2203397.pdf

"Rules of Doom: Analysing the Policy of Indirect Rule as observed in Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God ", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.9, Issue 3, page no. ppd782-d788, March-2022, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2203397.pdf