When American’s EFCC-inspired novel thrilled Abuja
It’s probably the first time the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has clearly inspired the making of an international thriller. After three books in the series, ‘The Golden Hour’, ‘Ghosts of Havana’, and ‘Minute Zero’, with a hero, Judd Ryker, America’s Todd Moss unleashes another, inspired by Nigeria’s EFCC, titled ‘The Shadow List’. […]
It’s probably the first time the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has clearly inspired the making of an international thriller. After three books in the series, ‘The Golden Hour’, ‘Ghosts of Havana’, and ‘Minute Zero’, with a hero, Judd Ryker, America’s Todd Moss unleashes another, inspired by Nigeria’s EFCC, titled ‘The Shadow List’.
Everyone knows these days that the war on corruption is, aside being the responsibility of other security agencies, ‘the baby’ of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). This war, amid a complex plot, is what a former United States Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Todd Moss, explores in his international crime thriller novel, ‘The Shadow List’.
Released in 2017, ‘The Shadow List’ was officially presented on January 30 in Abuja, Nigeria in a room of soft, red chairs and some of Abuja’s writers and bookworms, amongst which was 2017’s winner of the Nigerian Prize for Literature, Ikeogu Oke, president of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Malam Denja Abdullahi, and a former ANA president, Dr. Wale Okediran.
Moss served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs under Secretary Condoleezza Rice and is currently a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Global Development in Washington, DC. So it probably wasn’t a surprise when a former EFCC boss, Malam Nuhu Ribadu walked into the Executive Hall of the International Conference Centre in Abuja’s Central District, and later, narrated in a solemn voice how the author helped him when, at a point, he had problems with the Nigerian government.
One of the high moments of the evening was the chairman’s remarks. Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah charged the moment when he said “governance in Nigeria is a criminalised enterprise.”
Kukah pointed out that he hasn’t read a novel in a pretty long time and when he read ‘The Shadow List’ and discovered it was talking about Nigeria it got his full attention. So, he spent quite a long time trying to identify who the characters are in real life. “I find it interesting that the author has found in Nigeria a fertile ground for novel writing, whereas Nigerians have to go out of the country to be reckoned with. In an environment where writing has become, not only hazardous, but not a very respected path,” he said, adding that he loves to read about the mafia and has read ‘The Godfather’ many times. But his greatest fascination with the mafia is how it illustrates what happens when a society collapses.
“We must come to terms with why the country is in such a situation. Sadly, any time we get excited about a new administration, the excitement doesn’t last,” Kukah said. “No one could imagine that three, four years down the line, we will be feeling this way. If you know Nigerians well, rather than thinking about the solution to the problem, we are waiting for a few generals, a few men who governed Nigeria to tell us when they have found a silver bullet, then we all gather around and go through the motions, pretending to be conducting elections, when as it is, from 1999, it’s very clear that we always have an idea who the president will be even before the elections have been conducted. It’s against this backdrop that you can appreciate the intricate and very complex setting of this novel.
“It draws attention to the fact that the fight against corruption isn’t just about goodwill,” he said, and added that fixing Nigeria requires much more than goodwill, and recalled when he said ‘holding our country together, is for me the most fundamental project’.”
Moss’s book is about a State Department diplomat who’s trying to find an American kidnapped in Nigeria after falling for a 419 scam. “It was inspired by the true story of the EFCC and the work that Malam Nuhu Ribadu did, not only in fighting corruption in Nigeria, but also in helping America fight corruption by playing a key role in the investigation of a corrupt US congressman,” he said.
The particular trigger for the novel, Moss explained, is the growth of kidnapping for ransom happening around the world, by criminals and terror groups, and the problems it causes for Americans and Nigerians and how it is dealt with. He added that he also wanted to give the majority of Americans that know nothing about Africa, an insight into his experience working on the continent, and pointed out that, in some ways, one can tell the truth better in fiction than in nonfiction.
‘The Shadow List’ has been described in many ways. The book reviewer, Kunle Ajibade, Executive Editor, The News/PM New, described it as a book that disturbs the peace of the corrupt. Malam Ribadu describes it as “A thrilling novel” that “exposes the intricate world of organised crime and our own modest effort to tackle the behemoth. Todd Moss has enriched this story with his gripping style and engaging prose. I see myself in these pages, and it makes me nostalgic.”