Nanga delivers a speech at Anata Grammar School, charming the crowd and personally greeting his former student Odili.

Nanga invites Odili to stay at his home in Bori to pursue a scholarship with the Minister of Overseas Training.

Odili travels to Bori and is warmly welcomed into Nanga's lavish home.

Odili and Nanga visit Chief Koko, who believes his cook has poisoned his coffee and orders the man seized.

Odili overhears Nanga's phone call revealing he prefers European contractors and is concealing information from the press.

Odili and Elsie attend the African authors exhibition as Nanga's guests after a second girl falls ill.

Nanga sleeps with Elsie in her room while Odili waits downstairs expecting her to come to him.

Odili argues with Nanga and leaves his house for good, moving in with his friend Max.

Odili joins Max's new political party, the Common People's Convention, as a founding member.

Odili formally announces his candidacy to challenge Nanga for his ministerial seat in the upcoming election.

Nanga visits Odili's father's home and offers Odili a scholarship and money to drop out of the race; Odili refuses.

Odili attends Nanga's inaugural campaign meeting in disguise, is identified, and beaten by Nanga's thugs.

Nanga's thugs prevent Odili from formally registering his candidacy while he recovers in the hospital.

Max is killed by Chief Koko; violent unrest sweeps the nation and the army topples the government and arrests Nanga.

Odili and Edna receive both their fathers' blessings to marry; Odili resolves to open a school in Max's honor.

Odili is charmed by his former teacher Chief Nanga and accepts an invitation to stay at his home in the capital city of Bori. While there, he witnesses Nanga's corruption firsthand and is personally betrayed when Nanga sleeps with Elsie, a woman Odili had brought to the house for himself. Enraged, Odili joins a new political party and resolves to challenge Nanga directly in the upcoming election. Despite bribery attempts, escalating threats, and physical violence from Nanga's supporters, Odili refuses to step aside from the race. Nanga's thugs ultimately prevent Odili from registering as a candidate, but a broader political crisis leads to a military coup that topples the government and sees Nanga arrested. Odili survives the upheaval and, with the nation transformed, looks toward a hopeful future with Edna.

The key political and personal events that drive Odili's conflict with Chief Nanga.

Nanga recognizes Odili among the school staff and warmly reacquaints himself with his former student.

Andrew visits Odili after the speech and reveals the young woman seen with Nanga is intended to be his second wife.

Odili visits his father Hezekiah in Urua before traveling to Bori; the two are at odds over Odili's career choices.

Odili learns that Mrs. Nanga and the children will leave Bori, and plans to entertain Elsie during her absence.

Americans John and Jean visit Nanga; Jean flirts with Nanga while John debates colonization with Odili.

Odili attends Jean's dinner party, corrects a guest's misinterpretation of a local gesture, and later sleeps with Jean.

Nanga scolds the author Jalio for wearing inappropriate clothing instead of a suit or national costume at the exhibition.

Nanga admits to Odili that the five pounds he gave the Daily Matchet editor was effectively a bribe for good coverage.

Odili returns to Anata and witnesses villagers drive out the merchant Josiah for stealing blind Azoge's walking stick.

Odili takes Edna on his bicycle to the hospital; they crash because of sheep on the road and the food is ruined.

Josiah offers to support Odili's campaign; Odili turns him down, and Josiah swears vengeance before leaving.

Mr. Nwege dismisses Odili from his teaching job with a month's salary after Odili announces his candidacy against Nanga.

Max arrives in Urua with the campaign team and officially launches Odili's candidacy before a gathered crowd.

Max confesses he accepted one thousand pounds from Chief Koko and argues they must fight dirty politics with dirty money.

Eunice shoots Chief Koko in revenge for Max's death and is arrested; Max is later declared a national hero.

Before Odili travels to Bori, his friend Andrew reveals that Nanga plans to take a second wife named Edna, planting the seed of a later obsession. In the capital, Odili mingles with American visitors, attends a literary exhibition, and sees firsthand how Nanga buys loyalty from the press with casual bribes. Returning to Anata, Odili witnesses the community's swift punishment of the merchant Josiah, which mirrors the moral stakes of the larger political story. As his campaign against Nanga intensifies, Odili loses his job, gains dangerous allies, and watches Max compromise the party's ideals by accepting money from a political enemy. The violence of election season leads to Max's death and his fiancée Eunice's desperate act of revenge. Though these events unfold around the main conflict, they reveal the full texture of a society entangled in corruption.

The supporting scenes and secondary moments that fill out the texture of Nanga's corrupt world.

Odili's cynicism toward Nanga briefly fades when Nanga's charisma overcomes his objections during the school speech.

Odili decides to go to Bori partly to use Nanga's private rooms to entertain his college lover Elsie.

Odili admires Nanga's luxurious home and privately decides he would want to hold ministerial power indefinitely if he ever became minister.

Jean lies to Elsie over the phone, claiming she already drove Odili home, while Odili is still at her house.

Odili describes Elsie to Nanga as a 'good-time girl' despite his genuine intentions toward her.

The second girl meant to keep Nanga company during Elsie's visit is unavailable, leaving Elsie alone with both men.

Odili wanders Bori's streets for several hours after discovering Nanga with Elsie, then returns to confront Nanga directly.

Odili decides to exact revenge on Nanga by pursuing Edna, his intended second wife, to hurt him personally.

Odili visits Mrs. Nanga in Anata under the pretense of counseling Edna, while secretly planning to use her for revenge.

Odili tells Edna at Mrs. Nanga's house that she should not rush into marrying a polygamist; Edna argues back.

Edna sends Odili a letter offering friendship and revealing she does not want to marry Nanga but fears her father's violence.

Odili's father is removed from office and threatened with arrest for allowing Max and Odili to campaign from his home.

The Crier announces that the village elders have ordered everyone in Urua to vote for Nanga after water pipes are removed.

Odili's father refuses to sign a paper disavowing his son, declaring that a man of worth never unsays what he said.

Odili apologizes to Edna in the hospital for his angry letter and lets go of his desire for revenge.

Odili begins the novel as a cynical idealist who is briefly seduced by Nanga's charm, then chooses to exploit Nanga's hospitality for his own personal ends. The turning point in the capital comes when he discovers Nanga has slept with Elsie and responds not with grief but with a cold hunger for revenge using Edna as his instrument. As his campaign unfolds, the emotional landscape shifts again: Odili starts to genuinely love Edna rather than simply using her, and the political fight begins to feel less about vengeance. The corrupt system fights back relentlessly—his father loses his office, the village is coerced into supporting Nanga, and Odili himself is beaten and hospitalized. His father's stubborn refusal to publicly disavow him becomes one of the novel's most meaningful acts of loyalty. By the end, Odili has shed his drive for revenge and embraced a more honest vision of his own future.

The decisions, discoveries, and emotional shifts that transform Odili from idealist to a man truly tested by corruption.