I write my own version of Soyinka's death and the king's horseman
The ritual suicide: A CEO's forced retirement upon the death of the charismatic company founder.
The horseman (Elesin): Femi, the brilliant but self-serving CEO of Oba Holdings.
The King: Oba, the company's visionary founder, who is deceased.
The Praise-Singer: Kunle, a marketing director who must publicly laud Femi's legacy during his "succession plan."
The Colonial District Officer (Pilkings): David Thompson, a Western venture capitalist representing the global investment firm funding the company.
The Son (Olunde): Dayo, a tech prodigy and Femi's son who returns from a top American university.
The New Bride: Tola, a young, ambitious executive chosen by Femi to be his successor in a public ritual.
Outline
Chapter 1: The Succession Ceremony
Setting: The sleek, glass-walled skyscraper of Oba Holdings in Lagos.
Action: Oba has died, and his hand-picked successor, Femi, must follow a pre-arranged "succession plan." This ritual, though framed in corporate-speak, demands Femi's career be ended to make way for a new successor, symbolizing his devotion to Oba's legacy. Femi, celebrated by the media (Kunle), basks in his public glory even as he feels the pressure of his forced retirement.
Key moment: Femi delays the official signing ceremony, citing the need to "secure the future" of the company by hand-picking a brilliant but inexperienced new successor, Tola. He privately admits to Kunle that he is reluctant to step down.
Chapter 2: The Foreign Intervention
Setting: The office of David Thompson, the head of the international investment firm.
Action: Thompson receives an alert about the delayed succession plan. Believing the traditional process is a "barbaric" business practice that will harm market confidence, he mobilizes to stop it. He sees Femi's "retirement" as a valuable asset he can't afford to lose.
Key moment: Thompson confronts Kunle, explaining the financial implications of Femi's forced departure and demanding that he delay the ceremony, using the leverage of the company's global expansion plans.
Chapter 3: The Returning Son
Setting: A vibrant, bustling tech start-up in Lagos.
Action: Dayo, Femi's estranged son, returns from the US to find his father's final act a spectacle of corporate suicide. He has rejected Oba's traditional corporate model in favor of a modern, merit-based system.
Key moment: Dayo confronts Femi, accusing him of vanity and weakness. He argues that his father's forced retirement is an antiquated and pointless custom that has no place in the future of the company or the country.
Chapter 4: The Failed Transition
Setting: The company's grand boardroom, decorated for the ceremony.
Action: The succession ceremony is in full swing. Femi is about to announce Tola as his successor when Thompson bursts in, supported by a team of lawyers and financial analysts. He threatens to withdraw funding, crippling the company if Femi goes through with the plan.
Key moment: Femi, publicly humiliated and stripped of his agency, is unable to complete the ritual. He stands silent as the world he built crumbles around him, his honor and authority destroyed not by a spiritual flaw but by the impersonal force of global finance.
Chapter 5: The Aftermath
Setting: A quiet back room off the main boardroom.
Action: Femi, stripped of his power, finds Dayo waiting for him. Dayo tries to comfort his father, saying that this is an opportunity for a fresh start. Femi, however, is broken. He has failed in his duty to the company and to Oba's memory.
Key moment: Kunle, loyal to Femi until the end, presents a small, ceremonial box. It contains the symbols of Femi's office. Femi, in a final act of devotion to his old mentor and his culture, takes a fatal business decision that saves the company but destroys his own legacy in the process.
Example scenes (prose excerpts)
Chapter 1: The Praise-Singer's Speech
Kunle’s voice, a slick baritone, filled the atrium, echoing off the polished marble and the faces of the assembled employees. “And so we gather not in mourning, but in celebration. A celebration of a legacy so vast, so unshakable, that even in his passing, Oba’s vision continues to guide us.” He gestured to the jumbo-tron, which displayed a montage of Oba’s life: a young man at a dusty market stall, a determined entrepreneur at a drafting table, a titan of industry shaking hands with world leaders. “And beside him every step of the way, his trusted horseman, his right-hand man, the inheritor of his vision… Femi!”
The crowd erupted in applause, but Kunle could see the hollowness in Femi’s smile. It was a well-rehearsed performance, the face of a man ready to accept his reward. But Kunle knew the truth. This was not a crowning. This was a corporate funeral.
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