I Do Not Come to You by Chance

Section 419

Section 419 of the Nigerian criminal code, which addresses fraud schemes, including Internet scams, forms the backdrop of this lively and entertaining first novel "I do not Come to you by Chance" (2009) by a young Nigerian woman, Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani. Besides offering a good story, Nwaubani's novel helped me understand a culture I know little about. The book moves quickly, is well organized, and has good character development. The author writes with considerable skill. She tells her story in the first-person voice of the chief character, a young man named Kingsley. Writing convincingly in the voice of the other gender is a formidable task, especially for a new novelist.

Kingsley is a young man of great intellectual promise who received his degree in chemical engineering. His father, Paulinus, and his mother, Augustina, both received masters degrees in Britain but were unable to rise economically. Early in Kingsley's life, his father impresses upon him that "education is the only way of putting one's potentials to maximum use, that you could say that a human being is not in his correct senses until he is educated." Unfortunately, at age 25, Kingsley is not able to get a job in the profession for which he has been trained. He lives at home and, to his chagrin, is financially dependent upon his parents.

The novel is in two well-connected parts. In the first part, Kingsley describes his early life, his parents' marginal economic status, in spite of their education, and his own education. Kingsley had fallen in love with a student named Ola who jilts him due, apparently, to his lack of economic prospects. There is a telling scene of Kingsley's relationship to his mother's brother, Boniface, who enlists the young boy in his scheme to seduce girls. Boniface has little interest in education but is obviously a youngster on the make with no scruples. The first part of the novel closes with the illness and death of Kingsley's father, with a focus on the character of the Nigerian health system. The much-despised Boniface comes to the assistance of the family. He has grown fantastically wealthy, through uncertain means, and is known as "Cash Daddy". He takes a liking to Kingsley and, to his mother's consternation, brings him into his business, which is the setting for the remainder of the novel.

The book describes the world of Section 419 Internet scams, which Kingsley masters quickly. He becomes remarkably adroit at writing email letters to people with money to spare in the United States, Europe, and Middle East and bilking them expensively and repeatedly using fraudulent but seemingly plausible business schemes. Cash Daddy's business provides the organization an support for the elaborate frauds. At first, Kingsley has qualms of conscience but they are predominantly squelched as he lives high and takes care of his family. He still cannot develop a love relationship to replace Ola and he is dependent on the services of prostitutes. Kingley's' mother spurns him and the dirty money.

The book describes the fraud schemes in detail and the marks or "mugus" who are their victims. Kingsley has two chief mugus, named Winterbottom and Hooverson, who become his cash cows. Kingsley becomes dependent and fond of his uncle, Cash Daddy, for all his crookedness. As the book develops, Cash Daddy runs for high office in Nigeria's stuggling democracy, which offers Nwaubani the further opportunity to develop the problems of her country.

The story is told with lightness and humor. The author develops her characters and shows the contrast between wealthy nations and struggling nations such as Nigeria without becoming polemical. She portrays Nigeria and its poverty and political corruption while showing as well her love for her country. This is an effective and good first novel. It reminded me yet again of how reading opens doors to other places and people.

Robin Friedman