Barren Rivers and Flowery Women: Metaphors of Domination and Subjugation in Select Poems of Ebi Yeibo and Molara Ogundipe-Leslie (Critical Essay)

Introduction Exploitation has allegedly remained the bedfellow of different groups within the Nigerian sociocultural milieu. The victims of this purported exploitation are said to be women on the one hand and the minority ethnic groups on the other. The persistence of power imbalance within the Nigerian socio-political order has thus given rise to the current unending crises within the family and the larger society. As a result of the on-going and seemingly endless violence within the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria, the attention of the national government has become secured and ostensible genuine moves to correct the ills of the past apparently underway. In the same vein, the consistent refusal for true gender mainstreaming has made gender equity an issue of continuing controversy.