Decrying Kleptocracy and Machiavellianism in Halima Amali's I Want to Join Them and Odia Ofeimun's the Poet Lied

Post-independence Nigerian literature has persistently interrogated political leadership failures, particularly corruption, exploitation, and the manipulation of public resources. This study examines the intersection of kleptocracy and Machiavellianism in Halima Amali’s I Want to Join Them and Odia Ofeimun’s The Poet Lied, with particular attention to the psychological impulses underlying excessive wealth accumulation. Drawing on Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, the study investigates unconscious desires, instinctual drives, internal conflicts, and psychological tensions that may sustain acquisitiveness beyond material necessity. It analyses poetic representations of political greed and economic exploitation, alongside strategies of manipulation, deception, and power consolidation. Using qualitative close textual analysis, the study examines Ofeimun’s “Their Excellencies” and “The New Leader” and Amali’s “I Want to Join Them” and “Who Can Fight My Country?”, focusing on imagery, irony, satire, symbolism, and rhetorical strategies. Findings reveal that kleptocratic and Machiavellian practices generate poverty, inequality, moral decay, institutional dysfunction, and arrested national development. The study argues that understanding the psychological dimensions of political corruption is essential to challenging its normalisation and promoting ethical leadership, accountability, and the equitable management of public resources.