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As first son and graduate, Kingsley Ibe has a load of responsibilities resting on his skinny shoulders. But times are bad in Nigeria, and life is hard. Unable to find work, Kingsley cannot take on the duty of training his younger siblings, nor can he provide his parents with financial peace in their retirement. And then there is Ola his girlfriend, the sugar in Kingsley’s tea. It does not seem to matter that he loves her deeply; he cannot afford her bride price.

But when Kingsley’s father falls sick, he becomes desperate to live up to his responsibilities. So he travels to Aba, to his wealthy uncle, ‘Cash Daddy’.

Under the avuncular wing of ‘Cash Daddy’, Kingsley is catapulted into the fast-money world of email scamming where he discovers a profitable talent for persuasive storytelling. But, as the stakes grow higher and Cash Daddy grows more ambitious, Kingsley begins to realise he is in way over his head and that, even in Nigeria, nothing comes for free . . .

I Do Not Come to You by Chance, a book which the author deems an idea that came before the novel, is one that through the Protagonist, Kingsley, attempts to explore the journey from good to bad and the blurred lines in between.

When Alaafin Abiodun Adegolu died, the Oyo Empire was in a slow decline. The provincial chiefs who helped him defeat the tyrannical Bashorun Gaa had grown in power and the Oyo chiefs were more politicians than warriors. So, when the Oyo Mesi selected a provincial prince, Aole Arogangan to ascend the throne of his fathers, they believed they had an Alaafin they could control.

But Aole had different ideas and he sought to restore the glory of the empire and the supremacy of the Alaafin as its emperor. In this, however, his ambitions clashed with those of Afonja, the powerful provincial chief of war camp, Ilorin. Afonja had been promised the office of Aare Ona Kakanfo of all the Oyo forces by the Oyo chiefs in order to secure his support for Aole’s ascension. He would stop at nothing to take what he believed was his by right.

Afonja – The Rise is the story of how the clashes of these two men and the intrigue of the others around them transformed what was a slow decline into a race of the empire towards its collapse. In Afonja – The Rise, we tell their stories first as what they were – men and women living their lives, warring, scheming and loving in ways that will be familiar to the reader – beyond their roles as actors in the epic history of the great Oyo Empire.