‘The Scent of Madness’ is a harrowing exploration of familial bonds fractured by mental illness and societal stigma in a typical Nigerian community.
Bobo recounts his twin brother, Baba’s, abrupt descent into insanity, triggered by a football-field altercation and a bitter quarrel with a childhood friend.
Tragedy peaks when Bobo makes an attempt on Baba’s life with the intent to free him from grief, yet the mad brother lives. Instead, their mother eventually dies from stress-induced collapse — the event that’s now on the verge of opening the chapters of Bobo’s madness…
Being published in the maiden edition of NairaStories feels exhilarating. The experience cements my belief in the power of storytelling. And I look forward to reading other contributors’ works.
Abdulrahaman Adeiza Jimoh is an Ebira-Nigerian creative and a chemical engineering undergraduate at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi. He’s the winner of the 2024 Academic Elite of Ebiraland (AEE) writing contest, champion of AEE 2024 PPT presentation, a finalist in the 2023 Kikwetu flash fiction contest, and longlisted for the Abubakar Gimba Prize for CNF in 2023. His works have been published in Blue Marble Review, Kikwetu Journal of East-African Writing, SprinNG, World Voice Magazine, Above the Rain Collectives’ Final Passenger Anthology, Eboquills’ Our Girls anthology, and Poetic Africa (Issue 10). When not writing or solving intimidating calculations, he’s reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s works. Many fondly call him Jimmy.
