Lagos megachurch Pastor, Nicholas Adejuwon is a very ambitious man desperate to erase a past that has scarred his mind. His beautiful wife Nkechi has reasons to secretly snoop on him following a series of indiscretions that threaten their marriage and superstardom. When Nkechi uncovers some scandalous secretes, she turns to Ifenna, a young journalist turned blogger who has history with her husband, to make them public, changing her reality as she knew it in the process.
Believers and Hustlers is an expos into the underbelly of Nigeria's Pentecostal fervor and the lives of rich celebrity posterity preachers, their motivations, rivalries, pretenses and fears. This bold novel tells an important story about our times - the quest for power, the fears that trigger it, the hypocrisy that sustains it, and the ways in which religion can be weaponized to shroud it all in a mystery. At its core however, it's a story of life, of love, power, and the ironies that fate often deals us at the end of our desperate quests.
"In this page turner, Sylva Nze Ifedigbo writes with so much mastery, lucidity and truth, it felt like he was holding up a mirror, daring the reader to look and see themselves. Believers and Hustlers, might be a bitter pill for some to swallow, but what is it they say about the truth?"
- Michael Afenfia, author of Leave My Bones in Saskatoon
"Sylva Nze Ifedigbo can stand on the same podium as masters like Gurcharan Das. What makes his writing plain and unique at the same time, is the elegance of his prose. He writes with such clarity, that one does not need to be told that he is one of the best storytellers of his generation."
- Onyeka Nwelue, author of The Strangers of Braamfontein
"Ifedigbo's engaging and deeply affecting novel undertakes a "forensic audit" of the church...he is a brutal writer who writes lines dripping with blood but devoid of bile. The quest for truth seems to be his main goal. He has captured a slice of life that many Africans are familiar with and also succeeds in giving us unforgettable characters in Pastor Nick and Nkechi."
- Olukorede Yishau, author of Vaults of Secrets
Sylva Nze Ifedigbo writes fiction, creative non-fiction and socio-political commentaries. He is the author of the acclaimed novel My Mind Is No Longer Here (2018), a collection of stories The Funeral Did Not End (2012) and a novella Whispering Aloud (2007). His short stories have appeared in various publications including Prick of the Spindle, African Writer, Maple Tree Literary Supplement, Saraba, Kalahari Review, Brittle Paper, AFREADA and Thrice Fiction Magazine.
Sylva holds that stories matter and that our very existence is a collection of stories. Being able to tell them beautifully he believes is the most powerful way to impact the world. He lives in Lagos, Nigeria.