Born to an Igbo mother and a Hausa father, Tanko grows up at the fault lines of Nigeria’s identities. From the optimism of independence to the disillusionment of the 2000s, his life mirrors the promises, contradictions, and failures of the country that raised him.How Nigeria Happened to Tanko is the first novel in a planned five-book series chronicling Tanko’s life and Nigeria’s journey through the decades.The first book follows Tanko’s formative years: his childhood in a large, dysfunctional family; adolescence under the care of an uncle in Jos; and political awakening at the University of Calabar, where he contests and loses the presidency of the student union government. He meets the woman who becomes his wife and returns with her to Kano, where they struggle to raise a family amid hardship until an unexpected patron opens a path to opportunity in Lagos.Rich in history, politics, family drama, and personal ambition, How Nigeria Happened to Tanko is both the story of one man’s journey and a sweeping portrait of modern Nigeria through the eyes of an ordinary citizen whose life is shaped by extraordinary times.