By Japhet Alakam, with agency reports
LAGOS – Nigerian author, Rotimi Babatunde has won the 2012 Caine prize for African writing with his book titled Bombay Republic.
Babatunde's winning book is a tale of a Nigerian soldier fighting the Bombay campaign during World War II. It exposes the exploitative nature of colonialism and the psychology behind the fight for independence.
With this feat, Rotimi Babatunde joins the league of young Nigerian writers who have won the coveted prize in recent years. They include, Helon Habila, who won the prize in 2001 and E.C. Osondu in 2009.
The Caine prize which is the 13th in the series and is one of Africa's prestigious awards for literary excellence.
The Chair of Judges for the prize, Bernardine Evaristo MBE, announced Rotimi as the winner of the £10,000 prize at a dinner held Monday evening at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, United Kingdom.
Vanguard Nigeria