Five Days to The Impossible President
Nigeria has never had a woman president in more than six decades of independence. Yet the global picture is scarcely encouraging. According to data from UN Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, only 28 countries are currently led by a woman, while 101 countries have never had a woman serve as head of state or government.
So what would it take for a woman not only to enter Nigerian politics, but to win?
That is the question at the heart of The Impossible President by S.S. David, published worldwide by Arrow Gate Publishing on Tuesday, 20 October 2026.
The novel follows Tinuke, a woman who survives a military coup, years of wrongful imprisonment, and a political establishment determined to crush her ambitions. Against all expectations, she fights her way to the centre of power and becomes Nigeria’s first woman president.
But The Impossible President is more than a political thriller.
It is a story about who is excluded from power, who fights to be heard, and what happens when a woman refuses to accept the limits imposed on her.
First published in Nigeria in 2002 and reissued in Abuja in 2004, the novel arrives in the United Kingdom and international markets for the first time more than twenty years later. Its themes feel as urgent now as they did when it first appeared.
Readers will find all the ingredients of a gripping political thriller — betrayal, corruption, danger, shifting alliances, and a race against time. At its centre is a heroine whose resilience propels the story from the first page to the last.
Author and scriptwriter Sam Martin described the novel as:
“Fierce, authentic, unforgettable.”
Editor and writer Abbie Headon called it:
“A powerful and action-packed story of love, courage, and endurance.”
About the Author
S.S. David is a Nigerian-British author, filmmaker, PhD researcher, and co-founder and CEO of Arrow Gate Publishing. Her doctoral research examines women written out of history. She is the author of four books, and The Impossible President is her most ambitious novel to date. A sweeping political thriller, the novel draws on extensive research into the history of Nigerian women and reflects her conviction that African women’s stories deserve to be told boldly, on a grand scale, and in all their complexity.
About Arrow Gate Publishing
Arrow Gate Publishing is an independent London-based publisher, established in 2013. Its list includes Bitterblue by Sam Martin, whose film rights were acquired in 2025 by Cologne-based Radical Movies, alongside titles by Richard Harper, Hillery Baptiste, and C.D. Fox. S.S. David and John David co-founded the company. S.S. David serves as CEO.
The Impossible President by S.S. David is published on Tuesday, 20 October 2026.
Pre-order The Impossible President today and discover the thriller that imagines a future Nigeria has never seen.
