No greater honour could have been given to poet, Odia Itoya Ofeimun, than the activities organised by his Committee of Friends and the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC) to celebrate his 60th birthday on Tuesday, March 16.
The Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Victoria Island, Lagos, where the first of the activities, a lecture delivered by Ugandan academic, Mahmood Mamdani, held, was already half filled before the programme commenced. There would be no more seats shortly after the event started; late comers had to stand in the wings.
The impressive turnout and eminent personalities in attendance also affirmed how highly Ofeimun is regarded. Apart from members of his writing constituency, the Action Congress, civil society groups, corporate Nigeria, and the academia, professionals and youth also sent representatives to celebrate with Ofeimun, fondly called ‘Baba'. Fola Adeola, Adebayo Williams, Rasheed Gbadamosi, Segun Olusola, Abdul Oroh, Ropo Sekoni, were amongstthe guests at the occasion.
Public Fountain
The first task of the day, the introduction of the celebrant, fell on Kayode Fayemi, governorship candidate of the Action Congress in the 2007 election in Ekiti State. Fayemi had only praises for his and others' mentor. He acknowledged the author of poetry collections including, A Handle for the Flutist, London Letter and other Poems, A Boiling Caracas and Go Tell the Generals as the "man from whose fountain of knowledge many of us have drank from in the last two decades".
Fayemi did not fail to laud the celebrant's "exemplary generous spirit". He also highlighted similarities between Ofeimun and the guest lecturer, Ugandan Mahmood Mamdani, both of whom studied Political Science. "Taking Nigeria seriously and speaking truth to power," Fayemi added, is what Ofeimun does best.
The appreciative protégé of the public intellectual nonetheless touched on two sins of his mentor: the fact that he has not been "spoken for," and his non-conclusion of a definitive biography on the sage, Obafemi Awolowo, whom he served as private secretary.
Director General of CBAAC, Tunde Babawale, didn't halt the flow of tributes in his welcome address. Babawale disclosed that CBAAC collaborated with Ofeimun's friends to celebrate him through the lecture "in recognition of the celebrant's sterling qualities and his contributions to scholarship, arts and culture." His verses, the administrator added, "initiated a paradigm shift in the ethics and aesthetics of the poetry of socio - political engagement in Nigeria. Through his Poet - of - the - Week page in The Guardian on Sunday, he helped many budding poets launch their career, thereby bringing their talents to national attention. Ofeimun's contributions to national development are not restricted to literature alone. As a political activist, Ofeimun uses his writings to fight social ills".
‘You will die bankrupt!'
Chair of the lecture, Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, whom photo-journalists never tire of photographing - they almost mobbed him as he entered the hall minutes before the lecture started - noted that "private events shouldn't begin with the National Anthem because it casts a pall on the event." The man, also called ‘Kongi', recalled the beginning of his relationship with Ofeimun and related to the audience the story of how he engaged in an act of ‘piracy' to include Ofeimun's poems in Poems of Black Africa, which he edited in 1975.
Kongi also chronicled his ‘complaint' against his younger associate. Ofeimun, Soyinka disclosed, initially had a bad voice which made listening to him reading poems a torture! He eventually trained himself and has become proficient. Another complaint by Soyinka is his failure to get Ofeimun to drink wine. "He continues to drink juice, unfermented juice," Kongi said in mock horror. He added, "You will die bankrupt if you continue to take waifs and others into your place!" Kongi's stern, "no more recognitions, you have recognised everybody else" to Toyin Akinoso, who initially emceed in place of broadcaster Ohi Alegbe, drew smiles from people.
Chair, governing board of CBAAC, Semiu Bakinson, who did a poor job of reading the address of the former Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Jibril Gada, also delivered the goodwill of his principal to the celebrant.
Dangers of federal character
Another political scientist, Abubakar Momoh, did an excellent introduction of the guest lecturer which Mamdani himself acknowledged as "generous". This though didn't stop him from adding, "I'm always nervous with my introduction because I feel I'm getting a preview of my funeral oration!" His discussion of the lecture titled, ‘Sudan and Congo: What Lessons for Nigeria?' was a brilliant analysis of the hidden consequences of the federal character principle and measures taken to heal the rift of Nigeria's Civil War. The non-doctrinaire scholar lived up to his reputation by revealing the duplicity of the international community (the corporate media, international NGOs, and UN agencies) in reporting violence in Africa.
Mamdani drew attention to latent consequences of the federal character principle: "The question I have in mind does not concern motive, but consequence; whether the unintended consequences of this provision - its costs - may have come to outweigh its intended benefits for Nigeria".
He added: "The federal character principle has extended the colonial principal of Native Authority to key institutions in the federal state. Its unintended effect has been to turn federal citizenship into an extension of ethnically-defined membership of Native Authorities, and thereby undermine it. By dividing Nigerian citizens into ‘indigenes' and ‘non-indigenes' - not of Nigeria but of individual states - for purposes of participation in national institutions, it has disenfranchised a growing number of Nigerian citizens, those who do not live in the states where they and their fathers were born".
He concluded with, "One lesson of Congo and Sudan is that it may be time to rethink the legacy of both the colonial past and the reforms you undertook to end the civil war".
Scholars Biodun Jeyifo, Chidi Odinkalu, and Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, the lead discussants, also gave their views on the subject. Jeyifo, a professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University, US, added that structured and systematic use of violence by the state against progressives is another form of violence in Africa. He disagreed with Mamdani's explanation of ethnicity and identified what he termed ‘trans-ethnic or post ethnic identity' in Nigeria.
Odinkalu identified accountability as key to the transformation of Africa.
Adeleye-Fayemi added normalisation of chaos, crisis of leadership, crisis of personhood with reference to women and agency to the mix. Other contributors including writer Festus Iyayi, who asked Soyinka the goal of the Save Nigeria Group, and Lanre Arogundade, who suggested a pan-political movement, also had their say. Mamdani, however, closed the session with the suggestion, "We've not been able to create a viable political community. Once you have a political community in place, I think we can have accountability".
Saveable country
Ofeimun, who has always taken Nigeria seriously and whom Soyinka playfully warned had little time to speak, has not lost hope in the country. "The only political party that can save you is the one that you give money to and no Nigerian is too poor to contribute to a political party, none," he stated in his remarks. And in spite of his fame, the celebrant confessed, "I've not yet become the writer I want to be".
He also said of Soyinka, who gave him his break in poetry, "He makes you a promise to buy you a book and he does not forget. I mean, if you are looking for training in the world, that's one kind of training you must not allow to go".
Before exiting the stage for the ceremonial rites of gift presentation and vote of thanks to be observed, Ofeimun told the gathering, "This is an eminently saveable country; we can save this country from those who want to hack it down".
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