Many will look back
at 1930 and say, “It was a very good year.” That year, renowned
children’s author, Mabel Segun, was born months before another Nigerian
literary great, Chinua Achebe. Eighty years on, fans, friends and
family gathered to celebrate Mabel Segun on March 2.

Described as the
mother of children’s literature in Nigeria, the award-winning writer’s
children organised a birthday celebration for her at Terra Kulture in
Lagos. Amongst those gathered in her honour were students, writers and
fellow octogenarians.

Performance tributes

Businessman and
arts patron, Rasheed Gbadamosi, was chairman of the occasion. “Femi
Segun has a way of ambushing me,” Gbadamosi said, referring to the MC
and son of the celebrant. The renowned author’s son had chosen
Gbadamosi because “he is also a writer.”

“It’s very difficult for me to say no to him, especially if it has something to do with our mother, Mabel Segun.

“Mama has done very
well for feminism, for literary activism, for plays, for poetry, for
essays. The task you (referring to the students) face is that you
emulate her and try to surpass her.”

He had nothing but
praise for the Aig Imoukhede family, which the celebrant was born into.
Hailing the intellect of Frank Aig-Imoukhede, also a writer and Segun’s
brother, “Who would not want to belong to that family with all their
achievements?” asked Gbadamosi.

A series of
readings and performances followed the chairman’s address. Poet, Jumoke
Verissimo, read a poem titled ‘Mama’ by Akeem Lasisi, a poem she found
“very appropriate because it catches what exactly I feel in my mind,”
considering how privileged she was to be at the event. The poem was
about the rarity of a good mother and the joy felt when such is found.
Also, Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo read her poem, ‘Ode to the successful
Woman Writer’ from her collection ‘Heartsongs.’

The poem, in which
she refers to the woman writer as “queen of letters”, was dedicated to
Mabel Segun, joint winner with Adimora-Ezeigbo of the NLNG Prize for
Children’s literature in 2007. She also said it was an honour to
celebrate a woman she had admired for many years. She called her a role
model, a mentor and a symbol of women’s empowerment. “I want to thank
her for being my friend. I will always see her as a role model and the
kind of woman that we need in this country. She’s strong, she’s
accomplished, she’s successful, she’s articulate, she’s everything,”
Adimora-Ezeigbo said.

The Crown Troupe of
Africa staged, ‘Our Area’ a dance performance chronicling the history
of Nigeria and the constant problems that affect it, probably because
its citizens refuse to think. And even when they do think, things just
do not seem to be able to work, the performance suggested.

They ended their performance with a special rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ in honour of Mabel Segun.

The students of
Methodist Girls High School performed ‘Moremi’, one of Segun’s earlier
plays. They serenaded the celebrant with the cultural song ‘Iya ni
Wura.’ It was a befitting tribute to Segun’s dedication to promoting
culture amongst the youth through her writing.

Fellow writer,
Mobolaji Adenubi, also paid tribute to Segun in a humorous anecdote
that involved her father. “When I went to school in 1963 in Ibadan, my
father mentioned that there was a writer and a sports woman (there) and
I think he thought that just breathing the air of Ibadan with her would
make me like her.” She said of when she convinced her father that she
had indeed met and worked with Segun, “He had this opinion of her and
did not think it was fair for me and her to be working in the same
place. Now, I think you will agree that it is fair for us to be
celebrating her today.”

It runs in the family

Omowunmi Segun,
also a poet and daughter of the celebrant, read her mother’s poem
titled ‘The Bride Price.’ Verissimo accompanied the younger Segun in
reading the dual voices of the poem — a humorous piece on evaluating a
bride’s value based on her education, her skills or her ‘quality.’ It
ends on the question of a possible refund considering that the goods
might have been damaged before purchase.

Nine-year-old
Oluwafikemi Segun, granddaughter to the celebrant and daughter to Femi
Segun, overcame cold feet before reading her ode to her grandma titled,
‘Lovely Grandma.’ Someone could not help quipping, “It runs in the
family.” Femi Segun called her “a chip off the old block off the old
block.”

His comic attempt
at reciting Wole Soyinka’s ‘Abiku’, however, got hooked midway
considering he was trying to recall it from his secondary school days.

This is your life

A short film on
Mabel Segun’s life followed Oluwafikemi’s reading. The film ‘This is
Your Life at 80: An Exquisite Tapestry’ was a biography of Mabel Segun,
from birth till date. True to the words of Oluwafikemi’s poem, her hair
was never a mess. The film traced the older Segun’s early days as a
writer, sportswoman, ambassador, administrator and academic, and
followed her across various continents. Apparently, the celebrant had
had a penchant for collecting dolls from every country she’d visited.

The tributes
weren’t done yet. Odia Ofeimun read ‘Pidgin Soup’, a poem he said was
“given” to him by Segun’s brother, Frank Aig-Imoukhede, renowned for
writing in Pidgin English. Ofeimun said, “Mabel Segun may be 80, but
she ought to know that we won’t stop quarrelling with her because of
that. If we are no longer able to quarrel with Mabel Segun and she’s no
longer able to quarrel with us, what kind of Mabel Segun would that be?
One great thing about this great woman is that she picked the way she
was going to live and she was not afraid to stand by it.”

He advised women
writers to overcome any challenge in the way of their creativity, be it
their children, their husbands or “a stupid society.”

It was time for the
matriarch herself to speak. She read the first from her personalized
cookery book, which took 18 years to write. The author described the
recently-published cookery book as ‘Rhapsody: A celebration of Nigerian
cooking and food culture’, as one depicting “many aspects of Nigerian
cooking culture” such as “food taboos, food proverbs, food festivals,
food chants and so on.”

Denouncing the dull
marketing skills of some food vendors, Segun broke into a sonorous
chant heralding the advent of the moin-moin seller. She read a poem she
had written about boiled corn, before engaging pupils from Meadow Hall
School in performing a musical sketch about life in the riverine areas
from her ‘Readers’ Theatre’ collection.

The students,
thereafter, presented the author with birthday greetings, and gathered
round her for pictures before the cutting of the cake which was
supervised by fellow octogenarian, Bimbola Silva, an 84-year-old
medical consultant and mother to popular actress Joke Silva.

Both were in the
audience which also included Kunle Ajibade of The News Publications,
members of the Aig-Imoukhede family, female lawyer Hairat Balogun, Yeni
Kuti, former Presidential adviser Modupe Sasore, advertising guru Bruce
Ovbiagele and his wife, Helen, who is also a writer, and Paul
Adefarasin of the House on The Rock Church.

Commenting on the
celebration, Adenubi said, “It is important that we hear all these
beautiful things they say about us before we die. When we die, they say
all these things but we have no ears to hear. I congratulate her
children (for) making it possible for her to hear all of these good
things in her lifetime. May she live long to celebrate this life.”

Lucky Ejim cut a
striking figure in his role as the near-suicidal Obinna in ‘The
Tenant’. In real life, he is no less impressive in presence as he is in
his speech, with words rolling off his tongue in a near-solemn march to
the ears of the attentive listener. His profession as an actor needs no
telling. Also a director and screenwriter, though the writing is
currently taking the backseat, Ejim calls himself a storyteller. His
role in ‘The Tenant’ tells a story of disillusionment, disgrace and
desperation. Acting in and directing the work, he told Obinna’s story
on camera and coordinated the story of the other characters from his
space behind the camera. “Working and directing The Tenant was like
wearing two hats at a time. But I had a strong team and they gave me
their trust and belief.”

As an actor and
director, Ejim shifted between being selfish and being selfless in
order to strike a balance between both roles and a balance between the
actor/director and the rest of the cast and crew. A series of meetings
and rehearsals where each department was “dissected” helped strike the
balance. “I worked that out with the actors, so when we came back on
set, it’s easy for us to jump into the role and everyone will be on the
same footing as myself.” This, Ejim said, was essential to the success
of ‘The Tenant,’ self-financed by himself and Jude Idada, his business
partner at Broken Manacles Entertainment.

The Message

‘The Tenant’ is the
story of a young Nigerian in Canada trying his best to avoid
deportation. To a large number of Nigerians already abroad or preparing
to hightail it, the film tells a grim tale. “We want them to understand
that the piece we are doing is not just another film. It is a story
that digs deep into displacement that places a distressing mirror on
immigration and looks at the future of the youths of today slipping
away because the powers that be are negligent to the woes and cries of
the generations to come.” The question to government, he says, should
be “Are you really leading us?”

His passion for
this cause is jolting. Is his reality the same as Obinna’s? “I spent an
extensive amount of time digging into the story, when I threw myself
into the role, it was effortless. I did not need to act to be Obinna.”

Being Lucky

Ejim’s journey into
film started in Nigeria at the University of Benin where he studied
Theatre Arts. He majored in Acting and in 2000, emigrated to Canada,
where he trained in Directing and Writing at the Toronto Film School.
“Because I’m a storyteller, it’s hard for me to be susceptible to
mediocrity. I’m very critical of any work I do. So it felt natural for
me to want to improve myself as a storyteller. That’s why I went to
train as a storyteller. Lucky is an artist that is serious about making
a political statement.” Part of his mission he says is “to sell the
ideals and the ideas of the black man to everyone.” On the set of ‘The
Summit’, a Canadian movie, he had the role of a Kenyan president
changed to a Nigerian just to make a point. “That was nice. I fought
hard for that role and it was imperative to me at that point in time
that the president whose ideals must foster greater good in Africa was
initially created as a Kenyan man. Someday, they will see that in the
reflection of our being as the leading black nation in the world.”

Ejim might himself
be on the way to being one of the leading black men in Hollywood. He
stars in ‘The Lockdown’ currently in pre-production and recently
finished work on the set of the upcoming Hollywood epic ‘Moby Dick’.
The film is based on the 1851 novel written by Herman Melville about a
white whale. The film stars William Hurt, Ethan Hawke, Raoul Trujillo,
and Charlie Cox amongst others. Ejim plays Daggoo, a whale hunter.

Like he did in ‘The
Tenant,’ he brings to this role a graceful bearing that echoes Sydney
Poitier in his younger days as an actor. “It’s quite inspiring hearing
more than one people say that I carry with me the markings of what
makes up Sydney Poitier. That is big and when I think about it it’s
scary because that’s an icon to carry over. He is a source of
inspiration.” His knowledge of trivia about the legendary African
American actor underscores Ejim’s awe and respect for Poitier.

His affection for
his art means he is all for his profession. “It’s this or nothing. If I
wasn’t acting or directing, I’d be writing.”

Stuck in time

The mood changes
slightly when Nollywood is mentioned. “I think it’s stagnant,” Ejim
says, “I think it started off good, but we now see a number of Nigerian
films that strive on mediocrity. We need to move forward. The
quick-buck mentality has created a rift between the ‘money’ people and
the artistic people. I believe it can grow. It’s always when you have a
precarious situation that people are forced to think.”

He is shocked to
hear that certain films here are made under a week. “I think that’s an
exaggeration. I don’t know how people do that. That is sad, because the
image of my country around the world is at stake as far as storytelling
is concerned.”

His attitude to
such films may not be unwarranted. Filmmakers who are based abroad like
himself suffer the consequences of the quality of Nollywood films.
“Jude (Idada) and I have walked into production houses where we say we
want to make a film and then you say you are Nigerian; the energy
changes. It’s like ‘Oh! OK. We’ve seen your movies’ and we are like ‘Oh
no, no, no! Not those ones.’”

He complains of the
limitations this has placed on the path of young and upcoming Nigerian
filmmakers, “When somebody else will pitch easily, you have to
reintroduce yourself and work so hard before you are even allowed to
pitch, because our level of intelligence is being reduced to shabbiness
by people that don’t understand the global phenomenon that should play
out in telling their stories. The outside world matters. If your child
grows up with these ideas that lack depth, they’ll not be able to
compete internationally. If you do not really know how to make a film,
it’s only a matter of time before you are sent packing. The idea of
filmmaking as almost a run in the Olympics is re-energising those that
really love the art. Tell a good story and you will emerge as a person
that people outside will look out for.”

Undoubtedly,
filmmaking in Nigeria is already developing into an exciting race
between the best and the worst. Who leads the pack? As ‘The Tenant’s
lead actor says, “There’s more to come, and at this juncture for Lucky,
it’s just a crawling stage, when he starts walking, you’ll think he’s
running, when he starts running, you’ll think he’s flying and when he
flies, you won’t see him.”

The world might as well look out for a comet named Lucky Ejim.

You lured your prey

To your bed of pretence

The truth in you died

As her innocence you defiled

Deny it

If you will!

Just once

Only Once!

A big slice of the national cake

Washed down with a gallon of champagne

Strong enough to encourage a rape,

Performed repeatedly

On a virgin land

That clung to your feet in trust.

Deny it

If you will!

Just once

Only once!

How many once

Can impregnate a woman?

How many shots

May kill the heart of a nation?

Just once,

Only one!

Taken from ‘Streams’ by Bose Ayeni-Tsevende (Kraft Books).

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.”