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The Lagos State
Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) on January 8 held
a book reading in memory of Adolphus Amasiatu, a poet who died recently
from the complications of a spinal cord injury sustained in an accident
about two years ago.

Members of ANA
Lagos turned up to honour their comrade; and while some had penned a
few lines in dedication to the departed, poems were also read from the
late poet’s last collection of poetry, ‘Verses by Post’.

The late Amasiatu,
who in addition to being a poet, was a soldier in the Nigerian Army,
wrote the poems in the collection like letters to his wife while he was
on the battlefield; her replies were also documented in the same format.

Unknown soldiers

According to Dagga
Tolar, chair of the Lagos chapter of ANA, the work comes from the
Amasiatu’s background as a soldier. Some of the poems smack of
nostalgia and homesickness from being away from home and longing to
return.

“When soldiers go
to war and die, their commanders accept the victories of the war. The
dead soldiers are tagged as unknown. Amasiatu is saying unknown
soldiers should be recognised. He identifies himself as one of them. He
also calls himself a soldier of the pen”, said Tolla, commenting on one
of Amasiatu’s poems.

Another ANA member,
the poet Austin Njoku, also read from ‘Verses By Post’. Commenting on
one piece that had a tone of foreboding, Njoku said it was uncanny how
some writers unknowingly predict their own end in their works.

Njoku said Amasiatu
was always proud to be identified as a writer, and preferred that
identification over being a soldier, because he eventually left the
army. “However, he has left us with something to remember him by,”
Njoku said.

Tolar’s poem ‘No
More Broke Heart’, dedicated to the late Amasiatu, was laden with anger
and frustration at the leadership of the nation and its unconcern
towards the citizenry. He stated that it is ridiculous the kinds of
needless deaths that occur regularly up and down the country. “People
die from fuel inhalation, generator blasts and potholes”, he lamented.

Writers’ welfare

Another member put
ANA under scrutiny, asking what provisions are being made to assist
members who fall into such misfortunes. “Being in a wheelchair is a
tough situation,” observed Tolu Ajayi. “We don’t have the facilities in
this country for such situations.” He reminded the meeting of author
Chinua Achebe, also in a wheelchair, who had to relocate to the US
after the accident that left him paralysed.

A past president of
the chapter, Folu Agoi, read a piece by the late poet that talks about
corruption in the army and the nation. Also at the meeting was Margaret
Aninyei who said that, “With the pen we can fashion the destiny of our
country. We can write to enable vision for our younger generations.”

Tolar eulogized
Amasiatu, saying, “Adolphus was a successful journalist, soldier and
lawyer. In spite of this, he still had time to write. There is no
excuse not to write because the works might become the only monument to
record all that the writer has done.”

He added that excuses about the absence of publishers and the problem of electricity are no longer tenable.

“This is a key
lesson,” he said, holding up the book. “Because of this, Amasiatu is
not dead. We must put pride on our literature. I think we should
challenge ourselves, break the barriers to get our works out, because
they will become a monument.”

Adolphus Amasiatu was born in 1971. In addition to his poems, he
published a collection of short stories titled ‘Return of the Last
Platoon and Other Stories’.