Honour At Home For The Poet   

Ogaga Ifowodo organises a poetry reading and performance in his hometown, Oleh in Delta State

Though Ogaga Ifowodo traverses the nation’s literary and political space, he has not lost touch with his roots. This was proven on Saturday 24 July when the people of Oleh in Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State rolled out the drums to celebrate him. The poet, lawyer and rights activist had only planned a poetry reading and performance for that day, but the Oleh community used the opportunity to honour their kinsman who, for over two decades has, through his literary and political interventions, fought for the betterment of the Nigerian people.

•Ifowodo: Honoured by his people.

Indeed, the indigenes had every reason to eulogise Ifowodo. Not only are his three collections of poetry, Homeland And Other Poems, Mandiba and Oil Lamp award-winning, they are political and engaging. As a law student at the University of Benin, Ifowodo was one of the leaders of  the series of protests in 1989 against the inhuman Structural Adjustment Programme, SAP, of former military dictator, General Ibrahim Babangida. Between 1997 and 1998, Ifowodo was detained by the military regime of General Sani Abacha on account of his political activism.

Tagged Ogaga Ifowodo: Poetry Reading and Performance, the writer, who is now an assistant professor in the Texas State University, United States, fondly referred to the literary event as Homecoming Reading. According to him, he was reading his poetry in his birthplace for the first time.

The event, jointly organised by Ifowodo and Flomat Books Limited, featured a stage perfomance, dance drama and art exhibition held at the NDDC Hall in the Oleh campus of Delta State University. Distinguished Nigerians  were in attendance.Guests were welcomed that day by the colourful paintings that an artist, Tobenna Okwuosa exhibited  at the entrance of the building.They were visual representation of themes from Ifowodo’s poetry.

The event started in earnest when students of the Film and Broadcast Academy, Ozoro mounted the stage to perform a play titled, The Mad Man’s Family, written by Mr Rockson Igelige and directed by Oke Ilolo. The play, which elicited rounds of applause, tells the story of Karo, a bookish undergraduate whose parents are so anxious about his excessive love for books and use of grandiloquent language that they believe he went to the university “to study madness”. The parents later invite the Chief Priest of Oliho to come to their son’s rescue. But that is to no avail. According to Igelige, the play is not necessarily about a mad man but rather about non-conformism and the thin line that separates normality from insanity. “The Mad Man is not the everyday mad man on the street eating from the rubbish dump. It is a universal symbol of what the educationist and non-conformist are passing through in the hands of illiterate society,” Igelige said.

In his welcome address, the Chief Executive Officer of Flomat Books Limited, Dr. Anthony Akpokene spoke about how he and Ifowodo conceived the poetry reading and the reason the event was important. “The reading from one of our illustrious sons will go a long way to show that education makes sense. This is someone who grew up in a local setting yet was able to go through school with the meagre resources and gained admission into one of the best secondary schools then in West Africa, Federal Government College, Warri.”

The chairman of the occasion and Board Chairman, Ogwashi-Uku Polytechnic, Prof Abednego Ekoko did not just pour encomiums on Ifowodo, but was very excited at seeing the Oleh campus of Delta State University host one of the illustrious sons of the community. According to him, the event was significant because it was the first of its kind on that campus. He also said that, on account of his achievements Ifowodo was not just an indigene of Oleh but a citizen of the world.

After Prof. Ekoko’s speech, students of Emore Senior Secondary School, Oleh, in their uniform regaled the audience with a recitation of meaningful poems. But when it was the turn of the students of Theatre Arts department of the University of Benin to perform a dance drama titled Pipe’s War, an adaptation of Ifowodo’s poem with the same title by Dr Chris Ugolo, the audience had to move to a cemented ground in the open because of the unconducive nature of the hall. However, that did not stop the students from putting up a spectacular performance.

In his speech, the America-based Nigerian writer not only exhibited a firm grasp of his local language but also his familiarity with the culture, as he initially spoke in Isoko, his mother tongue. But Ifowodo also turned his ire against the  NDDC for the shoddy job it did at the hall. “Is this the best that the NDDC can provide the Oleh community?” Ifowodo, who likened the hall to a commodity house, asked. The poet later told the audience about how his literary journey began. “I wrote my first poem as a fourth former in Federal Government College, Warri. One evening, one Uyi Woghiren, a sixth former had asked me to write a poem for our house, Independent House. Though I had never thought of stringing words together, I wrote a poem titled, Ill Wind, a literal versification of the adage, It’s an ill wind that blows no one any good,” Ifowodo said.

Apparently overwhelmed by the success of the event, Prof. Ekoko suggested that poetry reading be an annual event and promised that next year, he and other participants would “paint the town red”.

—Nehru Odeh/Oleh