Nightfall.
Nightfall.
Ile Ife.
For many years after arriving in the US, whenever I slept, I would dream of Ile Ife, where I grew up.
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Nightfall.
Ile Ife.
For many years after arriving in the US, whenever I slept, I would dream of Ile Ife, where I grew up.
Muhamadu Buhari, the president of our terminally sick Nigeria, just did what soldiers have been doing since I was ten years old—he kicked out some old soldiers, and replaced them with some old soldiers.
Buhari kicked out Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin;
Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai;
Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas;
and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.
These kids appeared from nowhere.
They came to see the Akodi Orisa, they said.
“We know absolutely nothing about the Orisa. Do you kill people and use their blood for money.”
They wanted to learn about the Orisa from Baba Olorisa.
We are getting close to the end of the architectural sculpture.
Isn’t it so wonderful to be back home in Nigeria, to spend time on the very land in which you grew up, to measure what has remained the same, evaluate the changes, and survey the landscape with an eye irrevocably altered through gazing at other countries and interacting with foreign landscapes?
At the airport and, incredibly, within this period, I gave birth to the ÀKÒDÌ ÒRÌṢÀ, the building in the background of this picture.
A silent demolition is going on.
When I was about 8 years old, I walked from Akarabata Line 2 to Iremo in Ile Ife, a distance of about three miles, every morning, at dawn. I was attending a private coaching class that started at 6 am, two hours before formal classes began at 8 am.