In 2001, homesick, I returned to Nigeria after staying away for nine years in the US.
My destination was Ife, and I lodged in a hotel in Lagos for the first week. I used the hotel rental car, with a hired driver, to run errands. One day, the rental car driver who drove me around Lagos, said “Prof, why not just buy a car instead of spending all your money on car hires? Don’t you plan to stay in Nigeria for a couple of months? It’s best for you to get a fairly used car.”
My phone rings and, recognizing the name of the caller, I pick up the call. It is the wife of a friend living in Nigeria. I say the usual, “Hello,” but there is no response. There is a faint conversation in the background. She is discussing with her friend.
When I was a kid between the ages of three to ten, my friends and I were fond of watching Lọ́baníkà, an egúngún masquerade that performed regularly once a year in my neighborhood at Iremo in Ile Ife. Lobanika’s annual act was the highlight of the entire community, and we always waited with joy for the week when Lobanika performed to the delight of all and sundry
FEB 1 2018
ÌMỌ́DÒYE
An Akodi Orisa Sculpture
Ile Ife, Nigeria
January 2019
Artist: Moyo Okediji
Good news from the brilliant Ohio State University professor, Adeleke Adeeko:
His new book is out. The cover of the book features my drawing, “Sketches of (S)pain.” The title of my drawing alludes to the jazz abstraction of Miles Davis, whose album, Sketches of Spain, fetched him a Grammy in 1960.
Of ego purge me
Of vanity exorcise me
Of hate, of envy, jealousy
Of covetousness cleanse me
With Jelili Atiku’s sculpture of Mandela and wearing Luis Emilio Marin’s Esu figure in my office today, University of Texas at Austin.
My Nigerian friends are going to be so scared!!!!
The Incompatibility of Love and Fear
REALITY SHAPED
I arrived the United States in September 1992. When I stepped on US soil at the JFK airport I had exactly $98 in my pocket. Yet by February 1995, I successfully defended my doctoral dissertation at one of the best universities in the United States. I never enjoyed a penny of scholarship money. I was not entitled to, nor did I receive student loan. I worked my way through college.
The campaigns for election into the office of the presidency in Nigeria have already begun.
Let us not forget our women and children who suffer under the yoke of patriarchal rule in Nigeria.