a picture showing moyo okediji poised for the camera

ENGLISHMAN IN BENIN CITY, 1982 (Part 38)

ByMoyo Okediji

“Wole Soyinka wants to have a word with Rufus. Tell him to come as soon as possible. Kongi travels out of the country next week,” was the simple message that I got back from Kole Omotosho.

Omotosho was the head of the Dramatic Art Department, University of Ife. He sent a driver to me to collect a manuscript, “Marx and Mask,” written by the brilliant Ghanaian writer, Ayi Kwei Armah.

Soyinka regularly received manuscripts from several writers, and after making copies, he would distribute the manuscripts among his circle of intellectuals who met at least once a week to read and discuss the manuscripts.

a picture showing moyo okediji standing next to his artwork

ENGLISHMAN IN BENIN CITY, 1982: (Part Thirty-Six)

ByMoyo Okediji

***Reader’s Note:

I was informed that I should complete the ENGLISHMAN IN BENIN CITY series before moving on to the next series, THE RETURN.

I will therefore return to the ENGLISHMAN IN BENIN CITY, and continue with Part Thirty-six. To refresh the memory of our readers, I have placed parts Thirty-five and Thirty-four at the end of Part Thirty-six.

a post showing Moyo OKediji art piece

HOW MUCH? Èrò Ni Ọkọ Dídó

ByMoyo Okediji

HOW MUCH? Èrò Ni Ọkọ Dídó

Check the naira amount in your pocket or the bottom line in your bank account.

Has that transfer gone through?

But what does a fellow do with money that rapidly gets useless?

What do you do when a piece of paper loses its promisedvalue?

It still says One thousand Naira, but it only buys One hundred Naira worth of garri.

In the year 2019 when I left Nigeria, I brought with me some naira currency notes, stacked in one-thousand denominations.

a post showing Moyo OKediji art piece

INNER VISION: OJÚ INÚ

ByMoyo Okediji

About 50 villages, mostly located in Ogun States, have been abandoned by Yoruba farmers and their families, but now occupied by Fulani invaders who drove out these villagers.

This morning I saw videos of the officers of the Nigerian Customs and Excises raiding the shops of poor market women, removing items that these women bought for sale to their customers.

This is a two-prong attack: the villagers driven out of their villages are unable to farm and provide food supplies for the people in towns and cities.

a picture showing moyo okediji poised for the camera

WHO OWNS YOUR NAME?

ByMoyo Okediji

The most central building on our school campus was also the building that gave me claustrophobia. It was the school chapel.

Right in front of the building was a stone monument. Within the monument was a plaque, with the inscription, “STUDY TO SHEW THYSELF APPROVED UNTO GOD. 2 Timothy, 2:15”

That, certainly, was not good English, I concluded. Even at age eleven, I felt they needed a copyeditor.

a picture showing moyo okediji poised for the camera

IS YORUBA CULTURE POLYGAMOUS?

ByMoyo Okediji

The secondary school rusticated me for being part of a riot that the students organized and carried out with meticulous sagacity.

Flabbergasted, I traveled to Ile Ife where we lived, from Oyo, where I schooled.

My father was amused that they rusticated me.

“Did you really participate in the riot?” my father asked.

“I did not,” I answered.

a picture showing moyo okediji with a big smile on his face

A TALE OF THREE ROBBERS

ByMoyo Okediji

My father told me the story of three thieves. He was a fiction writer, so I never knew if it was something he made up, or read up.

But let me tell you the tale if you got one minute:

Three thieves received info that a miner kept a large bundle of gold in his house. They decided they should go and relieve the guy of his treasure. “After all,” argued one thief, “he dug up this stone from the ground that God gave all of us.”

HATE AND LOVE ARE BROTHER AND SISTER

HATE AND LOVE ARE BROTHER AND SISTER

ByMoyo Okediji

I ran into one of my childhood friends in Ile Ife two years ago. He is now a university professor.

We decided to go and get a drink and as we started drinking, we discussed the pleasures of living together in the same house as children for many years.

We all lived together as one family in that house.

He was the son of Baba Alhaji, the landlord.

a picture showing moyo okediji poised for the camera

MY NEW WIFE

ByMoyo Okediji

I met Antonia at a wedding party in Akure in 2011.

The wedding party was inside a high-end hotel, where the big politicians and rich people stay when in Akure.

My friend who was a commissioner had given me a room in the hotel, because I was writing an exhibition catalog, and needed a place with good internet service and constant power supply.