Fond recollections as Uyo Book Club honours ‘Bard of Idoto’, Christopher Okigbo
* Poet-politician Senator Ekong Sampson vows to resist age limit to higher education policy
By Iniobong Umoh
CHIEF Sylvester Okonkwo, a prominent indigene of Ojoto in Anambra State, sat as if he was pinned to his seat, awestruck by the performances of members of Uyo Book Club who gathered in the Shakespeare Hall of Watbridge Hotel, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, to honour one of his kinsmen, Christopher Okigbo, one of Nigeria’s first generation and finest poets ever. Okonkwo who traveled all the way from his base in Abuja where he serves as Chief of Staff to the Senate President, Godswil Akpabio, confessed that he has “never seen anything like this before” while alluding to the solemn nature of the event. He expressed the gratitude of Ojoto people and the Okigbo family to Uyo Book Club for honouring their son.
While welcoming guests, the founder of Uyo Book Club, Dr. Udeme Nana, described Okigbo as ‘the Bard of Idoto’ and rendered a poem in memory of the late sage:
The 5 Majors struck/ shaking strongholds
spilling blood/ killing settled scions once ensconced on stolen thrones
sending shockwaves across the land.
Dark clouds of discontent gathered and soon, it became a storm/
Ironside demurred/ dithered drawing anger from the boys who moved to revenge !
Discontent, tension, suspicion, distrust disrupted the peace, calm, trust, friendship and confusion reigned.
Like wildfire, the mindless pogrom broke and hell was let loose.
To your obis they agitated , shouted/ They searched out and killed
age – long friends, cut bonds, sacrificed communion, brotherhood and ties no matter how strong
Soon, the staccato booming sound of gunfire broke through sending shivers down spines
From Police action, war in spite of Aburi
Aburi was breached
And the onslaught raged and reigned
Nsukka, that serene citadel of learning was bombarded by unrelenting gunfire, bullets, mortar, air sorties but he stood strong in stout defense of his convictions
his motherland, his ideals, his ideas and sense of justice.
Defiant , he fought on the brown stony soil.
He ran around the shrubs,
The undulating hills
But outflanked and overwhelmed, he was cut down at his prime.
Dr. Nana said the man whom the club gathered to celebrate was socially committed, culturally obligated, politically engaged and intellectually grounded. According to the renown media scholar, Okigbo’s wasn’t arts for arts’ sake, as “his was arts to advance his culture, his positive traditions, freedom, justice, fair play.” The Nsukka trained media expert noted that the late Okigbo left the physical realm fighting for his beliefs and stated that the club was honouring him because his works are ennobling legacies.
Uyo Book Club in session for ‘Bard of Idoto’, Christopher Okigbo
Prof. Friday Okon of the Department of English, University of Uyo who represented the Keynote speaker, Prof. Joseph Ushie, said Okigbo wasn’t an ordinary person even at birth. He observed that the poet was culturally devoted to Idoto, adding that his arts was for public good. Prof. Okon who described himself as a student of Okigbo revealed that Okigbo’s later poems “encapsulates contemporary issues in Nigeria,” noting that Okigbo was a true Nigerian, as “he was Igbo but married an Igbirra woman and lived and worked in Ibadan, the heartland of Yoruba.”
Patron of the book club, Senator Ekong Sampson described Okigbo as an activist and a prophet, adding, “Okigbo was a great man and is not dead,” and read four poems written by him, dedicated to Okigbo titled ‘A conversation with water’, ‘The verdict’, ‘A cobweb for the innocent’ and the ‘Skin in our spirit’.
The Senator used the occasion to condemn the attempt to limit qualified teenagers in Nigeria from access to higher education in the country and vowed to resist the retrogressive policy at the Senate.
Okonkwo, who brought fraternal greetings from the Senate President to the gathering, said his boss had asked him to “convey his deepest admiration for the man honoured by the club, a poet whose words continue to resonate across generations,” saying “Okigbo was not just a poet but a cultural icon whose voice echoed the struggles, aspirations and spiritual yearnings of a people,” adding that Okigbo’s work “remains a beacon of intellectual rigour and artistic excellence, reminding us of the power of words to shape nations and define destinies. As we reflect on the profound impact of Christopher Okigbo’s work, let us also consider the role we must play in nurturing the arts and scholarship in society,” and urged Nigerians, like Okigbo would do, to always advocate for justice and equity.
Members of the Club read some of the poems written by Okigbo. Joy Inyang performed Okigbo’s supplication to ‘Idoto’, Ella Ebebe read ‘Love Apart’, Iniobong Leroi Umoh read “Watermaid”, James Edet read ‘For he was a shrub among the poplars’, while Dr. Martin Akpan and Mike Bush read from a collection of 20 poems written by Prof. Hillary Inyang in honour of Christopher Okigbo. One of the poems in that collection is aptly titled ‘Okigbo resurrects’ and another ‘If we clip the wings of fate’.
Others who participated in the reading included Dr. Bernard Dickson of the Department of English, University of Uyo and the winner of The Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism 2023, Dr. Eyo Etim of the Department of English, Akwa Ibom State University, Uyo.
