Spotlighting Udeme Nana’s poetic ‘Musings of Yesteryears’ in Uyo

By Friday Okon

I must say that I am honoured to have been invited to serve as the book reviewer on this auspicious occasion of the celebration of Dr. Udeme Nana’s 60th birthday anniversary, and I am not taking that trust for granted. The relationship between a writer and a literary critic cum reviewer is like the relationship between a pregnant woman and a midwife or birth attendant. The writer of any book is like a pregnant woman who deserves to be treated with care. Her gestation period only comes to an end when she delivers her baby (i.e when the book is successfully published and ready to be presented to the public, in an august gathering such as this one). In every birth, safe delivery is the watchword, and safe delivery can only be ensured by a qualified midwife. The analogy here is that the writer is the pregnant woman while the reviewer cum critic is the midwife. As a good midwife, the reviewer-critic tries to ensure the safe delivery of the child (i.e. the book) and completes his job when he introduces the book to the prospective readers, who are the reading public. Chairman of this occasion, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen; by your kind permission, I stand here today as a midwife, to fulfil the duty of introducing a new book to you, the reading public, entitled Musings of Yesteryears (Planeyo Publishers, Uyo; 2025), written by Dr. Udeme Nana.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I must say that I was intrigued when I was approached by Dr. Nana to review a collection of poetry written by him, which contents were mostly written during his teenage years, when he had hardly gained admission into the university. I was curious and decided to take up the assignment because his experiences at this age synchronised with my own experiences at the same age and time. It is during the celebration of this auspicious birthday that I realized that we are age mates four months apart. For this reason, some of his experiences are also some of mine, having both lived in the same age, with the same generational influences. I must say that I commend his uniqueness, his vision, and his talent and creativity at that point in time in his life. No wonder why he lamented and decried the youth of this present generation (the Gen-Z generation), for their laziness, indolence, pathological hatred for hard work and general lethargy in matters having to do with self-awareness, future possibilities and the need to make a head way in life; a generation born with a mentality of entitlement; a generation best described as “videots!”

The term videots was a coinage and book title by this same outstanding public relations guru and top-notch civil servant, Udeme Nana. The coinage is a combination of the stems of two words, namely, “video” and “idiots”. The implication of the coinage is that we live in an age where our youth spend most of their time glued to the screens of television sets watching videos, playing video games and eating pop-corn and other junk food all day long, hence the iconic book title by him, The Age of Videots (2005)! By paying scant regard to their academic future and by also believing that “school is a scam,” they mortgage their future and thus become veritable idiots, while their counterparts in other parts of the world are making advances and breakthroughs in science, technology, the digital space and the humanities, to keep their societies on the path of progress. The implication of this attitude is obvious: Africa risks being left out once more in world advances, condemning her citizenry to perpetual beggars in spite of the excessive natural and human resources at her disposal. So, the name “videots” suits our indolent children and youths who are so described in this paragraph.

Sadly enough, we are now living in a society where reading culture has been abandoned even by adults who should know better, but who put up the excuse of fighting for ‘belle infrastructure’. Ironically, the youth who now believe that school is a scam still want to make it in life by all means, and so they resort to ‘yahoo-yahoo’ activities online to be rich.. Our governments have not helped matters by placing education and social services in the back seat, without funding. School fees are being gradually introduced into schools, even without the commensurate provision of the attendant amenities like books, scholarships, recreational facilities, etc. The end of the matter is that reading culture has died! But thanks to Udeme Nana, Uyo Book Club is alive, Abak Book Club, Raffia City Book Club, Oron Book Club, Eket Book Club, and Ibiono Ibom Book Club are all alive, as testaments to his lasting legacy. Now I hear Abuja Book Club is coming on! “Great oaks from little acorns grow!”

Nana dared to be different in his own time in many respects, but especially by standing out of the crowd, and show-casing his talent, creativity and due diligence in his artistic endeavours, (even while his age mates slept), to make his family, school, State and nation proud. He reminds me of the saying by this great American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, that:

The heights that great men
reached and kept were not
attained by sudden flight,
but they while their
companions slept, were
toiling upwards in the night.

This short, powerful poem states that it is not by mere day-dreaming (as our youths today do) that we attain success. Success can only be attained by hard work, due diligence, and the consciousness of redeeming the time. That was the path that Dr Udeme Nana took as a young man and that is still the path that epitomises his many endeavours and achievements, and these speak volumes about him.

If nothing else is said about Nana’s youthful years, at least, it shall be said that he had opportunities and he seized these opportunities with both hands. In order to hone his skills, he befriended those that mattered; wise elders who knew the road well taken: Professors Ime Ikkiddeh and Effanga James Usua, both of UNICAL; Sir S. U. Akpan (to whom this collection is dedicated), and many others in the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Channel 9, Calabar and in The Gong Newspapers, also in Calabar. All of these connections took place between the years 1980-85, before he gained admission into the university. What a precocious young man! When he finally gained admission to read Mass Communication in UNN, Nsukka, he befriended the iconic intellectual, poet, and literary critic, Prof. Olu Oguibe, who introduced him to the writers’ circle in the university. He also befriended Edith Ihekweazu, another icon in the field of Language and Communication, among many others too numerous to be mentioned. These entire relationships boil down to the Ibibio saying that I have used here before, which says that: Eto ayemme adidu uwem /Asida akpere ibong.

Meaning: “any sapling that wishes to be alive and prosperous must stand near a kola nut tree.” Nana is the perfect epitome of that age-old Ibibio adage: he saw through his weaknesses and sought for sagely advisers. This attitude of his is in line with the biblical injunction which says that “where no wise guidance is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety”(Prov. 11:14). And so, like Paul the Apostle, seeking to know, Nana sat at the feet of those who knew it all; who knew the way, and he gained immensely from their vast store of wisdom and knowledge. Today, “follow who know road” is a political slogan/cliché used by party thugs who are regularly used by the politicians and later dumped. Nana did not use the slogan in his time but used the idea gainfully, which was not the case with his mates then and worse still, not the case with young people of the same age bracket (the videots), today. Bottom line: our youths today badly need mentorship!

Today, Nana is being celebrated for his achievements which though looking modest, would have the greatest and most lasting impact on the youth of this State and this nation through many generations. If this is a nation where merit is recognised, Nana shall one day be recognised by this State and the Federal Government of Nigeria! This is a prophecy awaiting fulfilment!

On ‘Musings on Politics’, I will randomly select and examine the following poems: “Dele Giwa”, “Nigerian Politicians Pharisaic”, “Bravo, Leopold Sedar Senghor”, “To Pik Botha” and “Spectres Haunt Nigeria”.

“Dele Giwa” is a poem that was dedicated to the late eponymous hero of that name; a writer and journalist who fearlessly stood for the truth and for freedom of expression during the military regime of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. He was killed through parcel bomb, purportedly on the orders of the Junta of the day, on 19th of October 1986. At the time of this gory incident, Udeme Nana was aged 21. This poem was written by him three years after the incident took place, which is likely 1989:

Three years ago
Today
Marks your ghastly
Exit from this shore
We still grope
We still wander
And wonder.

The poet is saying that three years after the ghastly incident, the nation was still reeling from the shock, and unable to make headway as to how and why it happened and who caused it to happen. According to the poet-persona, Nigeria as a nation died metaphorically with the death of Dele Giwa; not only that: but that his death set Nigeria decades backward in her developmental strides. In other words, the death of Dele Giwa was the death of truth, probity, professionalism and objectivity in investigative journalism:

Nigeria died decades
Ago in 1986 when you were
Bombed to death.

In the second stanza, the poet asks the late journalist whether he had finished his life’s assignment and whether it is a curse (of the gods?) that nothing good can be allowed to exist in this clime? In the last stanza the poet-persona says that he can see the spirit of the late journalist laughing at the living because the hypocrisy of the nation is so pungent that we continue to pretend not to know those who committed the heinous crime. That “Nigeria died decades ago” was no idle statement by a youth, but a chilling prophecy that has come to pass because the hens of yesteryears have come to roost today in the form of killer herdsmen, militias and other non-state actors like ISWAP, Boko Haram and what have you.

“Nigerian Politicians Pharisaic” is a poem that mocks at post-independence Nigerian politicians who fought colonialism when they were students and members of the youth vanguard in the colonial era known as the Nigeria Youth Movement (NYM). These set of former students now having become the ruling elite, have decided to condone all the evils they railed at when the colonialists were in power. Especially offensive is their refusal to fund education, which they accessed at no cost, during their youth To the poet, they are now “Janus:/Double-faced, phony,/pharisaic.” He asks them: “Do you like your sight?/Are you comfortable in your skin?/Do you sleep well at night?” These torrents of rhetorical questions demonstrate the poet’s frustration with and embarrassment at the turn of events where these politicians have frustrated the hopes of the masses. All of these politicians’ actions point at their gross hypocrisy, as modern Pharisees who told the Jewish masses to wit: ‘Do as I say but not as I do.’

The next poem entitled “Bravo, Leopold Sedar Senghor” was written by the poet in 1980, when the poet-persona himself was barely 16 years of age! The maturity and consciousness that he exhibits concerning what goes on in the world outside his immediate environment is what is surprising. Leopold Sedar Senghor, was a prominent Senegalese French Linguist, renowned Negritude poet, philosopher and politician rolled into one. He became the president of Senegal at the dawn of independence in 1960. Others in his mould were Ahmadou Ahidjo of Cameroon, Marcias Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, Felix Houphouet Boigny of Ivory Coast, Matthew Kerekou of Benin Republic, Siaka Probyn Steven of Sierra Leone and William Tolbert of Liberia. Most of them ruled beyond their terms and rewrote their countries’ constitutions to make themselves Presidents for Life. In spite of this trend, in December 1980, Leopold Senghor handed over political power after decades in power. This is the phenomenon that thrilled the poet to write the poem in praise of Senghor’s decisive action of not hanging on to power, and by so doing, has earned respect of the comity of nations:

Bravo, Leopold Sedar Senghor
For realizing the folly of long
Rulership.
Thereby earning respect.
Bravo Senghor, the great poet
And Prince of Negritude
For breaking the ice.

The poet wishes that other African rulers would follow Senghor’s footsteps in relinquishing power when the ovation was loudest. This was not to be. As a result, many of them were deceived and thrown out of power, like in the case of Ahmadou Ahidjo of Cameroon, or weeded out of power by the military in a coupe d’etat, as was the case of Jean Bedel Bokassa of Central African Republic (who had crowned himself emperor) and William Tolbert of Liberia:

I wish other well – aged
Leaders follow your footsteps
Rather than end in disgrace
Like Bokassa
As Tolbert.

What is to be emphasized here is not just the beauty and simplicity of the poem but the fact that the poet at that young age could be so politically conscious, mature and reflective, where his age mates were still thinking how to hoodwink their parents with lies to get money from them.

The poem, “To Pik Botha” takes us back to the 1980’s, the zenith of Apartheid in South Africa. This poem must have been written between 1983 and 1986 as a warning to Roloef ‘Pik’ Botha, who was then at the height of his power as Foreign Minister of Apartheid South Africa. This was the age of the final push by African countries for the freedom of South Africa from Apartheid rule. Nigeria was at the forefront of this struggle. At this time, the poet was about twenty-one years of age while Mandela had been in prison by this time for upwards of 24 years. In the poem, the poet-persona tells ‘Pik’ Botha (who was the face of the Apartheid Regime at the time) that if he likes, let him “block all avenues for dialogue/ignore…yearnings/for change/remove and silence potential/leaders/ through harsh sentences,” and use all the destructive tactics of the regime to suppress Black agitations, that none of these tactics will be effective in the long run to derail the fall of the evil regime. He concludes the poem on an enigmatic note that may refer either to himself or Mandela or both:

The moon looks sad
At birth but
Wonderfully beautiful
At Twenty-one!

The moon here may refer either to Mandela who has been in prison for the period of not less than twenty-one years, or to the poet (who was also in his early twenties at the time of writing) or to both of them. Whatever the case may be, the symbolism of the moon represents the solution, the hope that cannot be destroyed by human chicanery: the moon may look sad at the beginning but as it grows to its full girth, nobody can obviate its beautiful smile. This was a prophecy that came to pass in 1990, when Nelson Mandela was released from prison and the processes of majority black rule kick-started. On the basis of the above, it can be said that the poem is a sonnet.

The last poem from this section to be treated is “Spectres Haunt Nigeria.” This poem mirrors the colossal failures of what was once a vibrant nation – Nigeria. A spectre is actually a dreaded thing. And the poet is saying that many dreadful and intractable problems haunt this nation, politically socially, economically and otherwise. Typical examples from the poem include the Kaduna Stalemate which refers to the political crisis in Kaduna State during the Second Republic resulting in the impeachment of the then Governor Balarabe Musa (line7). Another is “Big Explosions” and “Animalistic tendencies towards/fellows… (lines 8-9). This may refer to the beginning of religious riots (Maitatsine) and terrorist tendencies in the nation which have now gone out of hand. Agriculturally, the Shagari government at its inception introduced the Green Revolution Programme, meant to grow food to feed the entire nation: that programme failed. All the programmes and schemes by past and present governments, according to the poet, are only meant to feed fat the politicians and the men in power. For this reason, governance has become a continuum in failure since it was not originally programmed to cater for the welfare of the masses.

On Musings on Nature, two poems will be examined, viz: “Transfiguration of an African Girl” and “We are Stones” for want of time. “Transfiguration of an African Girl” deals with the subject of self-hate in the name of beauty. It mirrors the phenomenon whereby African girls use all kinds of creams and cosmetics to bleach their skins in order to attain the standards of beauty of the white women. Aping white standards of beauty is alien to the African ethos, hence the poet’s shock at the changed appearance of the girl in question. Between stanzas one and four, the poet proves without reasonable doubt that Kokomma was dark complexioned; then in stanza five the transformation that makes her unrecognizable to the poet-persona comes in, and the poet-persona reacts:

Amazed, I was benumbed at the
Transfiguration of
A black African girl
To a cream-burnt pseudo- European girl.

From the reaction of the poet-persona, it means that the “transfiguration” is a disgrace to African womanhood because it depreciates the former beauty of Kokomma to something ugly, unrecognizable and destructive because her formerly smooth ebony skin has now been disfigured an mutilated (‘cream-burnt’) by the heat of different alien chemicals used to concoct the “beauty creams! The next poem is “We are Stones” which talks about the progressive degeneration of the human heart to feel for, and be his brother’s keeper. It says that in the African past, there was empathy: love, care and sharing during moments of joy, in sadness and in death. However, in these modern times, human beings are stone-like, “unfeeling, uncaring and passive”.

On Musings on Love, only one poem will be treated, namely: “Unrequited Love”. We are all familiar with the usual effusion of words and feelings that accompany individuals caught up in the throes of love, that is, when it is accepted and reciprocated by the beloved. However, when it is rejected, it constitutes a low ebb to the feelings of the rejected one. The poet-persona in the poem recreates the feelings of rejection and disappointment which usually accompany unrequited love, in three short stanzas. In the third stanza, he summarises the feeling as “sickening” and “heart-breaking”.

On Musings on Sorrow, two poems will be examined for want of space and time, namely: “Casualties” and “Songs of Sorrow (I)”.

In “Casualties” the poet-persona is inter-textually interfacing with the Late Prof. John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo who first published a poem of that title to lament about the casualties of the Nigerian civil war which was fought between 1967-70. In contrast to Clark-Bekederemo’s poem, the poet in this context is writing about the casualties of a war going on after the civil war had been done with, which is not fought with visible guns and ammunition, but is still deadly as to claim casualties: that is, the political wars of the Second Republic civil peace and beyond. In this poem which parodies Clark-Bekederemo’s, almost word-for-word, we see casualties who are “deported” (line 2, referring to Late Abdurahman Shugaba of Borno State); those who are impeached (line 4, referring to Late Balarabe Musa of Kaduna State). The casualties are not only “eggheads (academics) forced/ out because of their philosophical leanings/and postulations” (like Edwin Madunagu from Unical, Bala Mohammed and later Patrick Wilmot from ABU) among others. Finally, the casualties are the future of this nation, the “generations of unborn/children /who will inherit…./ a banner/full of stains” (p.53). These last lines are a reverse echo of the oft-quoted phrase in the national anthem which says: ‘and hand unto our children a banner without stain.’ So the poem restates Clark-Bekederemo’s dictum that ‘we are all casualties!’

The next poem in this section meriting attention is “Songs of Sorrow (I)”. In this poem the poet-persona laments Africa’s deplorable history of treachery, capture, and exile. This history implies that at the advent of the colonial enterprise by the Europeans, they (who came in the guise of traders) were received by African potentates on the understanding that these strangers came for fair and legitimate trade, but “who knew the white-skinned strangers/were like joshua;/eyes sent to/spy our land…”?(lines 10-13). Soon they connived with other worthless men in Africa who betrayed their kith and kin and led the enslavers to capture their own brothers:

Treachery, Capture, Exile,
They pillaged
They despoiled
Even drawing
Swords
Over our garments
Africa relapsed

The above lines reiterate the events that took place in historical perspective: how the likes of Samori Toure, Jaja of Opobo, Nana of Ebrohimi and Ovonranwen Nogbaisi of Benin kingdom (to mention a few), were betrayed, captured and imprisoned in exile and their domains taken over by the colonialists. Since then, Africa has retrogressed spiritually, psychologically and mentally without the hope of recovery, and has become Europe’s burden-bearer. However, the poet persona ends on a note of defiance by stating that the era of subjugation shall come to an end; but would Africa forgive her despoilers when she recovers her strength? thus:

But after this deluge shall come respite
And like the benevolent Jesus Christ on
Calvary cross
Would Africa forgive?

This consciousness of the dynamics of our history is quite commendable in Nana. That is what Chinua Achebe meant when he said that those who don’t know where and when the rain started to beat them would not know when and where the sun came out to dry their bodies.

On ‘Musings on Death/Tragedy’, three poems shall be examined, namely: “For Professors Edith Ihekweazu and Donatus Ibe Nwoga,” “Diana and Dodi” and finally, “When a Christian Departs the Earth”.

In “For Professors Edith Ihekweazu and Donatus Ibe Nwoga.” The poet-persona displays his love for scholarship and for his former lecturers when he hears news of their transition. These were two influential professors who taught him at the revered citadel of learning, Nsukka: the great German-Nigerian Language Scholar, Edith Ihekweazu and the great poet and literary scholar, D. I. Nwoga.

The next poem “Diana and Dodi” is dedicated to two iconic personalities who chose to share their lives together despite the racial and religious discrimination and western hypocrisy: Lady Diana, Princess of Wales and the dandy Dodi Fayed, son of the Egyptian Businessman and former owner of Harrods. The two fell in love after Diana’s divorce from Prince (now King) Charles (III) in 1997. Their love affair was regarded as a breaking of old barriers by the Western Establishment and so they became a curiosity to the Western press acting on behalf of their people. Subsequently, as they were being chased around by photographers (paparazzi) in France, they lost their lives in a ghastly accident inside a tunnel in Paris: “their bodies badly mangled…”, beyond recognition. They were unfortunate pawns to high stakes international conspiracy and politics, which ultimately devoured them. The poet bemoans their fate but also sees it as an object lesson to all mortals that no one can escape death. Death takes all: the high, the low, the beautiful, the ugly – all without consideration of race, culture or creed. What’s more? Life is vanity, a mist that rises in the morning and soon vanishes in the evening!

The last poem is “When a Christian Departs the Earth.” In this poem the poet-persona brings to mind the obsequies that should accompany the passage of a Christian. Apart from the church bells tolling to inform the world of the occurrence, members gather together to commemorate the life and times of the deceased by paying their last respects to his memory. This is followed by choral renditions to escort the departed soul home. This description may sound simple, but let’s compare it to the very expensive burial rites of nowadays, or compare it to the funeral rites accorded the recently deceased Pope Francis. Ostentation has destroyed true Christian principles. On the last day God would not be interested in how ostentatious our burial rites were but with how we kept faith and served his purposes on earth.

This little book of poetry has succeeded in its mission, which was to rouse us to the fact that hard work, perseverance, determination, focus and a strong faith in God, always leads to success in life. But most importantly, it must be also stressed that Nana was an uncommon and focussed youth during his early years, and made the best out of the opportunities that came his way. How many youths of his time and even now can boast of this kind of achievement? This is the challenge before us all. The book is small enough to fit into a school child’s satchel or even a medium-sized pocket. The binding is good; the margins are well placed. For the qualitative production of the book in its present form, Planeyo Publishers must be commended because they hit the ground running. In spite of being new in the Book publishing and printing business, this first major outing of theirs speaks volumes of what is in store for future clients on their billing: quality!

Having commented on the finish of this book, and having taken into consideration all other issues related to the book before us, I am of the humble opinion that in view of the fact that this book attempts to wake us up to the need to take reading more seriously, to encourage reading culture in our children, and to regard reading as the greatest resource of man in life, I would rather add by saying that those who read this book of poetry would not only enjoy the liquidity of the sounds, but would learn a thing or two from its pages. For as Francis Bacon (1561-1626) once wrote:

Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man;
and writing an exact man; and, therefore, if a man
write little, he had need have a great memory;
if he confer little, he had need have a present wit;
and if he read little, he had need have much cunning,
to seem to know that he doth not….

Going by the prescription of Francis Bacon above, Dr. Nana is an exact man; and like the Biblical “voice of one crying in the wilderness” of this age of videots, he is saying that nothing else surpasses reading; reading and more reading, from the cradle to the grave. This, then, along with the mature political consciousness that undergirded the creation of these poems at a youthful age, is the lasting legacy that Dr. Nana would have left behind to the world, towards making his society a better place than he met it. Thus far, he has succeeded so well in his mission! Congratulations, Sir!

In view of the foregoing, I strongly recommend this book of poetry to the general reading public and to our youths in the tertiary educational ladder in Nigeria. It promises to be a worthy addition to everyone’s library and would be excellent reading for entertainment. Chairman Sir, distinguished ladies and gentlemen at this august event, my work is done. I present to you Musings of Yesteryears by Dr. Udeme Nana. Happy Reading and thank you for listening!

* Prof. Okon teaches in the Department of English, University of Uyo