The birth of evil machinations in Aj. Dagga Tolar’s ‘Nineteen Chapters of the New Name…’
By Eriata Oribhabor
AJ Dagga Tolar’s Nineteen Chapters of the New Name… (AJ House of Poetry and Virgillis Communications, Lagos; 2025) is a book of poetry that reminds one of the theme of the second Summit of Poets in Nigeria )PIN) which held in Ikorodu from 15-16 January, 2021 – ‘Creativity and the New Normal’. It was hosted by Shola Phebian Oguntoyinbo Adekunle. In poetic deliveries, the book is a catalogue of experiences of a “new normal” created by a “new name” – an unforgettable reality in the minds and hearts of “we survivors.”
As a fellow comrade, I always look forward to reading or listening to comrade, poet and former Chairman, Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Lagos and front line human rights activist in Nigeria Aj. Dagga Tolar. Whether in the physical or on page stage, his presentations could stir any audience into picking up arms against the bourgeoisies of our world. A palpable constant to look out for is his untiring voice against societal ills and how the bottomline remains the perpetration of disfunctionality by the high and mighty, whose overriding objective is to keep a fully misappropriated status quo in their favour and that of their generations.
Nineteen Chapters of the New Name… has 19 chapters, a deliberate reiteration of the number 19 of Covid-19 which the book harps on. With a Postscript titled ‘Guns Too Heed Marx’, Tolar’s lifelong fight for the betterment of humanity via socialist ideals is fully brought to bear. He talks about guns, devious runs for obvious profit by the few for the few, mass of hunger, waste and death of millions amidst a blatant abuse of the nation’s wealth/treasury.
The Introduction to Nineteen Chapters of the New Name… is dedicated to personal and perceived feelings, centred around painful experiences of people during the pandemic of 2020 known as Covid-19 lockdown, and the high-handedness of political establishments around the world. While it offers an insight into the poetic offerings of Tolar (as hinted), it devolves from what he calls a “very tiny virus” – an enemy of humanity, created to keep big names and businesses going for their selfish ends, albeit at the expense of the majority. In the poet’s opinion, “this enemy” wasn’t the real enemy but those whose hands were behind it. It is affirmative about the power of the “tiny virus” in bringing out the good, the bad and the worst of humanity and how people employed different ways of surviving the imposed “lockdown on our existence.”
Going by the preceding scenario which negatively impacted the poor who live from hand to mouth, the lockdown showed the abiding capacities of man, irrespective of race, region or religious affiliation to rise above intimidation in any name, even in the face of death. It proves that we are a humanity that must do away with needless class tendencies that harass the hell out of ordinary people around the world.
Titled ‘Without The Certainty of Dawn’, the first poem in the book is a subtle expose of untold pain, which many went through during Covid-19 lockdown, a crass demonstration of the inverse appropriation of the value of death over life by the lords and masters of our economies, leaving uncertainty, anxiety and death.
Having established the overall focus of the book, one could picture the sound, rhythms and meaning running in the poems therein and probably hazard their titles. In this regard, the mention of a few titles would be insightful to say the least, viz: The Ticket to Citizenship, Hard Times, Hunger Allies with Death, The Victory of the Old Death, The Death of Dignity, Is God the first name of Death?, No Point Hating Death, etc. Meanwhile and in proper alignment with order, the last poem in the book titled ‘Poetry Too Is Work’ wraps up by stating the overriding place of poetry in crafting history in their pieces for generations:
When this is over
& am buried underneath,
Away from seeing and scenes
And they say ‘death came knocking’
And the lockdown to stay safe
Refused to head the plea
To be indoors
And do nothing…
The above except testifies to the strong-willed in societies, like poets who believe that, irrespective of the situation of Covid lockdown, creative exploits didn’t stop and poems written at the time would stand in evidence despite not being a source of financial uplift or balance to the poet. Although the poems prepare him for the ultimate – death, they speak loudly that ‘Poetry Too Is Work’ validly contributing to the betterment of man’s psychological and mental balance in surviving the times beyond “new names”, “new normals”, the dirty ways of sponsors of capitalism, blood money and the facade of primitive wealth building across climes.
Having a copy of Nineteen Chapters of the New Name… by Aj Dagga Tolar is to be armed against the vicissitudes of sordid sides of life; it’s a creative presentation of a terrible time in our world’s chequered moments, a volume of dedicated poetry for everyone wishing never to be caught napping in the scheme of things.
* Oribhabor, a notable poet and culture promoter, is the founder of Poets in Nigeria
