₦airaland Forum

20 POETS MAKE THE #END SARS NATIONAL POETRY COMPETITION LONGLIST

Twenty Poets from across Nigeria have made the #END SARS National Poetry Competition longlist.
The longlist was selected from more than 109 English-language submissions. The selection of the longlist was done by Terseer Sam Baki.
Terseer Sam Baki is a celebrated poet and all round writer. He is the author of the poetry collection, 'Euphoria of Sophistry' and has published in several anthologies. Terseer Sam Baki is also the immediate past General Secretary of the Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, Benue State chapter. He holds a degree in English Education and currently pursuing his Masters in Language Education at the Benue State University, Makurdi.
Entries were received from five different countries which include: USA, Philippines, Zambia, Malawi and Nigeria.
Find below the complete longlist:
1. Nwokeabia, Ifeanyi John – HOW OUR LIGHTS WERE PUT OFF
2. Olude Peter Sunday – ENDSARS, LAW MAKERS OR LAW BREAKERS
3. Merife, Chisom Victor – IN LEKKI, HEROES PREVAILED
4. Etumnu Ugochukwu Bright – OUR MOTHERLAND WEPT!
5. Chukwu Sunday Abel – SPLIT GREEN FLAG
6. Zainab Adekunle Abubakar - #ENDSARS, A DIRGE TO THE FALLEN HEROES
7. Godstime Nwaeze – BERMUDA TRIANGLE
8. Lazarus Great-life – MY PEN, A SILENT OUTCRY FOR JUSTICE
9. Frank Kaliati – STATE ARMED ROBBERS (SQUAD)
10. Kolade Olawale Kabir Àdèlé – OUR VOICE, OUR STAND
11. Victor Chineme Okachi – ENDSARS
12. Sunday Afolayan – PLAGUED BY THE ANGER OF HUNGER
13. Ololade Akinlabi Ige – END THE DEMONS CHOKING OUR LIVES
14. Mark Dave – CHEEPING EAGLE
15. Chinedu Vincent Okoro – TILL OUR VOICES AND HANDS DINE THE ZENITH
16. Uzodimma Deborah Chimdimma – THE NIGERIAN 9/11
17. Agada Patience Anthony – JOURNEY TO HOPE
18. Umeorah Johnbosco – END SARS
19. Obiwuru Chidera Rex – THE TOLL GATE OF DEATH
20. Blessing Chinenye David – INQUEST FOR FREEDOM

The shortlist will be announced on Nov. 26, 2020.
END SARS National Poetry Competition is a joint effort between the Society of Young Nigerian Writers (SYNW) and the International Human Rights Art Festival (IHRAF), USA aimed at combating and campaigning against Police Brutality, Assault and Battery.

OYO STATE LIBRARIES ARE CEMETERIES OF DEAD BOOKS – IBADAN BOOK CLUB TELLS SEYI MAKINDE

The Ibadan Book Club (a book reading arm of the Society of Young Nigerian Writers – Oyo State Chapter) has described the Oyo state government owned libraries which are spread across the nooks and crannies of Oyo state as Cemeteries of dead books.

This was contained in a press statement signed by the Coordinator of the Club in Ibadan on Thursday.

The first book reading club in Oyo State made the comment after a week tour to some of the libraries.

Ibadan Book Club further berated the nonchalant attitude of Gov. Seyi Makinde and the Management of the Oyo State Library Board toward reading culture and tradition in Oyo state.

It would be recalled that Governor Seyi Makinde recently appointed some individuals as Chairman and members into the state library board. Some of the recently appointed individuals are not even stakeholders in the state’s book industry.

Ibadan is known as home to many reputable publishing firms and stakeholders in the book industry. Oyo state is currently home to famous publishing firms like Book Craft, Ibadan University Press, Evans Brothers Publishers, Spectrum Publishers, HEBN, Kraft Books, Macmillan Publishers, Rashmed to mention but few yet her libraries are full of outdated and moribund books.

On the problems confronting some of these libraries, Wole Adedoyin listed some of them as lack of awareness programs, budgetary constraints, inadequate library materials, lack of trained and skilled manpower and lack of appropriate government policy, lack of digital library facilities and lack of information literacy.

Adedoyin finally urged Gov. Seyi Makinde to pay attention to the state libraries, equip them with modern and relevant curriculum based books. And also explore all avenues to make reading attractive and friendly to the students and youths of the state.

NIGERIAN SOCIALIST WRITERS AND ARTISTS MOURN, URGE RECOMMITMENT TO THE CAUSE FOR WHICH BALARABE MUSA LIVED AND DIED

The Association of Nigerian Socialist Writers and Artists (ANSWA) on Wednesday joined other eminent Nigerians to mourn the death of the former Governor of Kaduna State during the Nigerian Second Republic, Alh. Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa, who died on the 11th of November 2020 in Kaduna.

This was contained in a statement issued and signed by the Coordinator of the group after a brief meeting in Ibadan on Wednesday.

The Coordinator of the Association, Wole Adedoyin through a phone call to the Kaduna Coordinator of the group said: “I received with sadness and a deep feeling of great national loss, news of the recent passing away of the former Governor of Kaduna State, Alh. Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa who was also the leader of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), a coalition of opposition parties.”
“I extend my heartfelt condolences to Alh. Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa’s family and the current Executive Governor of the State of Kaduna State, Gov. Nasir El-rufai.’’
Wole Adedoyin further described Alh. Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa as “a principled, dogged, and unrelenting politician, fully committed to any progressive and democratic course he believes in. May God give his family the fortitude to bear the loss”
Mr. Wole Adedoyin finally described the death of the 2003 Presidential Candidate of the People Redemption Party (PRP) as grievous and monumental loss to the Kaduna State and the nation.

A TIME TO BUILD: MATTERS ARISING FROM THE PROTEST BY OBARI GOMBA

It is normal to posit that every Nigerian wants a better country even when we differ about the route to that destination. It is time to find a common ground and build peace on the basis of justice. The pursuit of hegemony has not helped this country. It is time to build from the ruins of the on-going unrest. It is time to stop the violence. I say this to civilians, police officers, and soldiers. I say this to all communities and sections that are seething with anger. Anger has a lot of energy; and it is useful to stir a protest…useful to resist the obduracies of power and power-mongers. It can raise the plane into the air but it cannot land it. Unrest can call attention to a raging problem; but it takes stability to resolve every issue.
All those who have died so far are Nigerians. Bystanders and passers-by. Peaceful protesters. Thugs. Police officers. Soldiers. They are all Nigerians. All the properties lost are ours. As the persona in JP Clark’s poem says, “we are all casualties.” Bereavement and loss can force people to seek revenge. It will worsen the situation.No more violent revenge…retaliation…reprisal. We have to unleash the angels of forgiveness without ignoring the angels of accountability.We can seek redress through investigation and prosecution. Many areinclined towards choosing that option. In that case, all deaths and arsons and vandalizationscan be investigated. Everything must be in the open…including the incident at Lekki Tollgate on 20th October, 2020. In that case, we can consider setting up truly independent bodies to handle the matters. We cannot trust partisan law enforcement to treat the death of a protester as it will treat that of a uniformed officer. We cannot trust the police or the army to properly investigate the incidents because they are involved. If we choose prosecution, only truth, proper indictments, and compensations can heal the nation. We must pay compensations to the hurt…as we determine the losses. Begin the process right now…and quieten the voices of doom. Many are stoking fear and hate. Many are spinning partisan rubbish…APC this and PDP that. Many are weaving ethnic tension: Niger Delta, Hausa-Fulani, Middle Belt, Yoruba, Igbo, etc. Stop it. Stop it NOW. Nigerians have suffered enough. If you cannot give them succour, leave them alone to nurse their grief. Do not add to their sorrow.
This “wahala” started as a protest against police brutality; that is a fact. A relevant fact about a general problem. The police establishment is a cesspit. It needs reform. Its operation is unfair and unjust to Nigerians. They have killed, maimed, raped, and robbed many of us. The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (aka SARS) is a not alone. Think about the anti-cultism units, anti-kidnapping units, Eagle Crack units, etc. All of them have added to the problems they are established to solve. Yet, we cannot do without the police. It will be terrible to run a country without a police organization. The cure must not be worse than the disease. Let us add that the welfare of the police has been abandoned by the state. But that does not justify or excuse the criminality of the police. Why did the police not have the courage to ask for the improvement of its welfare? The system? Its corrupt and predatory superior officers? Thank providence: the same “demonized” protesters have asked for a new package on behalf of the police.We need to save the police. Not kill police officers or burn their stations. The police organization needs to serve us. Not kill us with impunity. So where do we go from here? Let us start from the beginning.
This is to the government: END POLICE BRUTALITY. END SARS. Do not rechristen it as SWAT. Do not be hasty to start something new without building confidence amongst the citizenry. The citizens are already traumatized. They are afraid that you are merely renaming police evil just to hoodwink the public. This is not the first time you have declared that you have banned “this or that.” And the “thing” remained virulent. Please, understand that you have a credibility problem. People cannot easily trust you. They will be foolish to trust you until you can truly earn their trust. Look, even as the protest against police brutality has been going on, police officers have not shown any kind of restrain. Theyhave been murderous, brutal, and abusive: the very ills that have brought people to the streets. Reform the police. Do not allow the police to go back to its old ways. Old habits die hard. Be vigilant. You have oversight over the police and you have allowed it to fester for ages. Now, solve the problem. Save the police. By no way is the police defeated. It has the chance to be better.
This is to the government: you cannot win the people through more acts of brutality. Stop the clampdown. Stop the terrors of the state. You will bruise and break the people. But the discontent will wait for the country and ambush it in the future. Give fairness and justice to the people. Not threats. Not arrests. Not bullets. Do not flex your muscles against your own citizens. They already know you are powerful that is why they are begging you to stop combing their hair with your iron-teeth. Do you understand them now?
This is to the government: there are other reforms that are necessary. Restructure the polity. Reform electoral practice. Stabilized the universities without eroding their autonomies. Check corruption amongst your own officials. Retool your civil service. Reduce the cost of governance (your citizens believe you are overpaid for the poor service you are noted for). Listen. Listen. The complaints are many. Listen. The country’s history is loud but the officers of state are deaf. Listen. You cannot govern people without their consent…you cannot do that forever. The issues we do not resolve today will wait for our children. The issues might exact more than a tithe of blood from our children. The polity is dysfunctional. The components believe they are held at gunpoint. Listen. Listen. And reform. Start earnest and honest dialogue now. Reform or hegemony will be the death of this country. Reform… restructure.
This is to the people: take advantage of the spotlight on you. You do not have to like your governors or the president. You do not have to like the last broadcast from the president. Until 2023, you have to work with the present officers of state to resolve some of or all of the issues you have raised. A country does not “change for good” because of a burst of protest. It requires consist commitment to protest…to keep protesting against wrongs. It requires constant acts of vigilance to gain progress through incremental but sometimes painful processes. It requires tenacity, intelligence, and tactics to keep insisting that good governance is not a bus-stop but a tireless journey. Do I mean that you must stay on the road forever? No. I mean that you must know when to leave the road, without feeling broken or defeated by your wounds and losses. You must know when to press your advantage on negotiation tables…and return to the road if need be. You must know when to cash your cheque…if that metaphor helps. You have earned that cheque through your blood and you must make the most of it. By no means are the protesters defeated in this matter. Deaths…yes. Injuries…yes. Losses…yes. But defeat? Not at all. The government has pronounced concessions. Now is the time to translate those words to reality. How do we achieve that? Let us move from roadblocks and temper to securing the gains of the protest. We cannot be taking more bullets on the roads when the commissions of enquiry are sitting across the states.
This is to the people: begin with the hearings in your states. Your governors have commissions in place to redress a history of police brutality. Make sure it counts. Churches, mosques, civil society groups, media, traditional rulers, local government areas: get involved. Mobilize your people to approach the commissions. Give testimonies without fear or favour. Purge the society of all the losses, humiliations, pains, and traumas that citizens have suffered. Many stories/testimonies have been circulated via the internet in the cause of the protest. Look out for the victims. Many of them will be too poor or broken or ashamed to tell their stories in public. Create a support system for victims; help them to get justice. This opportunity has come at the cost of blood; we cannot fail to make maximum gain from it. It will be unfortunate if we cannot demonstrate to the various panels that our cry against police brutality is true. As you seek redress, know that the police organization is wily. And also the politicians that run your states. Some of the murderous and abusive police officers have done favours to the politicians. There are shared secrets between the police and the politicians. The politicians will protect many culprits given that the commissions are at the behest of your politicians. Be vigilant. Plan your engagement against the system. Get justice.
This is to the people: remember what I have said before. Good governance is not a bus-stop. It is every citizen’s duty to keep shaping his/her country in pursuit of happiness. It is a lifelong duty to incrementally create a better country. It will not come on a platter of ease or from one event. Power loves its status quo. It concedes nothings unless it is confronted. Know that this protest, in spite of its decibel, will not solve all the problems. Resolve to be as stubborn as the problems that are holding your country down. If your resilience is tougher than the problems, you stand a chance to build the country of your dream. Strategize. Strategize. Build capacity and take power. Another election is on the way… 2023 is not far away. You can gain one state at a time. Put your trusted advocates in parliament. Take power. They will not give it to you. Make plans to take power. If you fail, try again. Keep trying. Do not give up. Keep fighting for your country.
This is to the people: where are those who are fed up with the country? You want to break it up? You do not need to start a war. You do not need a militia. You do not have to attack or kill the “strangers”who live in your own ethnic nationality. Begin by asking your legislators to move a motion for a referendum. It does not matter how few your legislators are, let them force the conversation on all Nigerians. It does not matter if the motion succeeds, let them keep raising it to keep the conversation alive. Begin with the state governors in your region. Let them raise the issue at the council of state. Let them raise it at every meeting of the council of state. Just as we do not need bloodshed to go our separate ways, we do not need to keep a country together by bloodshed.
This is to the country: I tell you the truth. Nigeria can be beautiful if we allow its beauty to be revealed. A few days to 1st October, 2020, I wrote a dirge entitled “A Country Defined.” I shared it with friends. Premium Times published it on 29th September, 2020. To borrow from the last stanza of the poem, I salute “those who know that every sunrise calls us to rise and every nightfall calls us to stand.”

Obari Gomba (PhD) is a two-time Winner of ANA Poetry Prize and Winner of ANA Drama Prize. He teaches in the University of Port Harcourt.

ATTACK ON GOV. GBOYEGA OYETOLA WAS POLITICAL – UNION OF DEMOCRATIC FORCES
The Union of Democratic Forces in Osun State has condemned Saturday’s attack on the convoy of Gov. Gboyega Oyetola.
Union of Democratic Forces, in a statement issued by its Coordinator, Wole Adedoyin on Sunday in Ilesha, described the action of the group as heartless, unacceptable and barbaric.
It would be recalled that some unknown thugs attacked Governor Gboyega Oyetola while he was addressing protesters in Osogbo on Saturday. It was gathered that Oyetola had walked along with some End SARS protesters from Oke-fia to join others at the popular Olaiya junction. As he also apologised to the youths for coming late to address them. The governor said he was out of the state but had returned about an hour ago to join them in solidarity.
Wole Adedoyin who is also the Chairman of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP) and the Association of Progressive Political Parties (Osun APPPS) in Osun State urged the people of the state to respect leaders at all levels, noting that the only way the state could be prosperous was to embrace dialogue, peace and unity.
“This regrettable attack shows the desperation by enemies of peace and humanity at large to jeopardise all efforts towards making life easier for victims of Police brutality in the state over the years. The Union of Democratic Forces strongly condemns this attack and stands with Gov. Gboyega Oyetola who has shown sympathy and courage in joining the EndSARS protest and personally reaching out to the victims of police brutality in the state. We urge the governor not to be deterred as he keeps working with security agencies to protect the lives and property of the people,” he said.
Adedoyin further advised the Inspector General of Police and an appropriate authority to bring the perpetrators of the act to book as he pointed out that the attack on the executive governor of the state was political.
According to him, the perpetrators of the uncivilised act must face the wrath of the law.

DEMOCRATIC WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA MOURNS THE PASSING OF TOLA OYEDIRAN

The Democratic Writers Association of Nigeria (DWAN) has condoled with the Awolowo family and the Ogun State Government over the demise of Mrs Tola Oyediran, eldest daughter of the Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, a former Premier of the old Western Region.

In a statement issued and signed by the national Coordinator of the Association, Mr. Wole Adedoyin described Mrs. Tola Oyediran’s death as painful and sad.

DWAN urged members of Awolowo and Oyediran’s family, her colleagues and all who mourn her to take solace in the knowledge that the much admired deceased beliefs, views and insights will live forever through innumerable good works she has left behind for present and future generations.

The statement finally prayed that God Almighty would comfort the deceased’s family and grant her soul peaceful repose in eternity.

Oyo Democratic Alliance has condoled with the Governor of Oyo state, Governor Seyi Makinde over the death of his mother, Madam Abigail Omojolagbe Makinde who died in the early hours of Thursday.

OYDA in a condolence message issued and signed by the Chairman of the group, Wole Adedoyin in Ibadan, noted that the late Madam Abigail Omojolagbe Makinde, was a devoted Christian and a good mother who lived a life worthy of emulation.

The statement further read “Judging from the exemplary qualities of Governor Seyi Makinde, there is no doubt that his late mother was a God-fearing woman. Mama’s good deeds will continue to speak volumes for her. We also have cause to be grateful to God for the life of this great woman who has had the unique grace of giving birth to a child that has become a jewel not only to the people of Oyo in particular but also Nigeria generally. Our prayers and thoughts are with Governor Seyi Makinde and his siblings at this moment of grief.”

OYDA enjoined Governor Seyi Makinde and the Makinde’s family to take solace in the fact that the deceased lived a purposeful life and left behind good children and loved ones to uphold her good legacies.

OYDA URGES GOV. SEYI MAKINDE TO ISSUE EXECUTIVE ORDER ON OYO SANITATION AND ENVIRONMENT
Oyo Democratic Alliance (OYDA) has advised Gov. Seyi Makinde to issue executive order on Oyo sanitation and Environment prohibiting citizens from engaging in environmental abuse, including illegal and indiscriminate dumping of refuse, construction on drainage points and obstructions, saying it would bring about cleanliness and orderliness to the state.
This was contained in a press statement issued and signed by the Coordinator of the Alliance, Mr. Wole Adedoyin in Ibadan on Sunday.
Oyo Democratic Alliance (OYDA) said that the executive order would save the state from further deplorable environmental condition.
It would be recalled that Gov. Seyi Makinde recently suspended the Chairman of the Oyo State Waste Management Authority, OYWMA, Mr. Morounfolu Adelore and the entire Board members over inability of the agency to perform their tasks.
Also Gov. Seyi Makinde was said to have noted that the state capital has been taken over by dirts, which, he added, has become an eyesore for his administration.
Further saying that his administration spends N37 million monthly to manage waste contractors and evacuators towards clearing refuse off the street, he was quoted to have said that OYWMA board allegedly demanded N46 million before it could carry out tasks that are far lesser than that of the waste contractors and evacuators.
According to OYDA, the proposed issuance of Executive Order on the environment and sanitation in the state would bring sanity to the sector and also enable Oyo citizens become active stakeholders in bringing about necessary changes.
OYDA finally advised Governor Seyi Makinde to ensure strict enforcement to achieve a healthy Oyo State.
https://oyodemocraticalliance..com/2020/10/oyda-urges-gov-seyi-makinde-to-issue.html