Category: Arts & Life

Uche James-Iroha, is the son of James Iroha, (Gringori), the creator of the defunct TV-sit com, the New Masquerade. He is a visual artist by training but a photographer by profession. He spoke to Edozie Udeze on his ongoing exhibition holding at Omenka Gallery, Lagos. Excerpts.

Uche James-Iroha, is the son of the late James Iroha, (Gringori), the renowned artiste who created and directed the now rested New Masquerade, a hilarious Tv-sit-com which thrilled Nigerians from the 1970s to 1980s.  Like his father, Uche is also an artist – indeed a photographer.  Even though he read Fine Arts at the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Uche chose photography because according to him, “a year after my graduation, I realized sculpture had enjoyed massive popularity in both traditional and contemporary eras and idioms.  It then became a kind of journey for me to explore the possibilities of engaging art via a new media which is photography.”

In his on-going photography exhibitions in Lagos titled Power and Powers Uche truly explored the core indices of power and energy and why the society may not go far if the power situation continues to totter between life and death, between hope and hopelessness.  He said, “this exhibition is called power and powers and the situation is simple.  We are here revisiting in a very clear way, what we’ve been living with almost all our lives in this society.  It is not a new issue.  The problem is the problem of epileptic power supply in this country.  And I felt that the whole populace has been complacent to face this problem.  I felt then, what role can photography play here to bring this issue to the fore; to the consciousness of the people.”

This was why he insisted on the various segments of the pictures of power which graced the exhibition.  “I do not consult anyone to buy a generator.  When the issue came up for me to do the pictures, I did not need to consult anyone.  The power problem in Nigeria affects everyone, both big and small.  Power is energy.  Those cabals, those machinations that make it impossible for Nigerians to have power and energy need to be unmasked.  By 2011 when I began to conceptualise this work, the power situation in Nigeria had become too unbearable.  Therefore this collection of images, explore the dark and unprogressive romance between political power and electrical power distribution in Nigeria.  By far the most populous nation in the African continent with vast human and material resources and enormous potentials, electricity is still a big issue.”

As an artiste, James-Iroha has taken his art to different parts of the world where his modern way of doing photography has distinguished him from his peers.  He is an experimentalist artiste whose love for sculpting cannot be ruled out, but who also feels that photography can be used to mirror back the African society, “especially the most important resources we have – that is the human capital.  Oh, not natural resources like oil and diamond which we have that have deluded us into resource wars and separatist violence, both in the polity and at the social level.”

Since the nation is caught in the web of deceit when political office seekers clearly use the promise of ‘light’ as the most potent and effective bait and weapon to hoodwink the people, James-Iroha opines that life cannot be better, industries cannot produce or operate fairly well in a society when energy and power cannot be guaranteed.  He said, “It is interesting to know that a ton of white elephant projects which include a cashless economic system and automated rail transport are in the works gulping mamoth budgets, which all depend on an efficient electrical supply system”.

As an artiste, James – Iroha says that arts as a profession chose him.  “Yes, it has to be so.  Even my younger brother who is also an artist said he had to look into the profession away from theatre arts.  He is today a writer, using advertising as a platform.  However, it is possible to also see some elements of drama even in photography.  Even in designs, in paintings, sculpting, you have plenty of infusions of drama.  Art is total in all these elements.  So, because I did not follow the exact form of art of my father does not make any difference.  I am an artiste of a different genre, but I am an artist all the same, the son of James Iroha, not Gringori (laughs).

Why not Gringori?   he was asked.   Hilariously, he enthused: “Ah, Gringori was a Calabar man, a house-boy.  But James Iroha was a full-blooded Igbo man.  You can see the difference now, eh? Yes, he created the New Masquerade and brought himself into it as a gifted artiste, a first class comedian and actor.  When we were growing up he told us to be whatever we wanted to be.  But he also warned that we must be the best in whatever profession we found ourselves.  He never did anything to help us pass exams, but insisted we should all study very hard to be the best.”

A striking resemblance of Gringori, Uche explained that this resemblance often distinguishes him out in a crowd.  “Well, I don’t know how much of him that I carry about physically but all I know is that his blood is in me.  Your surname is your father’s name and you want to keep it.  Iroha is my name and James is my father and that blood runs in me.  So whatever, I am Uche Iroha.  However, it is often difficult to fit into the yawning gap your father created in the world.  Considering all this, often I feel the shoe is just too big for me to step in.  But I want people to always look at my works than my personality.  That way, people can easily define and digest the art of photography for which I am known.”

Having acknowledged also that his father’s influence speaks volumes about who is today, Uche said “I love the heart, mind and art of some other artists.  They are all very remarkable, but the strongest influence on my works would be the work of James Iroha (OON).”  In all that he does as an artist, James – Iroha tries to put himself into the picture of the society.  This is why the titles of his works are drawn extensively from the particular situation the images tried to present.  A good example is Potty training, one of the exhibiting pictures which deeply depicts a scenario where an adult is in a position of being taught how to use the talent while sitting on a electrical metre.   The piece satirically tells the audience how difficult the very elementary stage of power production is for us and that we are still in this basic stage.  The X-ray is an actual x-ray of the chest of a Nigerian who breathes in dangerous carbon-monoxide emissions from electrical generations which have become a perilous phenomenon in Nigeria.  I like to throw in a slice of humour knowing it might be a hard spill to swallow by my viewers.”

Born in 1972 at Enugu, Uche graduated from the University of Port Harcourt in 1995, specializing in sculpting.  In 2008, he won Prince Claus award in photography.  Earlier in 2005 he had won the A F D award for the African photography festival held in Mali.  He has done several solo exhibitions depicting the society in various forms and styles.  Most of his exhibitions abroad had chosen to depict his international exposure and touch.  He has equally been involved in many local and international photography projects and publications that have earned him both respect and accolade.

“For me,” he said, “all these awards have shown the level of professionalism which photography has attained.  However, it shows that it can help to ginger on the younger generation of artists to be able to do more.  I am happy photography has become a bigger, progressive and a larger income-earner.  Yes, there have been pockets of growth here and there.  But there is still a lot to be done to improve the profession.  There are very few purpose-built display spaces if any to start with.  There is also a huge gap in professionalism and general infrastructure.  But above all, the biggest void is in the area of integrity.”

With a cursory look at the issues photography addresses in Africa, Uche stressed that “as a profession, it has covered remarkable ground in the current past, in Africa and especially Nigeria, looking back at the commercial chart of the Nigerian art scene in the last 20 years.  There is a fresh interest in photography which I think will grow into a proliferation.  It is just a matter of time.  Yet, I would say the proliferation came upon the country like a thief in the night”.

He explained that it is clear that this situation was not unexpected  somewhat.  “Yes the score sheets are easier to see when you look at the recent quality standards in magazines, general publication designs and music videos).”    Therefore, photography has to move a few steps higher to make it more glamourous and formidable.

Title: Resilience in Leadership
Author: O. Olanlokun
Year of publication: 2014
Reviewer: Yusuph Olaniyonu

Yusuph Olaniyonu reviews a book written on the life and times of one of the pre-independence political leaders of Nigeria, Alhaji Dauda Soroye Adegbenro, who was a dramatis personae in the Western Region crisis which eventually triggered the events that led to the collapse of the nation’s first attempt at democratic rule.

Courage. Loyalty. Steadfastness. Devotion to a cause. Community service. Astute political leadership. Grassroots mobilization skills. These and many other attributes form the core of the repackaged biography of Alhaji Dauda Soroye Adegbenro, a political leader in the pre-independence and immediate post-independence period in Nigeria’s political history. The 196-page book written by late Dr. Olajire Olanlokun who once served as chief librarian of the University of Lagos was launched on October 16, 2014 in the hall of the Ogun State Television, Abeokuta, at a grand occasion attended by top politicians, academics, professionals, businessmen, community leaders, students and others.

The book, first published in 2005 was recently revised with more contributions from members of the family and associates of the subject of the biography. The new effort was co-ordinated by one of the colleagues of the late author, Dr. Taofiq M. salisu.  The book is divided into 12 chapters which cover the early life, early involvement in party politics, parting of ways of Chief S.L. Akintola with his colleagues in the Action Group (AG), the war of brothers in AG, legal battle for Premiership and post-Emergency politics in Western Nigeria.

Others issues covered by the various chapters of this major work on Nigeria’s political history, particularly the early experience of Nigerians in political party administration, the practice of parliamentary system and regionalism include first post-independence regional elections, post-election developments, Owu chieftaincy tussle, the last political activities of late Adegbenro as seen by his associates and the concluding remarks by the author.

Like every good biography, the book goes beyond the story of a man. It is the reproduction of the history of Nigeria and the politics of an era in which Alhaji Adegbenro found himself and operated in.  The author, while writing about the early life of the subject, takes us through the history of the early settlement of the people of Owu quarters in Abeokuta and some of the villages in present day Ewekoro and Ifo local government areas in Ogun State. From the second chapter, the book takes us through the political life of late Adegbenro and it continues in that line till the end, except for chapter nine which dwells on the tussle over the Balogun of Owu and Ekerin of Egba chieftaincy titles. Even then, the chieftaincy tussle was in itself a form of local politics.

From the second chapter, the importance of this book in correcting historical misstatements and clearing long held misrepresentations becomes obvious as it makes it clear that unlike the falsehood that was often spread on the so-called ‘cross-carpet’ story of the constitution of the 1952 Western Regional Assembly, the members including Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Alhaji Adegbenro and others were elected as independent members who later for the purpose of the election of first Premier chose whether to team up with the Action Group led by Awo or NCNC led by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.

It is also necessary to relate how this book helps to authenticate the claim that the debates in the Western Regional parliament were so enriched and with great depth so much that the quality was comparable to what obtained in Westminster, London. The copious use of quotes from contributions of the Nigerian legislators to parliamentary debate helped to demonstrate this.

Incidentally, from chapter three of the book, the reader is taken into the details of the Western Region crisis where late Adegbenro led the pro-Awolowo forces in battling the break-away faction of the AG led by Chief S.L. Akintola. No doubt, the story on this crucial development which was to determine Nigeria’s first attempt at democratic rule after independence was written from the perspective of the political tendency to which the subject of the book belonged.

It is interesting reading in chapter four about how Adegbenro was chosen to become the new party deputy leader over and above many top party leaders who were earlier considered in the race for who succeeded Chief Awolowo as Premier of Western Region. It was obvious that Awo, who was a good judge of men’s character and values, had seen Adegbenro as the man for the moment. The time then required a deputy leader whose virtues included loyalty, resilience, consistency, humility, piety and ability to ignore the lure of the lucre.

However, much as one will recommend this book to students of history and political science, present and aspiring politicians as well as others who are interested in learning about Nigeria in her teething period of nationhood, there is so much work yet to be done in the area of proof-reading the text. There are so many spelling errors which sometimes are not only embarrassing but also altered the intended meaning of the author. Similarly, the author does not seem to have any respect for punctuations. And this is a major minus for the easy, free-flowing narrative style adopted in the presentation of the facts.

Also, on page 143 is a great omission as the author claims that “Akintola’s biographer even maintains that there was no shred of truth in the official results as the election was shamefully rigged”. However, in the references listed on page 157, not only is the name of the quoted author, Osuntokun, wrongly spelt, the page being referred to, is missing. So, how does one cross-check the veracity of the claim?

– Olaniyonu is Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Ogun State.