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Tag: Things Fall Apart

  • Bob-Manuel Udokwu reacts to Idris Elba’s cast as Okonkwo in “Things Fall Apart” adaptation

    Bob-Manuel Udokwu reacts to Idris Elba’s cast as Okonkwo in “Things Fall Apart” adaptation

    Seasoned actor Bob-Manuel Udokwu has weighed in on Idris Elba’s potential casting as Okonkwo in the upcoming TV adaptation of Chinua Achebe’s classic novel “Things Fall Apart”.

    In an interview with Channels TV, Udokwu, while acknowledging Elba’s talent, emphasised the importance of casting Nigerian actors in leading roles, especially in stories deeply rooted in Nigerian culture.

    “There’s this conversation about Idris Elba being cast to play Okonkwo in Hollywood’s make of Things Fall Apart.

    “I don’t have anything against that as an actor but I think we have top-class actors in Nigeria who can play that role even better, knowing where the story is coming from,” he said.

    Read Also: Idris Elba takes on iconic Okonkwo’s role in things Fall Apart TV series adaptation

    He also welcomed the growing collaboration between Nollywood and international film industries, revealing his current project features actors from Bollywood and Hollywood.

    Previous adaptations of “Things Fall Apart” include a film and miniseries, notably starring Pete Edochie as Okonkwo.

    The A24 series, executive produced by Idris Elba and Gina Carter, is currently in development.

  • Idris Elba takes on iconic Okonkwo’s role in things Fall Apart TV series adaptation

    Idris Elba takes on iconic Okonkwo’s role in things Fall Apart TV series adaptation

    English actor Idris Elba is set to portray Okonkwo, the iconic protagonist from Chinua Achebe’s classic novel Things Fall Apart, in a new TV series adaptation by American entertainment company A24. 

    In addition to starring in the series, Elba will also serve as executive producer.

    Elba, widely known for his roles in Thor, The Suicide Squad, Pacific Rim, and Beasts of No Nation, has earned acclaim for his performances in TV series like The Wire and Luther. 

    He also portrayed Nelson Mandela in the 2013 biopic Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

    The adaptation is still in its early stages, with no writer attached and no streaming service or network confirmed.

    Read Also: Idris Elba narrates Asake’s meteoric rise in thrilling documentary teaser

     According to Variety, the series will explore the story of Okonkwo, a fearless African warrior and leader determined to preserve his culture and traditions as British colonisers disrupt his world. 

    His struggle to maintain power and tradition leads to a heart-wrenching confrontation, highlighting the tension between strength, vulnerability, and change.

    Elba will executive produce the series through his production company, 22Summers, alongside Gina Carter. David Oyelowo and Amanda N’Duka will also serve as executive producers through Yoruba Saxon, with Ben Forkner, Dayo Ogunyemi, and Achebe Masterworks joining as additional executive producers. A24 is the studio behind the adaptation.

    Things Fall Apart was first adapted into a movie in 1971 and later as a mini-series in 1987, with renowned Nigerian actor Pete Edochie portraying Okonkwo, the wrestling champion of Umuofia.

  • Infantino’s interpretation of Things Fall Apart

    Infantino Montessori School children demonstrated Things Fall Apart on stage during their Music/Arts Festival. Omolara Akintoye was there

    Yes I am a product of civilization, I embraced education, took it serious and today I am a success story.” These were the words of Chidere Chigozie, the star graduand that acted in the play Things Fall Apart.

    Before the arrival of  white men, there was relative peace. The communities were one happy family, living together in peace and harmony. Until they began to have strangers among them in form of colonial masters. They came with technology, education, science, they came with lovely things to entice Africans. Gradually their reasons, culture, religion, mode of dressing were taken away from them. Then there was chaos, and fight everywhere and Nigerians inquire “Which way Nigeria”. That is the present situation we find ourselves in Nigeria today

    Away from its usual end of the session party organized by schools at the end of the academic year, Infantino Montessori School Lekki, Lagos recently held the maiden edition of her Music and Art Festival and adapted the book ‘Things Fall Apart”,

    The Music and Art Festival according to the Director, Infantino Montessori School, Chinwe Anyigbo was put together to show the world that children have greater talent and in order to bring up the total child. “It’s not all about books alone if you want to raise the total child, it is important to put this together in order to raise the total child”, she said.

    Speaking on why the book Things Fall Apart was adapted, Anyigbo said children need to see what was in the beginning, how it all started,  everything was okay in Nigeria, then what the colonial masters came with. “Was  there confusion from what they brought to us or we are the ones who confused ourselves, this is where the issue of the interpreter came into being, he was giving a wrong interpretation of what the colonial masters were saying and this to some extent affected us. Did we imbibe everything hook line and sinker? Even if what they brought to us have some negative vibes in it, there must be a balance and that is the message the children are trying to pass across”, she said.

    Anyigbo added that the star graduand was used in the play to portray the good side of colonialism. “Often times we look at the Western culture as all bad, and at times we also look at it as being good whereas there should be a balance. In our country today we discover that we have somehow lost our culture, our children don’t speak our languages and many things are going wrong and everyone is trying to imbibe the Western culture. So we deem it necessary to look at what we have received as education and some values  that have been handed to us that cannot be thrown away.  But try and be who you are, be a Nigerian  but an international body that can be reckoned with, showcasing the God given talents to the whole world to see who you are. This to us is key factor.

    In an interview with some of the actors of the book, Boluwatife Olanipekun who acted the part of the interpreter said he actually did not understand some of what the colonial master was saying hence he was interpreting it very close to his language. “The massage I’m trying to pass across is that apart from people speaking their local languages, they should also learn about other people’s languages so as to guard against confusion thereby creating a balance”.

     

     

  • Unwarranted Chiefs

    Unwarranted Chiefs


    I wonder what the British colonialists would say today. Better still, if I exhume the partisan bones of the Aba Women’s Riots of 1929, I would seek their opinions about the wave of imperialist Ezes. In the past few years, Ezes are cropping up outside Igboland. It has raked up controversy around the country. In some parts, it has raised a mild dust. In others, the dust swirls have blinded some eyes like prejudice. At present, it is in Akure, where the locals or Yoruba are charging the Igbo of creating a parallel king. It makes Akure a two-kinged town. One crowns the son of the soil, the other an interloper royal. During the last gubernatorial election in Lagos State, it proved to be such a pest that it provoked the top Lagos king to evoke a tempest in the lagoon. This hubbub is out of sync with the long-held view that the king has no value for the Igbo. They run a republican milieu where individual enterprise trumps communitarian virtue. Hence when the white man came after “pacifying” the natives, he decided to introduce a peculiar and self-serving administrative style dubiously called “indirect rule.” The sapience of Professor Tunji Oloruntimehin challenged our colonised historicism and demonstrated that it was not indirect rule. The use of the word “indirect” was a ploy by the British to decorate their primitive system of over-lordship with the halo of humane detachment. Our historians fell for the bait. So, as they would have us believe, it was not the British who ruled but the existing institutions. They merely interacted with the heads of the kingdoms, extracted taxes and levies, vilified their customs, humiliated their gods, changed their ways of life, scorched rebellions, despatched the upstarts like Okonkwo of Things Fall Apart. Of course, if they were ruling indirectly, did they defeat the kingdoms indirectly? They pummelled the kingdoms with superior firepower and with the furious servitude of local fighters called the West African Frontier Force and Senegalese Sharp Shooters. After defeating the kingdoms, they claimed to introduce an indirect rule? Professor Oloruntimehin’s thesis is vindicated by the resistance in Igboland who had no kings. The Igbo example exposed the hypocrisy of the British moral subterfuge. If they wanted the locals to take care of themselves, how come their appointment of warrant chiefs roiled the East? Buoyed with colonial power, the warrant chiefs puffed like kings and wrung their “subjects” with the will of a foreign kingdom and a foreign god. That is the irony we see today with the Ezes. In the East, chiefs are mere ciphers. Outside, they are becoming not just kings but, in a way of speaking, shadows of imaginary emperors. They act as though conquering monarchs. They are misnomers of a vassal chief who represent an emperor in the capital.  But there is no Igbo capital, and no Igbo king. They take a sliver of the physical swath of another king’s territory. They carve up, though informally, areas where many of them live, and appropriate it. But the more potent threat is psychological. The real Igbo know that they mean nothing in actual sense back home. But when they are factored into the politics outside, they become substantial. They are republicans at home. But abroad, they become royalists. That was the story of Lagos State during the last election. Jimi Agbaje rode the crest of the royalist mimicry in a democracy in a cynical quest for power. It became so heated in the last election that those PDP fellows, who ran local elections, whether for the House of Representatives or the House of Assembly, saw themselves as ambassadors of ethnic virtue. They ignore their rudimentary mission as glorious errand men of the community with all the ethnic mix. Even when Lord Bourdillon in the Constitution early in the 20th century enacted the House of Chiefs, it was to recognise the historical role of the institution as a buffer of democracy. Not in the sense in which a king is artificially concocted for insular gains. Even today, we recognise traditional institutions because we emote over it. It is not rational choice, but an emotional tug. As Oscar Wilde says, we are not rational  beings but sentimental. It is little paradox that when Nnamdi Kanu and his men are pursuing a xenophobic Biafra, the Ezes are pushing the other way. It was just like the Ojukwu contradiction of declaring independent Biafra and still pushing to take over Lagos. They portray the nation the way Poet Whitman called America: “Do I contradict myself; yes I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes.” Or the presidential candidate George McGovern who framed his campaign in the 1960’s to caution American imperialist impulse: “Come Home, America.” One big feature of this phenomenon is that we are finding it difficult to let monarchy cohabit with republicanism. Yes, we have chiefs everywhere. The vanity is palpable. Succeed as a politician, or businessman, even in the more rarefied area of intellectual pursuit, and your fulfilment rings hollow until you are called a chief, especially with a sonorous title. The mimicry of chieftaincy’s glorious past was unveiled in the last election when former President Jonathan hopped from palace to palace in the Southwest for the ‘whip’ of anointing. The British have lived with democracy and royalty. No clash, but mutual embrace. We deceive ourselves that the royals are in decline. But more and more accomplished men bow out of their cathedral offices to the crown of an antiquated honour. Symbol here trumps substance. But it is not all symbol. Some of the kings are contractors and power brokers, or so they are made to be. Just like Jonathan did, and failed. Some said, they helped him to make the presidential election close. No statistics yet on that. When royals rub shoulder with the icons of democracy, they ultimately fail. That explains why the English monarchy maintains its humble grandeur as a ceremonial upper room in spite of the higher realms of Downing Street and Houses of Commons and Lords in shaping the nation’s course. Napoleon Bonaparte pitted republicans against fighting royalists when the Corsican rascal took over not only France but much of Europe. The royalists could not abide their age-old system of entitlement and official nobility falling to ordinary persons. In spite of his victory, the Corsican brute is believed by the latest test on his hairs and historical research that revanchist royalists poisoned him with arsenic in St. Helena at the age of 52. But royalists and royals do not belong in today’s world of individual élan and capitalist zest. The best form of royalty is excellence, not entitlement. As Gianni Versace, the fashion mogul, once put it: “In the past, people were born royal. Nowadays, royalty comes from what you do.” Versace was fashion royalty. Let us not focus on royalty as though they tell us what matters. They are a grand relic, artefacts of amusement. Let us be royal mathematicians, royal moralists, royal governors, royal writers, royal scientists, etc. Let us be adjectival royals and forget the nouns. Or let us embrace the nouns only as metaphors of excellence. Let us see the Ezes as unwarranted chiefs. They are fads of fancy and opportunism and desecrators of the originals back home. The royals who cannot be royals at home are counterfeits. They walk red carpets outside but are carpet baggers. On royalty, Shakespeare said in Richard II: “Not all the water in the rough rude sea can wash the balm from an anointed king.” We should modernise that quote and give the balm to the high flyers in the professions and public service.

  • Things fall apart at NIMR

    Things fall apart at NIMR

    Established by the Act of 1972 to conduct research into diseases of public importance, the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) Yaba, Lagos has become a faltering organisation with several alleged cases of corruption, inflated contracts and disaffection, reports Sunday Oguntola.

    December 16, 2013 was a Good Friday. It was not the traditional commemoration of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But for the 65 new staff of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Yaba, Lagos, there couldn’t have been a better Friday.

    That day, all of them, in one curious swoop, received employment letters from the nation’s premier medical research centre. It was an unprecedented employment gale in the annals of the nation’s federal civil service.

    For a research institution, one expected more professional staff on board. But less than 20 of the employees were core research workers. The bulk of the new employees were support staff. That, to stakeholders, was a misnomer worsened by the speed with which the employment process was conducted.

     

    Backdated employments

    Other than that, nothing else appeared untoward about the employments. Except that the new staff never resumed physically until as long as nine months after. Investigations by our correspondent revealed the employments were backdated to December 16, 2013.

    The 2014 tax returns for the research institute, obtained by our correspondent, didn’t capture any of the new employees. What this means in actual sense is that none of them was in the official records of the organisation for 2013. Their employments actually took effect from November 2014.

    The Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) also did not capture any of them as employed until December 2014. Mrs. Patricia Agbo, one of the new employees, received an offer of employment on December 13, 2014 as Assistant Chief Administrative Officer.

    She accepted the offer on December 16, the same day she was registered to have resumed work. Strangely, the letter was stamped as received at the Director General’s office on January 18, 2013 and December 2014. The DG forwarded the letter to the Director of Administration on December 18, 2014. Yet, the newly employed staff was recorded to have resumed since December 16, 2013.

    This glaring case of backdated employment is one of the anomalies NIMR has battled with since the assumption of Prof. Innocent Ujah as DG. The institute has seriously nosedived, becoming a shadow of its glorious past since Ujah came on board on May 24, 2010.

    Most of the newly employed, according to findings, were either relations of the DG or sponsored by cronies within and outside the organisation. Expectedly, many of them lack requisite experience and qualifications for their elevated posts.

    One of them is Mr. Ekoja, from Benue State. The Omnibus Staff Nominal Roll of NIMR showed that Ekoja is currently an Assistant Executive Officer with only a National Diploma. He was employed on March 4, 2013, the same day he was elevated to his current position in clear violation of civil service rules.

     

    A den of corruption

    Rather than concentrating on medical researches and discoveries, the premier institute has become a den of intrigues, nepotism, internal wrangling and widespread corruption.

    Last August, workers under the aegis of Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) embarked on a three-day warning strike to draw attention to the downward state of affairs in the organisation.

    Another indefinite industrial action is expected to take off on November 22 by 12noon to further press home the parlous conditions in the institute. This time, the action is designed to completely shut down activities at the centre.

    Findings revealed that Ujah paid the new employees for over a year without many of them actually putting in a day of work. The burgeoning wage bill soon started having effect on the organisation. To accommodate the new employees, the DG reduced the take-home of workers, creating a shortfall in 2013. Till date, the shortfall remains unpaid despite confirmation that the federal government already paid as far back as December 2013.

    The DG, in a media briefing in August, explained the shortfall was due to the fact that the NIMR was transferred to the Consolidated Research and Allied Institutions Salary Structure (CONRAISS) as against the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) upon which the 2013 salaries and allowances were based.

    He said: “The amount of money released and received could pay for three months and seven days and this was duly paid to all the staff of the Institute.

    “The Budget Office of the Federal Ministry of Finance has categorically stated that the federal government did not owe NIMR any shortfalls on salaries in 2013 and therefore no other fund was received by the institute to this effect.”

    That was on the eve of the three-day warning strike by workers from August 17-19. When the industrial action crippled the research institute, the Benue-born Ujah changed gears.

    He appealed to the workers’ union and quickly entered into an agreement on August 25th to pay “the outstanding 10 units of call duty and non clinical allowance which will cover eight months and 23 days.” The payment, according to the terms of agreement, “will be paid in three instalments effective from September, October and November 2015.”

    He also agreed to pay the arrears of promotion for 2012 and 2013 in another instalment from September 2015. Till date, none of the payments has been made, according to Comrade Eghosa Ehikhametalo, chairman of NASU NIMR Lagos.

    Ehikhametalo told our correspondent: “The man still hasn’t paid us despite the agreements we had. He’s not forthcoming and we don’t know why. He has not communicated with us at all yet we are supposed to have received the first payment by September.”

    Suffering in the midst of plenty

    Yet, by all standards, NIMR shouldn’t be struggling financially. Aside from subventions and allocations from the federal government, the institute has viable internally generated enterprises.

    Informed sources hinted that it generates nothing less than N150million yearly from proceeds of tests through the Human Virology Laboratory (HVL), Clinical Diagnostic Laboratory and the Clinical Science Division.

    There is also the Hocal Suites that offers lodging and accommodation for guests at the highbrow Yaba premises of the organisation. NIMR further generates incomes from its auditorium and conference rooms. Findings showed that the halls do not charge less than N250, 000 for an event. The organisation has three halls hired every weekend. On week days, many also hire the halls for different functions and events.

    There is also a park-and-go facility directly at the newly commissioned Cancer Centre. All of these are outside research grants and sponsorships from international donors and organisations committed to excellence in medical research for a safer world.

    Our correspondent observed hundreds of patients and their relations rushing for laboratory tests in the Institute’s premises. The tests, according to many patients, are more expensive than elsewhere but they are left with no option because of the perception that they are better carried out in NIMR.

    Findings revealed that most of the proceeds from the tests do not get into government’s coffers. In the early hours, patients pay cash for sundry tests as against what obtains from noon when they are told to proceed to the banks for payments.

    The cash deposits, sources confirmed, never get into government coffers. Only the bank deposits eventually get recorded and delivered to government’s coffers. Some patients showed our correspondent slips that only acknowledge payments that are hardly recorded.

    The heavy windfalls from the laboratory tests and sundry incomes of the organisation are however not reflected in its physical structures. Our correspondent observed that the toilets at the administrative block of the Institute were decrepit.

    The flushing system had long stopped working, forcing guests and workers to manually wash down excreta. In short, most facilities at the Institute cast serious aspersion on the Institute’s acclaim and international stature. They could be better with wiser financial management.

     

    Questionable contracts

    The e-library project of the organisation said to have gulped over N300 million has since been abandoned. Such huge figures have characterised most contracts awarded under Ujah. On August 28, 2014, Bernas Investment Limited, Jos submitted a tender for “Re-roofing of Block “A” at NIMR Residential Quarters.” The firm went on to execute the project at a cost of N6, 165,606.30k.

    The Cancer Research and Screening Centre was completed under the DG. But over N65 million was expended on the finishing stage of the project. Goga Consult, also from Jos, Plateau State, got N9, 815, 687.36k for “post-contract consultancy fee” according to a letter dated October 21, 2014. The same firm got N7.5million for valuation of the cancer centre.

    HL Communication Limited received N3.5million for consultancy services on feasibility study for NIMR Consult. A&B Evergreen Global Concept Limited was paid N21,333,741.34k and N13,914,060.46k for valuation lot for the Cancer Research Centre.

    Cross Gate Design Limited received at least four different payments as consultancy fees for the e-library project, which has since been abandoned. They are N1, 844,098.83k; N9, 940,000; N1, 589,273 and N1, 926,587.25k. Such inflated contracts not only ate into the resources of NIMR but also left its purse drained.

    In December 2014, the Institute decided to offer free rice and vegetable oil to workers. Over N4.5million was expended on the project with a bag of Thailand Rice quoted at N14, 950. The 296 bags eventually left a big hole of N4, 425,200 in NIMR’s coffers. The rice project, informed sources stated, was executed by one of the new female employees related to the DG.

     

    Staff turnover

    Researchers are naturally mien and stable. They love serene environment with good atmosphere and working conditions. But since NIMR is corrosive, a number of them have been leaving in droves. Yet, this is always against their wish and desire. Investigations revealed that at least 15 top-grade researchers have left the Institute since 2010.

    Most of them confided that Ujah’s uninspiring and suffocating leadership is responsible for their departure. Some of them include Dr. A. Adesida, Dr. M.T Niemogha, Dr. K.S.O Oyedeji, Dr. Monsuru Adeleke, Dr. Helen Goodluck, Mrs. Emily Meshack, Dr. H. Okoh, Dr. Chimere Agomo, Dr. Muyiwa Salau, Dr. Taiwo Idowu, Mrs. Judith Obansa, Dr. Adedayo Oduola, Dr. B.I.C Brai and Dr. Kalejaiye.

    None of them retired or committed any infraction. They simply left due to frustration and lack of motivation. Their departure left a big void that NIMR is still battling with. Findings revealed that many more are on their way out of the Institute for greener pasture. Most workers, who spoke under strict anonymity, said the introduction of a bond-for-study leave will further lead to more exits from NIMR.

    The bond letter requires the staff to sign an undertaking to remain in the employment of the Centre for “maximum of four years from the date of my resuming duties after expiry of my study leave.”

    It further stated that those who fail to rejoin NIMR or complete the programme within the period of study leave will be “dismissed or removed from the service by NIMR.”Curiously, NIMR does not foot the bill of any staff for studies.

    That requirement, for those seeking additional studies, is dampening morale and creating serious ripples among workers, leading to many of them considering leaving NIMR to ensure career progression.

     

    ICPC’s dangling hammers

    In a petition titled Financial misconduct and abuse of office of Prof. Innocent Ujah addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari, a group of concerned workers urged the current administration to save the premier medical research centre from extinction.

    On the strength of the weighty allegations, the DG was summoned by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for investigation. Ujah appeared before the anti-graft agency with some top officials on September 17. They paid another visit on September 22. In October, Ujah and his team paid another visit to the anti-corruption body with a view to explaining some of the weighty allegations bordering on financial recklessness and misappropriation.

    The visits to ICPC, according to investigations, unsettled Ujah who has been away for over three weeks in office. Our correspondent, who visited his office at least three times in the last two weeks, was told the DG was unavailable. It was gathered he operates from a guest house somewhere in Lagos with a few trusted workers committed to blocking all identified and likely loopholes based on questioning from the ICPC.

    The development also got the union worked up, frantically trying to block alleged attempts by Ujah to doctor some official documents and figures for a clean slate from the anti-graft body. So, while workers loyal to Ujah are looking to pad up official records, those in the union body are determined to lay everything bare before the ICPC.

     

    No longer at ease

    This high-wired intrigues and suspicion have seriously affected service delivery at the apex medical research organisation with many patients openly complaining they are unduly kept too long for ordinarily simple tests. They also pointed out that they are abandoned many times by medical personnel distracted by the internal wrangling in the organisation.

    One of the patients, who simply identified herself as Banke, told our correspondent: “I am here for my usual HIV/AIDS tests. It has been tough as the laboratory workers keep us here endlessly, claiming to be busy. Even when they attend to us, you get a feeling they are not focused. This is not what used to be in this place. I think something is fishy and whatever it is has been eating up efficiency here.”

     

    David Mark’s connection

    Ujah is believed to be a nominee of former Senate President David Mark, who is also from Benue State. Highly placed sources within the organisation said the DG repeatedly told workers that nobody can remove him as long as Mark lives.

    The defeat of the PDP in the March Presidential elections, it was learnt, really jolted Ujah. It was only after then that many of the covered up issues started blowing up with workers heaving a sigh of relief.

     

    Mum from Ujah and spokesperson

    Repeated attempts to get official reactions from the organisation yielded no results for over a month. Our correspondent visited Ujah’s office at least four times with his aides claiming he was unavailable. Request for his email was turned down.

    Text messages sent to his mobile phone were also not acknowledged or replied. Ujah kept bouncing calls from our correspondent without explanation.

    NIMR’s spokesman, Mr. Ezerendu, initially picked his calls. When our correspondent demanded for reactions, he claimed to be outside Lagos. He, however, dictated his email address, requesting that questions be sent across to him.

    The mail titled: Media enquiries was sent to Ezerendu on October 21. As at the time of filing the report, the spokesperson didn’t respond to the questions. Calls to his mobile phone have not been answered since then. Text messages to follow up were also not replied.

  • Putting Things Fall Apart in visual forms

    Putting Things Fall Apart in visual forms

    In the Heart of Things Fall Apart is a project earmarked and embarked upon by Krydz Ikwuemesi, a Professor of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (UNN) and some other artists, to present Achebe’s iconic book in visual forms. Now, with over 75 drawings on the novel on display at the Quintessence Gallery, Lagos, Ikwuemesi draws attention to the very many issues raised by the novel more than 50 years ago, Edozie Udeze reports

    Although Chinua Achebe’s iconoclastic novel, Things Fall Apart turned fifty years in 2008, the dream to turn it into images through drawings and paintings was mooted the same year by Krydz Ikwuemesi.  Ikwuemesi, a native of Ogidi, like Achebe, is a Professor of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (UNN).  His dream was to bring together fellow artists in the persons of George Odoh and Henry Mujunga, an Ugandan, to dissect the book and put the scenes into drawings.

    At the moment, the project titled In the Heart of Things Fall Apart has produced over 75 visual works and they are mounted at the Quintessence Art Gallery, Ikoyi, Lagos.  Opened last weekend, the works had already been previously mounted at Nsukka where the public had the singular privilege of viewing and appreciating in totality what the drawings had to say about the scenes in Umuofia and beyond.

    Of the 75 works on display, each is considered and based on the installationist principles.  However, Mujunga opted to be different.  He is said to have taken a holistic approach to the project, with each of his works dealing with the issues of conflict and dissonance.  This was done in such a way that each of his pieces stands on its own but still related to others thematically.   His are the only works that came out in watercolours, even when the whole concept was to do the pieces in pen and ink.

    Speaking to The Nation on the idea behind the project, Ikwuemesi said he was driven by the passion he has for the book and the aura it has evoked over the years.  “Yes, what we have done is to identify what seemed to us the iconic moments or reflections of Igbo culture in the novel.  Thereafter, we used them as bases for creative and imaginative sorties, which in turn raised new questions and interests in the whole essence of the novel and the enabling cultures therein.”

    This is why each drawing by each artist represents a chapter in the book.  The novel is done into 25 chapters and so are the drawings both in what they represent and the emotions they evoke in the annals of Igbo culture as represented by Achebe.  “When the book turned 50 in 2008, we thought, those of us younger than the Achebes, that we could re-engage the novel, but this time in visual form.  So, we thought these drawings should be done as part of that celebration.  We actually did a conference in Enugu in this regard, with the support of The Commonwealth Foundation.  It was to mark the 50th anniversary and then these drawings were to be exhibited there.  However, we didn’t have all of them ready then.  But again these drawings have been shown at the Anambra Book Festival in Awka,” Ikwuemesi explained.

    The works in their largest epitome and thematic thrusts, indeed took a wider thematic look into what the book said 50 years ago.  How do these issues now affect or relate to us?  Are those issues still thematic and important in this age and time?  What has the book in common with the present era if viewed through the pictures it presented many years ago?  Indeed, the most remarkable of the pictures are where Okonkwo took his life and where Obierika confronted the white man on the death of his best friend and the hero of the book, Okonkwo.  There, you see Obierika tell the white man; “This man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia.  You drove him to kill himself and now he will be buried like a dog”.  Thereafter, he bowed his head and left.

    These drawings went deep into the core values of Things Fall Apart that even the novel itself may have been illustrated with the drawings.  They give a clearer and fresher insight into the scenic views of the Igbo village square.  They penetrate in to the Umuofia of Achebe era, where the Igbo culture was at the peril of extinction; where the white man held the knife and the yam and decided who blinked first – he or the Igbo man.

    Is Things Fall Apart a work that can still open our eyes to the realities of our time?  In doing the drawings the artists intended to use the idea to encourage people the more to show more interests in the issues and problems raised in the book.  Ikwuemesi who began this work with his colleagues many years ago enumerated some of the difficulties he encountered on the way.  “I am even surprised that I finished mine just last month.  There were times I could not even find the time and the inspiration to go on.  There were nights, however, when I did two to three works and it ended there,” he remonstrated.

    There were also moments when as an artist, he felt that travelling out could help him to accelerate the works.  “On a number of occasions I had the drawings in my suitcase, with pen and everything hoping that if I got to some place I’d be able to draw.  But after two or three weeks, the inspiration would not come.  There were other drawings which I did and ended up not liking and I would come back to see that what I captured did not do justice to the project.  So, I had a few drawings I discarded and in the process did new ones to replace them.  Those works may be better in the sight of other people, but they were not to me,” Ikwuemesi said.

    It was such hitches as this that really delayed the completion and public presentation of the project.  At the Quintessence Gallery where they are currently mounted, his works portray a harvest of ideas that speak volumes and pierce the heart.  The drawings tell the story in more vivid forms and bring out emotions long forgotten.

    And as an Ogidi man, how does this affect Ikwuemesi himself who also confessed that somehow nostalgia contributed to the drive to do the project.  “Some of the issues raised in Things Fall Apart are peculiar to Ogidi, no doubt.  But generally, they pertain to the Igbo cultures and the issues that are shared by the Igbo in general.  However, when you look at it from a very minute level, Achebe could have been writing a kind of autobiography if you like.  It is however not that kind of autobiography where you are talking about yourself but about your birth place, origin and cradle.  Achebe is talking about his own personal experience, something you’ve lived and been part of.  It is from that perspective that I feel so much connected with the novel.  Some of the places, some of the ideas and issues and taboos in the book are known to me.  Some of those issues still exist today in our place.  So, I have that sense of personal connection and it is because Achebe and I come from the same place…  Also my father and grandfather shared some of those moments with Achebe.  So there they are in Ogidi, our cradle and there are some of the things we see today.”

    So, as the exhibition continues, it is proper to see the importance of Things Fall Apart within the context it was written.  The drawings are necessary embellishments to add value to the scenes for more concerted appreciation.

  • In the heart of Things Fall Apart

    In the Heart of Things Fall Apart, a three-man collection will hold at two venues in Lagos and Nsukka. The exhibition, which opened last Saturday at the Quintessence Gallery, Ikoyi will run from today to June 17 at the Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

    The group exhibition gives a human face to the happenings in Things Fall Apart, a globally acclaimed novel by Chinua Achebe. This is not the first time that the book will inspire visual artists, but for this time it will feature drawings and water-colors accompanied by critical texts that help viewers to understand and interpret the novel better and also relive the author the late Chinua Achebe.

    It will feature works by three artists and scholars Chuu Krydz Ikwuemesi, George Oboh, and Henry Mujunga who have translated the operation of this novel into visual arts. Scholars such Ben Obumselu, Chike Aniakor, Emeka Nwabueze, Peter Ezeh and George Agbo have also documented and critically examined the works.

    “Since culture is the way of life of a people, we must continue to tell our stories for generations to come. The philosophy of the life of Africans is cyclical as the future is in our past and our past is in our present. This is reflective in our names and our age grade systems. Our ethnic identities reflect our aspirations and must not be wished or washed away as we must take control of our history and continue to make the best of our heritage.

    “The works in this exhibition teaches us about continuity and change in our culture. They show the cohesion, integration, and dysfunction in our society. They also serve as a landmark unto, and a window into, Chinua

    Achebe’s world as he narrates his story. In these works, one must not fail to recognise the Uli movement and the use of ink drawings and water-colours to translate the images of love, war, friendship, intrigues, loneliness, unity and strength. Uli is essentially the celebration of line, spontaneity, the deftly juxtaposition of negative and positive spaces, as well as the exploration abstraction and symbolism in the pursuit of iconography and meaning,” according to Moses Ohiomokhare.

     

  • Encounter with ‘characters’ in Things Fall Apart

    Encounter with ‘characters’ in Things Fall Apart

    How it would feel meeting relations of the people who inspired the creation of characters in an epic novel? Evelyn Osagie met those linked with the globally acclaimed Things Fall Apart at Ogidi, Anambra State.

    As guests made their way into Ogidi Town Hall that afternoon to pay their last respects to the man who was known as the Ikenga and the Ugonabo of Ogidi, the statue of the legendary warrior Ezechuamagha welcomed them with his staff in hand.

    Little did they know that it was no ordinary statue. He is the town’s progenitor from whom sprang the four quarters of Ogidi-Uru, Akanano, Ikenga and Ezinkwo and nine villages: Uru, Ogidiani, Ezi-Ogidi, Adazi-Ogidi, Nkwelle-Ogidi, Ikenga, Abo-Ogidi, Ire-Ogidi and Umuru in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State.

    The town, which has since become a reference point for the literary-minded, continues to inspire those willing to draw inspiration from the ancestral home of the iconic novelist, the late Prof. Chinua Achebe, the Ugonabo Ogidi, whose works gave birth to influential African writings, including the famous novelThings Fall Apart.

    As the success of Things Fall Apart resonates worldwide, its success has become not only that of just the author and his family, but also that of his native home, Ogidi.

    Besides being a town of warriors, the author’s ancestral home shares lots of similarities with Umuofia, the fictional setting of the novel Things Fall Apart.  In fact, it is the “real background” upon which Umuofia, is set, it was learnt.

    Like Ogidi, Umuofia also has nine villages. And, according to Mrs Irene Obiora, an in-law to the Achebes, Things Fall Apart, in particular, is a modification of real life occurences in Ogidi, particularly in Ikenga, in ancient times. And the novel’s characters are creations inspired by the immediate surroundings.

    Hear her: “Things Fall Apart is our story. It is a mixture of what happened in those days between us and other neighbouring towns. He wrote about our customs, culture, festivals, games, etc. Do you know that Chinua’s father was a great wrestler known popularly as Okaa Okulu because he always slip off the opponent grip. This was before he became a catechist.  It is not something that is hidden; everybody knows it, including the children.”

    According Mrs Obiora, 80+, one does not have to go too far to find persons whose forebears names were featured in the author’s book. On investigation, it was learnt that the fact is a common knowledge in the place. Even young boys and girls can point at the homes and descendants of such persons. Interestingly, the persons are all located within the late Chinua Achebe kindred – Ikenga. Perhaps it is a clear case of blood is thicker than water.

    On the way from the primary school attended by the author, about 100 metres away from his home, came Chimezie Okeke, 20, who said the author has greatly influenced him. To prove that he is an ardent fan of the writer, he went ahead to show the reporter around the homes of these person, not knowing that others like Obiora had done same earlier. “Sister, Prof Achebe named many of his characters in Things Fall Apart with the names of our people. And just while they were getting close to one of their homes, Chief Alex Uzowulu, 76, came along.

    “Good afternoon sir, this sister is looking for the people, whose names were used as characters, especially in Things Fall Apart, and I was taking her to your place and that of Okonkwo,” the young man said.

    “Is it true that some characters in the novel were adapted from real life people here,” he was asked.

    “Yes,” he said, “My father, Chief Uzowulu Udo, the Ezeajani, was one of them. He is that man who was beat up by his in-laws after beating his wife severally; but my father was not like that. He was principled, disciplined, but was not hostile. It is common knowledge here that my mother, Ekwefi, who is the mother of Ezinma, the girl with the Ogbanje spirit.”

    Chief Uzowulu was seven years old when the book was first published and so he could not read it. But when he did read it, he came to cherish it. “When it came out, my father had a copy. As I grew up, I read the book many times over and have always been proud that Chinua Achebe named one of the characters of that great novel after my father. And for generations to come, wherever Things Fall Apart is read, my family’s name would always be mentioned and remembered,” he said.

    And to the reason his parents names were immortalised in the novel, Uzowulu noted that perhaps both had made an impression on the author.

    He said: “One thing was common with Chinua, he was always moving with the old people. In those days, university students like Chinua used to meet with old people to learn about the culture, tradition and myths of the land which they would now document as part of their research. It is no secret that Ogidi was a strong inspiration on Chinua’s novel Things Fall Apart. Perhaps, he chose to use my father and mother’s name because my father was one of those with whom he shared memorable moments and that intimated him with some ancient stories whenever he was around. Other characters in the novel are also still around. Let me take you to them.”

    Before Achebe’s burial many had wondered how the man who preached the “Africanness” of the African would be buried, Uzowulu said the town’s people were not part of the lot. “I wonder why people will think that way. You see, unlike in Things Fall Apart, we have now learnt to co-exist with one another, no matter one’s religious background. Our law in the town is that if you are a Christian, when you die, you will be buried in the Christian way and after which if you are a chief like Chinua, the Ndi-Iche (chiefs) would come and pay you their last respects after the burial. It was what we did in the case of Achebe. After the burial on Thursday, we went on Friday to pay him our last respects. I would have become a priest of my family’s shrine but I refused. I refused the shrine of my father because by taking kolanuts to the elders of our family that I was not fit for it. and they directed me to the Umuada (Our women). I told them I do not know how it is being

    served and they agreed. Let me take you to others.”

    The home of Mazi Dominick Okonkwo, 75, retired civil servant, was the next port of call. Although his father was not a wrestler, he said he had many things in common with the character in the novel. His father, Okonkwo Agu’s name was adapted as the lead character in Things Fall Apart because of his fearlessness. He said: “Chinua was very friendly with my father. I’m sure that is one of the reasons he chose my father. He knows my father was a very powerful man that was feared by all that was why he was known as ‘Okonkwo the tiger’. He was a warrior and a native doctor during his time. Chinua was very loyal to the elderly people and his loyal earned him all the stories.

    “My father had a temper like the ‘Okonkwo’ in Things Fall Apart when he was a younger. As a bachelor, he gets angry easily, but calmed down after marrying my mother. No matter how hot a man is, women know how to calm him down. He was very happy when Chinua came to tell him that he has published it. He compensated them for the information; and they were many then. I read Things Fall Apart as a young man and left it for my children but they have lost it.”

    Okonkwo’s friend, Obierika, was also not far-fetched. The Nation met with relations of the real ‘Obierika’ who asked if this reporter has met with others like Uzowulu. Mrs Alice Nwabuodu Agulefo (nee Obierika) who said of her father, Benedict Ilonvwo Obierika being a catechist was a close friend of Achebe’s father, adding that, however, her cousin, Obierika, in particular, got the honour of being named after a character in the book.

    On her part, the advocacy over immortalising the late literary giant is needless, saying: “As far as I’m concerned, I think he has already being immortalised because that book, which has been translated into 50 different world languages, will live forever.”

    She added: “Even in this town, Ogidi, and in the state for hundreds of years to come, his name will always be there and it’s like he is immortalised already. My family is close to his. Knowing that a character in the book is named after my father makes me very proud and my father, siblings and I are very fond of him. I read the novel in 1959, the year it was first published. He wrote his autograph then; and I have read countless times.

    “At that time, it was like reading a historical novel on my hometown of an author I happened to know very well. Even though some of the things happened before I was born, it’s my culture being expressed. But still, for us, the novel is the combination of history and anthropology of a sort. I am proud and happy that my father’s name was there. That name is not a very common name like Okonkwo, Okorie or Okafor. As far as I know there is no other person answering Obierika in Ogidi. So, you see why I feel proud and happy.”

    And on why the author chose the name, ‘Obierika’, as the best friend of his lead character, she said: “I have a cousin with whom he went to school with, also bears Obierika. His parents were heathen and not Christians. So, I believed that cousin of mine gave him a lot of information that he used in writing the book. My father happened to be an uncle to that one, so probably that is why he chose that name. Even though Chinua’s parents were so much into church, he still finds time to dig deep into the traditions and history of the land and in those days, Ogidi was a small community where everybody knows everybody else. He secretly mixes with the old people which some would refer to as heathen, some of whom he chose to use their names in the book, perhaps as a mark of honour. And Chinua, himself, once wrote that when his father was not looking, he would sneak out to go and meet with and gather information from those old people.”

    The next stop was Obiora Uyanwa, 51, whose father, Okagbue Uyanwa’s name featured as the character ‘Okagbue’, the medicine man who always gnash his teeth as he listens to those who come to consult him and the one who cures Ezinma of the Ogbanje’s spirit. He said such feat had been his pride since childhood.

    “My father was a farmer and not a native doctor but he was a brave and truthful man,” Uyanwa said.“The people whose name he adapted in his novel were those he was fond of. They didn’t know he was going to use their names until the book was published. But there was something very important which he did: he gave the names to characters with different traits so as not to be too direct. It is almost like a puzzle. If you were from here, you could pick out your father traits from the characters aside the names. My father does not gnash his teeth in real life. My father was happy as far as it was his brother that used it and that his name has travelled far and wide.

    “I have always been delighted and felt proud that my father’s name is being immortalised through the book. Anybody who reads the book will always come across my father’s name. In those days while I was in secondary school, whenever we were reading Things Fall Apart, I used to tell everyone with pride that the name ‘Okagbue’ is adapted from my father. And they would ask me if my father was a native doctor and I would say, ‘no’. But I always enjoyed the attention it brought.”

    Okonkwo’s friend, Obierika, was also not farfetched. This reporter met the real Obierika, who asked if she had met others like Uzowulu, said of his father: “I don’t not know why he chose to use my father’s name in his book but I’m proud that it is there.”

    Other characters found across the place include Unoka and Igwelo.

  • Things fall apart

    Things fall apart

    The literary piece of art “things fall apart” was written by the late Chinua Achebe. The book was first issued in the year 1958 the exquisite book which is a prose focuses on the Igbo society at the period of the white man and its missionary works. The scrupulous piece of art which was sold at the price of 300 naira and with 0 435 90802 2 as its ISBN number looks at a clan in the Ibo society which once spoke as one and though as one is an amiable literary piece.

    The appellation things fall apart was an inspiration gotten from the poem The Second Coming by an Irish poet, W.B. Yeats. Chinua Achebe was born on the 16th November, 1930, during the time of the colonial masters. He has also published books like: arrow of God, Chike and the river, no longer at ease which is a sequel to the book things fall apart. The book was published in the year 1958 around the colonial era. The volume is a tragedy and its prerequisite is tragic flaw. The manual targets mostly West African youths, and targets his strength and energy to the restraint of colonialism, and in other to attain this purpose, he uses the descriptive method of narration in an informal way that allows for clear, concise and coherent words, to elucidate and paint pictures in the mind of his readers. This can be seen in chapter 1 page 3, paragraph 1 line 2- line 4. Although the book doesn’t exactly follow a chronological order, its impact cannot be questioned. The author did a whimsical job in making readers see things from his own point of view and highly recommendable to anyone who wishes to know more about the Igbo society.

    One of the main themes of the book is the era before and after colonialism. The theme of the book provides the thesis of the book; the effects of colonization and how it brought conflict. Chinua employs the descriptive method to divulge the life and achievement of Okonkwo as they unfold. Chapter 1 page 3, paragraph 1 line 2- line 4

    Amalinze was a wily craftsman, but okonkwo was as slippery as a fish in water.

    “Every nerve and every muscle stood out on their arms, on their backs and their thighs”

    This bestows the readers with the power to have an imagination of what Chinua expects them to meditate on. The books focus on the Igbo society during the colonial era gives it a little hint of subjectivity as relates to the author. Its accuracy, importance and thoroughness are what give the book its explicit nature, as well as its usefulness in helping the audience understands more about the Igbo society and the discord brought in by the colonial era. In concurrence to the author’s argument on the discord brought in by the colonial masters, the author is of the opinion that although the colonial masters meant well they ended up making us turn against our own clansman.

    Chinua Achebe, author of the book things fall apart and no longer at ease, its sequel was born on the 16 November, 1930, in Ogidi, some miles to the North-east of Onitsha. In 1953, he had his B.A. degree in history and religious studies. Between 1958 and 1964, Achebe wrote four novels which included Arrow of God, Chike and the River (which he calls a novel for boys) was given to Cambridge University Press for Publication. Things fall apart was written during the era of colonialism when the white men started with their missionary work, this further motivated Achebe into writing the book.

    Achebe makes use of diagrams as illustrations in the first pages of the book prior to the beginning of the book. The book is written in the pattern of a prose novel. THINGS FALL APART tells two overlapping, intertwining stories, both of which center on Okonkwo, a “strong man” of an Ibo village in Nigeria. The first of these stories traces Okonkwo’s fall from grace with the tribal world in which he lives, and in its classical purity of line and economical beauty it provides us with a powerful fable about the immemorial conflict between the people of Abame and the whitemen. Although Okonkwo dies in an abominable way he is still remembered as a great man. As seen in chapter twenty-five, page 147, fifth paragraph, line 3

    “That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia”

    The above statement was made by Obierika, Okonkwo’s friend after his death.

    Chinua did a very good job in developing the character Okonkwo through flashbacks.

    This literary piece is one of quality and background, a job well done by Chinua Achebe.

     

  • King’s College to distribute free copies of Things Fall Apart

    King’s College to distribute free copies of Things Fall Apart

    The King’s College, Lagos, will on Thursday distribute free copies of the novel, ‘’Things Fall Apart’’, in tribute to the author, Prof. Chinua Achebe, who died on March 21.

    The principal, Mr Oladele Olapeju, yesterday said the college would give out more than 1,000 copies to its students at its Cultural Day celebration in Lagos.

    Olapeju spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

    He said the event would have the theme: “Our Culture, Our Pride’’.

    “This year’s Cultural Day of the King’s College, Lagos, has been dedicated to the late Chinua Achebe, Africa’s literary genius.

    “We are not only proud of Prof. Achebe’s incomparable exploits, we are pre-eminently gratified that it was Nigeria that produced him for the world,” he said.

    He told NAN that the event would showcase Nigeria’s cultural heritage, to encourage students to be proud of their country.

    He expressed the hope that the distribution of the copies of the novel would promote reading culture among the students and make them to see Achebe as their role model.

    The principal said the college would continue to engage in activities that would promote academic excellence.