When Abuja Writers Hosted Dul Johnson, Celebrated Ofeimum

PHOTO: DR. DUL JOHNSON, READING FROM HIS WORK.

The March edition of Abuja Writers’ Forum (AWF) Guest Writer Session had former NTA movie producer, author, and university lecturer, Dr Dul Johnson, as the Guest. In this report, TUNJI AJIBADE, a Consultant Writer, highlights this event, which featured readings in honour of one of Nigeria’s foremost poets, Odia Ofeimum, who marked his 60th birthday in the month of March.

Both the expected and the unexpected eventually happened when Dul Johnson, author of ‘Why Women Won’t Make It To Heaven’, showed up among writers in Abuja. He was expected to be the target of an unarmed uprising by the womenfolk based on the excitement that his book has generated. Surprisingly, Dr Johnson was not the only one put on the hot seat, as there ensued a battle of the sexes which saw men and women present at the evening of reading, live music and mini art exhibition, seizing the opportunity to dissect several social issues that are building blocks in the hands of a writer.

The venue of the event was Pen and Pages Bookshop, Wuse 2, Abuja, and the usual Saturday activities did not stop writers and enthusiast, Nigerians and foreigners alike, from being in attendance. A major feature of this month’s edition was the time writers took to celebrate one of their own, and one of Nigeria’s finest poets, Odia Ofeimum, who clocked sixty recently. Veteran actor, theatre director, and producer, Jide Zuberu Attah, delivered a address in honour of the man Ofeimum whom, as he said, he first came in contact with through one of his books way back in 1979. Outside of his writing, Atah described Ofeimum as a man who is humane and compassionate, a man of rare humility and simplicity. He read Ofeimum’s poems such as Fela’s Choice, Full Moon and London Leta, all of which are from the poetry collection: Lagos of the poets.     

The Guest Writer, Dul Johnson, took the hot seat and he read stories from Shadows and Ashes, a story collection. The lead story in the book, Living With Shadows, was told from the eyes of a young northerner whose brother went to fight in the Nigerian civil war but never returned. This story, for a member of the audience, was the first work of fiction on the Nigerian civil, told from the perspective of a Northerner, that he ever read. The author also read the title story, Why Women Won’t Make It To Heaven, from the book with the same title. The theme of this story is woven around one of the commonest issues that generate arguments between spouses  - which is the wife delaying the husband when it is time to go on an outing.

The issues that the audience raised out of this were many, and the author had his hand full responding to them. Asked as why his story is not Why Men Won’t Make It To Heaven, the author said, such question might just push him to write it someday. While his audience boxed him into a corner, admitting that his story doesn’t mean women, categorically, won’t make it to heaven, he said he only used it to illustrate one out of several social problems such as too much emphasis on materialism and the like. And it was a battle of the sexes too. While both men and women took turn to point out some of the reasons as well as dangers of writers showing gender biases, they all agreed, in the course of Question and Answer, that works such as Johnson’s actually serve as veritable tools to further engage in the discuss of realities in the society. Interesting was an inquiry as to the Guest Writer’s personal feelings on the question of religion which was a theme in one of his stories titled ‘In the Jaws of Love’ where two lovers found themselves constrained by their religions  – Christianity and Islam. Johnson, who hails from Langtang in Plateau State and has a fellowship that would see him traveling to the United States shortly, made his characters overlook religion at the end of that particular story and, in his response to the inquiry, he admitted that the way he ended the story was how he felt, personally.   

Special Guests at the occasion were the former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr Obadiah Mailafia and Mallam Bello Sule, a top Management Staff of NTA. While Dr Mailafia in his address was of the opinion that the banking industry should support literature, Mallam Sule called for closer cooperation between the media and the art. Mark Bahen, a musician who holds lives performances at Savannah Suites, Abuja, sang both in English and in French to the delight of the audience. Sola Odulusi, a visual artist, also did a mini art exhibition. Many of his paintings celebrated women, whom he described as vehicle for showing beauty. Some of such paintings used headgear as a metaphor for this. However, while Mrs. Eugenia Abu of NTA, in her contribution, praised the artist for his works, she insisted that the beauty of a woman is in her, whether she had a headgear, or not. Other paintings in Odulusi’s collection depicted the Durbar (popular in northern Nigeria) market scenes as well as traditional African musical instruments.

Addressing the audience at the end of the event during which souvenirs were presented to many of the guests in attendance, AWF President, Dr Emman Usman Shehu, called on relevant segments of the society to support literature, as it is an important part of national development life. The April edition of the Guest Writer Session will hold on April 24.