Epitaph for the Bully

(far cry from Auden)

When at last he died
Market-women danced in the streets

Instant owambe
Thick as amala
Redolent of gbegiri

Scornful of the new edict
Lawful crowds partied in the streets

Gege in fireworks
Jubilations at Agbeni
Feferities at Foko

Mournful they dared not be-cause
Awful Lamidi held the city to ransom

© Akin Adesokan

• For Chief Lamidi Ariyibi Adedibu, the godfather of Ibadan politics (aka the godfather of Amala politics) - who passed away on 11 June 2008 and according to Muslim rites was buried today, June 12, a not insignificant day in the fight for democracy in Nigeria.
• Read Tade Ipadeola's brilliant essay, 'Adedibully: a dinosaur's last dance' - published in Farafina 12, edited by Akin Adesokan,
• Epitaph for the Bully is used with permission.

Farafina Now

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Farafina Vol. 12, guest edited by Akin Adesokan, carries on its Letters page a note from the hilariously named Dingwo Normality. You read it and think: someone's having a laugh. Jim McConkey (who writes about Ayi Kwei Armah), Afam Akeh, and Omowunmi Segun (read her story, Homecoming) - are among the contributors. I am also in there, with my review of the film Bamako. As is Tade Ipadeola, who in the essay, Adedibully, casts a critical eye on Lamidi Adedibu, a man who gives a bad name to the term political godfather.
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In the previous edition, guest edited by Petina Gappah (and with contributions from the likes of Darrel Bristow-Bovey, Chris Abani, Kuzhali Manickavel and Tinashe Mushakavanhu) and published before the ethnic violence unleashed after contested elections in Kenya - I spotted this quote, illustrated by a misbehaving monkey. A certain Mrs Njeri expresses concern about rampaging monkeys destroying crops and killing livestock. It wouldn't have seemed possible, but soon, human beings would behave worse than the monkeys...

Farafina

Here's an excerpt from The Master by Akin Adesokan, published in Farafina (edition no. 6, August 2006).

In The Master, Alfred, a Geography teacher, goes on a long journey, crossing the border from Nigeria to Cameroon - in search of an enigmatic, reclusive writer he worships, named Dankor. On the road, the narrator encounters this woman making a hell of a scene:

"Do you know who I am?"

"No, and I no wan know!"

"Na lie-o. You go know today. Not tomorrow or day after. Go ask anybody on Iweka Road, you pig-mouth! Talking to me like that? Are you crazy? In fat you're more than. Idiot!"

Her cartons and luggage had made it out of the women's stalls, but now a transport union official wanted to prevent her from unloading at the frontage. As she spoke, she handed out each porter's fee and dismissed them.

"Go anywhere and ask about Mama Success. That's me! I have been trading for this market before they born you in the village. Calabar, Bakassi, Malabo. Everywhere. Po. Do you know who built this shop, you goat in slave uniform? Where is Obasi?"

"I dey here-o, Mama," said a stocky man chesting up a bench.

"Who hire this monkey?"

"Nobody, Mama."

"Clear him out of here one time."

• Farafina is a Magazine of African Arts, Culture and Ideas. Published in Lagos - it is available by subcription to readers all over the world. Selected pieces can also be read by registering free online.