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Let’s just say that S.O. Uwaifo writes the hardcore books on science and actualities while Omo Uwaifo writes novels and poems. He published the gripping novel, Fattening House, in 2001 and it made the three-pronged shortlist of the inaugural Nigeria Prize for Literature, sponsored by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) alongside the novels of Professor Akachi Ezeigbo and Bina Nengi-Ilagha. Shell-shocked Nigerians had to endure a torrid night in Abuja when the judges of the NLNG Prize decided not to give the award to any of the shortlisted threesome. Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka who was a special guest of honour had to step in with the advice that the prize money should be shared amongst the three writers! It gets indeed very curious that when the selfsame Omo Uwaifo published his collection of poetry, Litany, in 2009 it showed up one more time in the NLNG Prize list only for the prize not to be awarded yet again! The self-effacing Uwaifo takes it all with a stoic philosophical calmness, working hard as ever. Born on May 7, 1932, Uwaifo is proud of his Edo heritage, waxing eloquent on the glories of the monarchy that the British colonisers upended to Nigeria ruin. Uwaifo plans to mark Nigeria 50th Independence anniversary with a blockbuster release of his up-to-date poetry, Before the Golden Jubilee. It is a no-holds-barred offering in which Omo Uwaifo writes in the foreword:In 1914, Imperial Britain abolished the north/south boundary they had themselves created. Lord Lugard and his wife gave the combined territory the name Nigeria. The etymology of this name is not known, but it almost certainly derives from nigger. In the context of nations, that is a short time ago. Forty-six years later, the colonial power succumbed to political pressures and set the people free on October 1, 1960. The amalgamated land will, therefore, have been home to the various ethnic nationalities in one independent country for fifty years come October 1, 2010. Still in the context of nations, it will be only early at dawn. However Before the Golden Jubilee holds out the promise to be The Book. Let just whet the appetite with a final quote from Uwaifo:Federal Nigeria is a hoax. Aso believes its rock is whiter than the White House. What refracted reality! |
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