சுமா ந்வோகொலோ ரிட்ஸ் அட் உனிவேர்சிட்டி ஒப் இபடன்

Ghost of Sanni Abacha
Chuma Nwokolo Reads at University of Ibadan

Chuma Nwokolo, author of Diaries of a Dead African was at the University of Ibadan for his book campaign tagged Ghost of Pharaohs Past, where he read from his new collection, The Ghost of Sanni Abacha. The campaign was meant to create an avenue to relate with the reading audience in several parts of Nigeria and UK. Chuma Nwokolo read from his new collection of short stories titled Ghost of Sanni Abacha, a book best described as a collection of the subtle reactions of post-autocratic systems that affect everyday life.
The Ibadan event which held at the Department of English, University of Ibadan, was organized by a synergy of creative organisations; Artmosphere, a poetry, music and arts organization, Laipo Reading, an organization that engages and encourages reading culture and creativity, the Association of Nigerian Authors, Oyo State Chapter and the Department OF English,University of Ibadan. Also, African Writing, a magazine that promotes literary discourses and creative writing was also one of the supports.
Present at the event were Tade Ipadeola, Jumoke Verissimo, Richard Alli, Emmanuel Silva, curator of Treasures4Life Arts Galleries, Servio Gbadamosi, Anote Ajeluronu of the Guardian Newspapers, Adeniyi Ifeoluwapo, Ezechukwu Chiedu, Akin Bello, to mention a few. These include Ayodele Olofintuade, coordinator of Laipo Reading and Femi Fairchild Morgan, coordinator of Artmosphere.
Nwokolo was described by Olofintuade, NNLG winner and coordinator of Laipo reading as “someone I read his blogs and posts religiously because of his strong grasp at creativity and reasoning”. She expressed delight in having Nwokolo at the reading.
Nwokolo told the audience that the book is not totally about Abacha, but about the representations of dictatorial tendencies and how they shape ordinary lives, even after the era of dictators may have ended. He said “ This is not a political story, in fact, I describe it as the life and love of autocracy”. He added that post-autocratic stress has played a pivotal role in broken relationships, relationship power-play, cultural, social and security concerns in the country. Nwokolo read interesting pieces form his work such as Man Rating, Marital Accounts, The Ghost of Sanni Abacha, amongst others.
“We treat our leaders like dictators instead of treating them like democratic servants, chief servants but we treat them as prime dictators and I suggest this is a kind of post autocratic stress disorder. So these 26 stories are set in a country where they have post autocratic stress disorder and so we can look at all our actions and begin to interpret them and say is it something that was coming out of our dictatorial experiences?”
Nwokolo also noted that it was a universal story, as past dictatorial experiences of western states still permit attitudes that one can call symptoms of post-autocratic stress. He said “when I was doing this tour in the UK, I noticed some of our audience felt it is a third world issue. In fact, it is a story not restricted to Nigeria. In fact, the tour is called Ghost of Pharoah’s past which means we are going even beyond Africa. “Even in the UK recently, he noted that, a UK minister proposed that they should donate a yatch to the Queen, this I feel is a symptom of post-autocratic stress”. He lamented that this was at a situation where ordinary citizens were faced with economic depression and high levels of unemployment.
He creates an imagery of corruption as a sign of post-autocratic stress, “as soon as someone becomes pharaoh, he decides to put aside public funds to build a pyramid. But a pyramid is actually a place for the dead”. He equates it to how politicians and government spend public funds, he said “their biggest project is to build a Swiss bank account and that is the biggest project they will ever do. So when they are dead their trillions will remain there, long after they are dead”.
He intimated his audience that a lot of people wear psychological masks in order to create a façade of confidence instead of admitting that they need help. This was due to a response to questions fielded when he finished reading Man Ratings, an interesting story of a woman in search of a perfect man. He also noted that the issue of trust between spouses which was a thematic pivot in the story Marriage Accounts, was due to socio-post-autocratic defense systems built by people.
At the closing, Femi Fairchild Morgan, described Nwokolo as a writer who seeks to understand the Psychology behind human and socio-cultural actions. Morgan noted that Nwokolo creates live characters that any reader can relate with, without reducing the efficacy of the philosophies the characters represent.
The audience who spoke to the organisers said they were pleased to have come for the event. Tina Clark, an emerging children stories writer and Opeyemi Akindele, said that the event was one of quality and they were pleased to be part of the reading and discussion. For many, it was a moment for bonding as the event gave room for discussions and contacts sharing. Jane Fade, noted that such events should be organisers more often to change the present values that society holds and to question why people act the way they do.