Col. Oladele Babajamu is the National PRO (North) of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and immediate erstwhile Chairman of the Kwara state Chapter of the Association. In this interview with ABDULHAFEEZ T. OYEWOLE, he speaks about how his writing background and military-civilian experiences contribute to the growth and development of his crafts as well as his numerous roles in the Nigerian writing world. 

My name is Colonel Oladele Babajamu (retd.). I retired from Nigerian Army in the year 2011. I served the Army for 30 years, 4 months and 11 days before I retired. Since my retirement, I have been in my private business. I do a lot of writing. Thank you. 

I was born on the 19th of May, 1959. I started my primary school at Community LEA School, Oro-Ago and I followed my aunt in 1967 to school in Kaduna, until I came back to Ilorin, where I finished from St. Michael’s school in 1971. I went to Government Secondary School (G.S.S.) Ilorin between 1972 and ’76, before I now went to Nigerian Defence Academy from 1981 to 1983.

While in the Army, I was opportune to attend Obafemi Awolowo University, where I studied Electronics/Telecommunications up to Diploma level and I also have Masters of Science Degree in Strategic Studies from University of Ibadan, after I finished from Defence College. 

There is no doubt that I inherited writing from him. Because, when he was at Offa Grammar School as a teacher, that was when he started writing in 1959. He was born in 1925 and in fact, he wrote his last book at the age of eighty. This year, he will be 93. So, there's no doubt I inherited it from him; and one of my daughters have started writing also. She (Favour Ebunoluwa Babajamu) published her first book in Form 3. So, there is no doubt that there is ink in our family blood and we have been using the ink to benefit our society. 

Writing to me is everything.  Once I handle the biro, I feel very excited. I feel I should just keep on writing. Writing is a calling to me and I am happy that I am trying to fulfill it. It is a God-given talent which is not common. So, I consider myself that lucky to have been given that talent by God. 

When I started, my first writing was in Form 1 in the year 1972. I just write a small poem for the school magazine, G.S.S. Ilorin. We called the magazine: The Golden Stallion. Then, when I went to Bible School in 1999, there was a subject that’s called Dynamics of Potentials. It was there we were told that God has deposited something in everybody, that if we discover it, it will be very beneficial to human being. So, when I look inward, I discovered that I have a talent of writing and since then, I started writing.

My first book was “Artillery: My Beloved Corps”. Nobody has ever written any book on artillery before. So, I was the first to write a book on artillery. This was in the year 2012. I wrote about two professional books before I go into literature genres: poetry and prose. I have written literatures in all the genres apart from drama. 

The greatest influence on my writings is my environment. Every writer is a product of his environment. You can’t be in Nigeria and be writing about Australia. You write from what nature has bestowed you with in the society. So, what influence me mostly is my environment. 

When I was in the Army, I was writing military books. In fact, when I came to Kwara ANA, they made a lot of jest of me that when I was in the Army, the title of my books were Ink In My Gun. But today, my latest manuscript is Ink In My Thumb, because I am no longer carrying gun. 

Well, we are still on the journey. Writing is a journey. My father wrote his last book at the age of 80. So, I think, if at the age of eighty, I still produce books, it will not be an offence, since I inherited writing from him. So, writing still continue until eternity. 

They are entitled to their own beliefs. I see writing as a talent and a calling because every writer has a message and if you don't deliver that message, you will be restless. And when you go spiritual again, when you go to heaven, God will ask you that “the message I gave you, what did you do with it?” 

It was a very interesting journey. If I come to this world again, I think I will still join the military. I entered the military through Nigerian Defence Academy in 1981. After three years, I graduated and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in December, 1983. I was commissioned through the Nigerian Army Corps for Artillery where I was posted to Ohafia. That time it (I.e. Ohafia) was in Imo state, now in Bendel state. That was where I started my career as a Second Lieutenant. From there, I went to Obafemi Awolowo University after I spent one year in the Unit to study Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering. I did so many courses and promotion exams. My Lieutenant to Captain promotion came to me when I was in Liberia in 1991 and I was decorated in Liberia. I went to Liberia as a Lieutenant, I came back as Captain after various examinations. I also passed my major exams, I was promoted to the rank of Major in 1995 and I was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the year 2000. I was promoted Colonel in the year 2005 or there about, and then by 2011, I was 52. I missed my promotion to Brigadier General on two occasions. In the Army, there is something they call “age and rank”. If you are 52, you are expected to be a General and since I was not one, I was left with the choice to retire, so I retired. 

Yes. There is no doubt that in every society,  every career is a pyramid with the narrow base at the top and a very wide base at the bottom.  So, very few people made it to the top. It is like you go for World Cup, 36 nations will start; only one country will carry the cup. It is not that the other nation don’t know how to play, but there must be a winner and a looser. So that’s the way I took it. 

My first book like I told you was in 2012, titled “Artillery: My Beloved Corps”. The book dealt so much about the origin of artillery in the world in 1822. In fact, I traced it origin to the bible (1 Chronicles, Chapter 26:15), from what we called Ballista (invented in 146 B.C.), up to the time that they invented the gun in 1822 and how it passed through various stages.  It also went to the history of how artillery started in Nigeria and I wrote about the background of most of our Commandants which we have in the artillery. It was after that I wrote “The ABC of Military Professionalism and Values” in 2004. My poetry work when I was in the Army was “The Gunner’s Post”. I also wrote a very short story book: “Destined for Marriage” about a lady officer that married another rank. Soldiers can only marry soldiers, officers can only marry officers in the Army. But in this case, the officer wants to marry a soldier. So, it became a dilemma. How did the problem solve out? If you get the book, you will know. 

Timeless Verses was published few years ago. It was when I became Kwara ANA Chairman that I wrote the book.  We went to see Yusuf Ali (SAN) that day and we met Dr Badmus, the Proprietor of Iqra College, Ilorin, there. So, he said to support us, anybody that had a good manuscript should bring it. He will help us (with its production). I used myself as an example because I had a manuscript that time. So, I submitted to Alhaji Badmus. He screened it for more than one year, and at the end, the book came out. 

The Widow’s Wail is about a young girl called Atinuke. Her mission was to become a lawyer, but unfortunately along the line,  she fell in love at that age (she was in Secondary School). Should we call it infatuation? So, one thing led to another with the boy (Kola) and they had fun once and that became a problem for them. So, she became pregnant. In our society, life is sacred. So, they were forced to marry each other. So, the problem persisted until Kola, the husband (according to their village tradition) died out of frustration, living five children for Atinuke...

The book is meant for young children actually to imbibe (good) moral and discipline in them. Like Mrs Omolehin wrote in the book that the moral laxity among girls and boys today are the gospel of holiness which we preach, thus, teachers should personally ensure that all the students in their schools read the book because of the moral lessons that the book is about to bring and to also show us that evil may enjoy for the night, but joy will always come in the morning if you can endure. 

Well, I love poetry because it is a free language. Sometimes, when you give somebody your prose to correct for you, you may even want to change the structure. If you give ten people, they will have ten ways because we don’t speak the same language and we don’t see in the same way. But, when it comes to poetry, it is a free language and you have to economise words. You want to reduce the words you used as short as possible and to convey meanings- not just one meaning in poetry. That is why I like poetry more than other genres. In most cases, I have tried to write a very big book, but all along, by the time I get to 100 and something pages, I am fade out, as if there are no ideas again. I am sure maybe it is because I am not patient. Sometimes, you write a good book maybe during five or six years. I don’t know whether I can be patient enough to wait (that longer). 

Oh! ANA is my second profession after Nigerian Army. I so much like ANA because when I left Army, the Kwara State ANA, that I can say had been moribund, was just picking up with Dr. Uthman Oladipo-Akanbi. But, when I came after 1 or 2 years, I don’t know the type of election they did and they just made me their Chairman. Since then, I have been having affinity for ANA and the affinity is so much that I have attended all the conventions, apart from that one (held) in Ibadan since I have joined. 

The first problem we encountered in ANA was inconsistency of members. When you come to Reading every month, the set of people you see this month are different from set of people you will see the following month. Maybe, it is just two or three members of the Executives that attend Reading constantly. But in all, one thing we have achieved (was that) we have been able to maintain a constant Reading session without break since we started. This is a very laudable achievement. Even, despite the fact that different people come at different sessions, there have been a constant Reading in Kwara State ANA.

Also, during our tenure, we  had a newsletter we called Kwanascope. We were able to publish Kwanascope, two editions, which we used to publicise our activities. Also, we were able to manage the Yusuf Ali grant that was given to us to execute the programme. One of the conditions for getting the grant is that you must use it judiciously. All the times they’re giving it to states, about 3 or 4 times, there is no time that it’s not be given to Kwara State: which means that we have been using the money judiciously.  Also during our tenure, the whole Chairmen and Executives of ANA came to Kwara to collect their cheques from Yusuf Ali. We have been chief host to them and sometimes, we give them plaques and other things to remember us. 

Before, I used to say ANA is an orphan, but these days, things are taking shape in ANA. The ANA of the future is a very big project, particularly with the land General Mamman Vatsa gave us at Mpape, 60 hectares that is now 30 hectares. Now that the work has started earnestly on that land, I can see a glorious future for ANA, especially by the time all the projects in that Writers’ Village are executed and are put into action.

We were there in January and we saw the works we have done. The one room apartment we want to use for rent is ready, the Auditorium has got to a lintel level, the prototype Secretariat is already there; it only remain furnishing. So, ANA has a very bright future and a very glorious future by the time we move to the Writers’ Village. It (ANA) will compete favourably with any veritable organisation in the world. 

What we normally have is the Yusuf Ali Competition. But this year, we want to invite all ANA Chairmen in 16 states for a workshop. We want to examine how far we have gone with the Yusuf Ali projects. We want to assess it in a holistic view so as to see how to move forward. We also want to present something in terms of write-ups, and publicity to show our benefactor, Yusuf Ali, what we have been doing with that money.

So, this year, we have a workshop for the people which will come up may be in June. The ANA Chairmen and Executives will meet maybe in April in Ilorin. It is then we are going to decide on what we are going to choose. We also have this programme which we want to document the names of every member of ANA and their books: one or two publications. So that by the time we put our hands on the computer when they mention your name, you will be able to access your name, the state you are from and the number of books you have published.

Then, we also have the normal annual ANA Convention  in October, which we all look forward to. ANA Convention is a great one. Every Nigerian author always wants to attend it. I don't know the magic that is there. This year, we are going to Lagos for the Convention. I believe we are going to have a very good convention. 

Oh, fantastic! Thank you very much. When I was in the Army in the year 2005, I won the Editor Choice Award in poetry from International Society for Poetry in America. In the same year, I won the Nigerian Army’s Chief of Army Staff Commendation Award for consistent literary contributions to the Nigerian Army. Then I won ANA Abuja Chapter's 2006 FCT ANA Merit Award for sustainable contributions to the development of Nigerian Literatures and their authors. In the year 2014, I also won a Merit Award at my (old) school, Government Secondary School  (G.S.S.), Ilorin during their Centenary Celebration. So, I have won some awards of recognition that are very interesting since I started. 

Two of my works have been reviewed on the paper. There was a critique in The Sun in 2005 or thereabout. The one I wrote on Oro-Ago (Oro-Ago Gbęngbę: The Audacity of Might) was reviewed by Rowland Olanishuwa of The Herald Newspaper in 2009. 

Oh, Chimamanda Adiche, any day, anytime! I have read all Chimamanda’s books. In fact, her work: Americanah, is fantastic. She is a craftsmanship. When it comes to description,  Chimamanda is fantastic. She describes scene and mixes it with idioms. Also, like Chinua Achebe, she brings Igbo into her works. If Chimamanda Adiche enters this office, she can use five pages to describe it before she starts to talk about what she has come to do. I am a fan of her; I am a fan of good works. 

I always read Toni Kan’s “The Night of the Creaking Birds”. It is a collection of short stories. In fact, there was a day I even extracted one of the stories for our reading in Kwara ANA. Toni Kan is also one of the fantastic writers. These days because of eye problem -when I read too much, my eyes will bring down water- I have reduced contents and quantities of books I read. 

Simplicity. I am a very simple person, but a lot of people don’t know. They have a misconception until they come in contact with me. I am a very straightforward person. I always believe people to a fault. I don’t have friends because I am always very frank whenever I talk to them. So, that’s why, apart from my wife and family members, I don’t have very close friends. Because of my frankness, I usually meet most of my friends outside and we greet. 

At my leisure time, I read other people's works. There is no sort of books I don’t read. I have Qur'an here. I read because the only raw material for writing is reading. So, I read and study my environment. And when I am not doing that, I am watching television. 

Writers should try to produce more works. Like in Kwara State, one of our challenges is that our production of work is very low. In a year, maybe out of twenty authors, you will see one or two new books (from one or two authors), which doesn't augur well. A lot of them complain about economic recession. Well, for every vision, there’s always a provision. Once we trust God, I believe there will always be a provision for our works. So, we should try and produce more quality works. We should do a lot of research before we go into writing.  Research does not necessarily mean academic work. When you read other people's works, you can also look at how you can be inspired by their works to produce something similar to it.