The Words Finesse

Big is the echo of your death
Mighty man of accountability
Integrity was your armour
Diligence, your sword

Why would you sneak away in triumph
As bees moved away from popo
And buffalo migrated from the hinterland 

Like the sea waves which tremble before the shore
Few days to your shadowy evasion
Your ebullient frame was hovering in the bursary’s corridor
Flowery were the vouchers welcoming you to the office
As you counter-checked balance sheets 

Little did we know you would saunter into your paradise so soon
At your rear were Death waves in fluffy velvets blown by wailers’ tears
Throng of sympathisers in dark apparitions trailing your ghost
A multitude of your fellows in moody celebration of your sudden departure

Weary our souls, our souls weary in painful memory of the gargantuan loss
Your death sweeping off our feet as a hurricane does to buildings
Our owls becoming dumb in the face of your hasty announcement

Ayuba Big, 
Benevolence was your birth
Like princes and prophets of hallowed days
Infectious was your service to mankind
A rare gem in the administration of KWASU
A worthy descendant of Alamoyo 


Tandi Tandi, your dance steps

Now that we have condemned Tandi
For playing the devil’s advocate
With his wobbling dance steps on the stage
Indeed it was an eyesore to behold
As if I was seeing mucus running down a toddler’s nostrils
Such nauseating steps as offensive as the ill-disposed excreta 
Scattered by the playful toes of the hen

Tandi Tandi has volunteered to take up the dance
You would think a leprous horse was displaying

With the dog squatting
We decided to go for a monkey
Between monkey and dog 
Who squats most?

Tandi we say does not know how to dance

*Tandi---- moron


Chorus of Hope

Let’s hear each other 
Fellow caravan in the wilderness of hope
As we wander from furrow to furrow
In desultory chase of shadowy rendezvous
Or is ours a seasonless toil?

As we trudge on in the labyrinth of the famished 

Like scavengers of the modern time
Our pace is neither slow nor fast
Our step-in wobbling crisscrosses 

Lend me your ears
Let my chant minister to your restless legs
My cerebral ballads, an ointment for your swollen ankles
When windy words bear my mission to the weary and the thirsty

I sing to their hearing
Power mongers and warehouse centurions
Who turn deaf ears to the bloating of their captives
With tuneful parables and proverbial cacophonies 
My healing song for their swollen conscience

Gomba, a poet and playwright, who teaches Literature and Creative Writing at University of Port Harcourt, won with his Drama book, Grit.

He emerged from 145 entries, 11 Longlist and later Three Shortlist, beating two other playwrights in a fiercely contested finals at Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos, on October13, 2023.

The other playwrights are; Abideen Abolaji Ojomu (Ojuelegba Crossroads) and Henry Akubuiro (Yamtarawala – The Warrior King).

With his victory, which is coming after five attempts at the prize, across three 11 Longlists and two Three Shortlists, Gomba takes home $100,000 grand Prize in the winner takes-it-all contest.

In his acceptance speech, he commended the NLNG for the prize platform, which he said has positively impacted Nigerian literature and creative industry at large, while commending other two contestants, who he described as winners too.

Apart from the highly coveted Nigerian Prize for Literature, the NLNG also announced Eyoh Etim, a lecturer at Akwa Ibom State University, as winner of Literary Criticism Prize. Eyoh takes home $10, 000 for his literary prowess at the contest.

As well, Hippolite Amadi, a professor of Medical Engineering & Technology, Imperial College London, won the 2023 Nigerian Prize for Science.

Earlier in his opening remarks at the ceremony, Philip Mshelbila, managing director/chief executive officer, Nigeria LNG Limited, noted that the 2023 prize ceremony holds on the theme ‘Redefination’, in line with the need to reevaluate our priorities, visions and to push for change that will make the world a better place for businesses and humans.

Speaking on the prizes, the NLNG boss noted that the authors have used the power of words to redefine values, institute change and call attention to things that need to be preserved in a fast changing world.

He commended all the writers for exhibiting a high level of literary ingenuity, while assuring on sustained support for the prizes.

Obari Gomba (PhD) teaches Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria, and is an Honorary Fellow in Writing of the University of Iowa (USA). He is a recipient of Rivers ANA Distinguished Writer Award, Halogen Award for Poetry, and Kangaroo Poetry Festival Poet of 2018. He is a two-time winner of both the Best Literary Artiste Award and the First Prize for Drama of the English Association of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. His works include Guerrilla Post (Winner of ANA Drama Prize 2018/ Shortlisted for the Nigeria Prize for Literature 2018), For Every Homeland (Winner of ANA Poetry Prize 2017/ Shortlisted for the Nigeria Prize for Literature 2017), Thunder Protocol (Winner of ANA Poetry Prize 2016), Length of Eyes (Shortlisted for ANA Poetry Prize in 2013 /Shortlisted for the Nigeria Prize for Literature 2013), and Pearls of the Mangrove (adopted as a ‘Book of the Festival’ for the 2011 Garden City Literary Festival and the 2019 Festival Poetry Calabar). He curated an anthology featuring 35 writers from 33 countries, entitled A Piece of Daily Life, for the International Writing Program of the University of Iowa (USA) in 2016.

His poetry has been featured in Re-Markings: A World Assembly of Poets and The Second Genesis: An Anthology of Contemporary World Poetry. His poetry has been published in international journals such as Prosopisia, Sentinel, Maple Tree Literary Supplement and Eleven Eleven (which listed his ‘Gun Policy’ in the 20 Best of the Net for 2016). He has read his poems in the United States at Shambaugh House (University of Iowa), Dubuque Museum of Arts, Oaknell Retirement Centre, and Kirkwood. In Nigeria, he has read his poems at Alliance Francaise in Enugu, Lagos International Poetry Festival, Lagos Book and Art Festival, Abuja Writers Forum, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Port Harcourt Book Festival, Art Republic/Art-in-My-City Exhibition in Enugu, History Concourse in Port Harcourt, and CORA Book Party for the Nigeria Prize for Literature, etc. He has also read his poems and discussed literature (and politics) on media platforms such as Radio Rivers FM, Nigerian Info FM, Rhythm FM, Radio UST FM, Garden City FM, Unique (Uniport) FM, NTA, and CCTV Africa. 

His poems were performed by the Portland Stage Company in Maine USA in 2016. His other writings have also appeared in Matatu, African Review, Africa Oil+Gas Report, Tydskrif vir Letterkunde, Oja, Third Text, Jeltan, ANA Review, Culture Digest, Crucible, Working Papers, The Muse, Mgbakoigba, New Age, Lagos Review of Books and Society, This Day, The News, etc. There is a chapter on his writing in Masterpieces of African Literature; and his works have been reviewed/mentioned in 234 Next, The Guardian, The Guardian Life, This Day, The Sun, National Life, Punch, Nigerian Tribune, The Nation, Ago, etc. 

His work, as a teacher at the University of Port Harcourt, has deepened his interest in human capital development. Beyond teaching in the classroom, he also offered service as a moderator for Christopher Okigbo Foundation/Conference; as a facilitator/resource person to the International Writing Program’s MOOC; as a panelist for Iowa Book Festival; as the LOC Chairman of the 3rd International Conference on Tanure Ojaide; as the Festival Coordinator of the Gabriel Okara Literary Festival; as a moderator at Lagos International Poetry Festival; as a moderator at Lagos Book and Art Festival; as a writing workshop facilitator for Port Harcourt UNESCO World Book Capital, Port Harcourt Book Festival, and Niger Delta Creative Writers’ Workshop; as a judge for Port Harcourt Carnival and Bayelsa State ANA; as a book reviewer and editor for Hornbill House of Arts; and as a resource person on advocacy to the Ministry of Economic Planning of Delta State in conjunction with ODA/UNDP. He understands that a knowledge-based society is crucial to development in the 21st century.

Dr Obari Gomba is the 2021 Global South Visiting Professor

This brief was culled from: TORCHOxford.