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Writing Is a Grind; It Won’t Always Be Exciting or Magical Desola Olaleye's First Draft

November 25, 2022

Shielding the Spirit of a Continent An Existential Argument for the Restitution of African Cultural Heritage

November 24, 2022

Recurring Repatriations What Has Been Done With Abacha’s Recovered Loot?

November 22, 2022

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Nigeria’s Unforgotten War #OnSite⚡️ - In 196

Nigeria’s Unforgotten War #OnSite⚡️
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In 1967 to 1970, Nigeria was engaged in the Biafran War. In this essay, Precious Arinze provides a closer look at the more human consequences of the war, with restorative lessons for Nigeria. Arinze writes:

‘1966, the year before the Biafran War became a real thing, my father moved the family from Enugu to Sapele, leaving behind my mother, who refused to travel to Delta without her father. Her father, my grandfather, had insisted on not abandoning Okutu, the village in Enugu where he grew up. “When Biafra wins,” he used to say, “I am going to offer drinks to my Chi on this earth, on a ground we are familiar with.” For a while, in Sapele, we went about our normal lives: children danced and played games outside; the sky was not burning; the streets were not flooded with blood.

We had no knowledge of the War, besides what we picked up from the streets or heard on the radio. This was until Mama brought the War home to us.’

Read Arinze’s full essay at the link in our bio.
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📝: Precious Arinze
📷: All Images: Street Scenes, Enugu, Nigeria. 1959-1960. SIMON OTTENBERG

Today in 2011, Odumegwu Ojukwu died in London, age

Today in 2011, Odumegwu Ojukwu died in London, aged 78. #RxHistory⏳
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On 26 November 2011, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Nigerian military leader and leader of Biafra during the Nigerian Civil War, died in London after an illness.
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The son of a wealthy businessman, Ojukwu was born in Zungeru, northern Nigeria, on 4 November 1933. After Ojukwu graduated from the University of Oxford in 1955, he returned to colonial Nigeria and joined the army.
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When the military seized power in a newly independent Nigeria in 1966, Ojuwku was appointed as military governor of the mostly Igbo eastern region. Due to ethnic strife and violence against Igbos in northern parts of Nigeria, the eastern region felt increasingly alienated from the federal military government led by Yakubu Gowon.
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On 30 May 1967, he declared the eastern region an independent sovereign state, calling it the Republic of Biafra. Gowon responded by invading Biafra, marking the start of the Nigerian Civil War in July 1967.
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With Biafra losing the war, and hundreds of thousands of Biafrans dying of starvation, Ojuwku fled to Côte d'Ivoire in 1970. He was pardoned in 1982, and he returned to Nigeria and joined politics again, running for the presidency in 2003 and against Umaru Musa Yar'Adua in 2007.
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After his death, memorial services and public events in his honour were held in several places across Nigeria. His funeral was attended by former Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, and late former Ghanaian president, Jerry Rawlings.

Read more on Biafra at the link in our bio.
____________________
📝: Wemimo Ogunmoyela
📷 : 1) Ojukwu, as military governor of Biafra, inspecting some of his troops in 1968. Trinity Mirror / Mirrorpix /Alamy
2) Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Biafran head of state, addressing a joint session of the consultative assembly and house at Owerri, on Jan. 31, 1968. Anthony Astrachan/The Washington Post
3) Odumegwu Ojukwu, left, taking an oath in 1967 to be the leader of the Republic of Biafra, just after it declared independence. Associated Press

The book that represents Desola Olaleye at this mo

The book that represents Desola Olaleye at this moment. #OnSite⚡️

Author of ‘Shielding the Spirit of a Continent: An Existential Argument for the Restitution of African Cultural Heritage’ Desola Olaleye, wants people to understand that fighting for the restitution of African cultural artefacts is not a misplaced priority.

In our latest First Draft interview, Olaleye discusses the emphasis on productivity during her childhood and her exposure to books to this end; the sweet spot between an ordinary life and a glittery life; and what informed the philosophical angle she adopts in her argument for the movement to reclaim African cultural artefacts.

Olaleye asserts: ‘I wish more people would understand that the people fighting for the restitution of African cultural artefacts are not doing it because they are bored or because of misplaced priorities. This movement forms a crucial part of the decolonisation process. People insist we are in a postcolonial era, but the truth is we are not quite there yet. We remain troubled by the ghosts of colonisers and many Africans remain trapped in a colonial mentality. There is so much work to be done, so much work.’

Read the full interview at the link in our bio.
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📝: Desola Olaleye
🎨: Onyinye Dike, Art Director

An Existential Argument for the Restitution of Afr

An Existential Argument for the Restitution of African Cultural Heritage #OnSite⚡️

Have you been tracking the restitution of African artefacts from Western museums? Do you see this restitution through a strictly political lens?

In our latest online essay, UK-based writer, Desola Olaleye, emphasises the importance of the movement to reclaim African cultural artefacts. In doing so, Olaleye draws upon Martin Heidegger’s philosophy of art and other theories about the value of [African] art. Olaleye argues also that the utility of the reclamation movement rests on the ontological function of the cultural artworks being sought.

According to Olaleye: ‘it may benefit us to view utility as being spectral. At one extreme, the utility of a phenomenon may reflect a purely economic function—that is, being productive or profitable in material terms but, on the other hand, it may be more symbolic and embody a gradual unfolding of social goods. The reclamation of Africa’s cultural artefacts does not need to produce an all-encompassing solution to Africa’s material problems, nor should it be viewed as providing no social benefit at all. Glossing over its social value has the potential to impede decolonization efforts thus far. To better explain my argument, and more specifically uncover the value of the movement for restitution, I turn now to the question of art and why it is an indispensable element of society.’

Read the full essay at the link in our bio.
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📝: Desola Olaleye
🎨: Onyinye Dike, Art Director

Today in 1946, Atiku Abubakar was born in eastern

Today in 1946, Atiku Abubakar was born in eastern Nigeria. #RxHistory⏳
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On 25 November 1946, the vice president of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007, Atiku Abubakar, was born in Jada, a town then under the administration of the British Cameroons.
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Abubakar’s father, a Fulani trader, was opposed to western education and tried to keep him out of school and was imprisoned and fined when the government found out. In 1969, during the Nigerian civil war, Abubakar graduated with a degree in law from Ahmadu Bello University after which he was employed by the Nigerian Customs Service.
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In 1989, he retired as the deputy director of the Nigerian Customs Service, becoming a full-time businessman and politician. Abubakar joined the People’s Democratic Party in 1998, and won the Adamawa State governorship elections. Before he was sworn in as governor, he accepted a position as the running mate to the former military head of state, General Olusegun Obasanjo in the 1999 presidential election.
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Read more on Atiku’s political timeline at the link in our bio.
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📝: Wemimo Ogunmoyela
📷: 1) Atiku Abubakar at the 2016 LSE Africa Summit. Marianne Opaleye / LSE Africa Summit / Flickr
2) Fact Check Hub

On Political Financing in Nigeria #OnSite⚡️ H

On Political Financing in Nigeria #OnSite⚡️

Have you ever thought about how political parties are funded? If so, should sources of political party funds be more transparent ahead of the 2023 elections?

In this online essay, consultant and strategist, Anie Anokuru, argues that there is an unignorable link between party financing and corruption in Nigeria. Anokuru observes that this is largely due to thin provisions on party financing in Electoral Acts over the years, that were meant to guide the electoral process. This lacuna has therefore given rise to undemocratic practices and gross misconducts against transparency and accountability.

According to Anokuru:‘Nigerian parties are largely dominated by “moneybags”, individual donors whose donations make up almost all the party’s funds. These wealthy affiliates are so vital to the party survival that they ultimately dictate party actions and can install candidates at will. Apart from controlling the political party, a typical donor views such huge contributions to the party as a form of investment, which must yield returns subsequently. These “political entrepreneurs” who invest so much money expect concomitant rewards on their investment in the form of government contracts, appointments of cronies to public offices and much more.’

Read the full essay at the link in our bio.
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📝: Anie Anokuru
📸: Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari speaks at a campaign rally on 09 February 2019 in Lagos. TEMILADE ADELAJA / REUTERS

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