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Iyibo My First 22 Years is a Long Time to Live in a State of Paralysis

June 21, 2021

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In-depth coverage of underreported stories and issues affecting Nigerians and Africans at large.
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What if your trauma had a name? #OnSite⚡️ As

What if your trauma had a name? #OnSite⚡️

As a boarding school student in Kaduna, Edwin Okolo learned to navigate a life riddled with fear and violence. For a time, his friendship with another student, Iyibo, felt like an oasis. From the moment they met, Edwin admired Iyibo. Iyibo was charismatic and, despite being a junior, moved effortlessly through the school, as though he was untouchable. They became close, too close. Edwin writes in our latest Black Atlantic essay:

‘When my mattress is stolen by seniors, Iyibo offers to share his bunk with me. He has the assistant head boy as his guardian, so seniors pretend not to notice his lush mattress and his rich, downy duvet. I remember our tangle of legs, warm under the duvet, Iyibo’s whispering keeping me awake as he tells me stories of the countries he’s visited… People didn’t love Iyibo, I realize that now, they were fascinated with him. It was strange for someone so young to understand so implicitly the power they had over other people. Iyibo always looked people in the eye, willing them to look back and see that behind his giant pupils, there was no guile, only awakened desire.’

The Black Atlantic is our newest column featuring stories about the Black experience around the world. Read the full essay at the link in our bio.
________________
📝: Edwin Okolo

Today in 1922, Joseph Ki-Zerbo was born. #RxHistor

Today in 1922, Joseph Ki-Zerbo was born. #RxHistory⏳

On 21 June 1922, Joseph Ki-Zerbo was born in Toma, Upper-Volta (now Burkina Faso). As a historian, politician and writer, Ki-Zerbo is recognized as one of Africa’s foremost thinkers.

Ki-Zerbo was educated both in Burkina Faso and at the prestigious Sorbonne in France. He earned his degree in history, with honours, and returned home to focus on politics and human rights.

From 1972 to 1978 he was a professor of African history at the University of Ouagadougou. He was a proponent of pan-Africanism and endogenous development (utilising the ideas and knowledge of indigenous cultures rather than disregarding them).

He was exiled from Burkina Faso in 1983 and returned in 1992 to find his entire library, of close to 11,000 books, destroyed. He died aged 84 in 2006.

Did you know that Joseph Ki-Zerbo was a vocal opponent of Thomas Sankara’s revolutionary government? Although Ki-Zerbo held socialist ideals, he disapproved of the coup that brought Sankara into power.
____________
📝: Ibukun Olokode x Ugonna Eronini
📷: AFP via Getty Images.

Fola Alade, the architect of 1004 Housing Estate i

Fola Alade, the architect of 1004 Housing Estate in Lagos, has died aged 87. #RxNews📡

On Saturday, Chief Isaac Folayan Alade died. This announcement was made by his family.

Born on 24 November 1933, Alade was one of Nigeria’s first four architecture graduates. He graduated from the Nigerian College of Arts & Sciences and Technology, Zaria (now Ahmadu Bello University) in 1961. Afterwards, he completed his post-graduate studies at the Architectural Association School of Tropical Studies, London in 1965, on a Commonwealth scholarship. He became an associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects and Architects’ Registration Council of the United Kingdom in 1963.

Alade’s other design projects include the National Stadium in Surulere, Remembrance Arcade in Tafawa Balewa Square and the Nigerian Air Force base, Ikeja. He also designed the National Judicial institute in Abuja, the master plan for Ekiti State government and Nigerian embassy buildings in 11 countries including Germany and Italy.

Alade was the first architect to become a federal permanent secretary in 1976 until he retired in 1979, after which he established a private practice called Fola Alade Associates.

In his condolence message, Speaker of Ekiti House of Assembly, Mr Funminiyi Afuye, described Alade’s death as ‘a great loss to Ekiti State in particular and to Nigeria in general’. President Buhari also condoled with Alade’s friends and family, noting in his condolence message that Alade left behind a ‘legacy of brilliance and diligence’.
____________
📝: Mira-belle Ajayi, Associate Editor
📷: Chief Isaac Fola Alade. SOLID MEDIA.

1004 Estate in Lagos. PREMIUM TIMES.

How do you move on from childhood trauma? #OnSite⚡⁠
⁠
For Edwin Okolo, you never really do. To disconnect from the sexual assault and grooming he experienced at his boarding school in the 90s, Edwin erased the school from his past. But the trauma has remained with him for over two decades. Recently, he decided to finally confront this trauma and the charismatic yet exploitative student that was its source. Edwin shares this experience in our latest Black Atlantic essay:⁠
⁠
‘As technology advances, I search for Iyibo, first on Myspace, then Facebook, then Twitter and Instagram. I find no trace of him when I run the occasional Google search. As my memory of him frays, I start to wonder how much of what I remember is real and how much I imagined. I know there are 600 people who might remember me and Iyibo, but I hold back for years, paralyzed by the fear that having my memories corroborated might be worse than my suspicions that my memories are exaggerated, or worse, false.’⁠
⁠
The Black Atlantic is our newest column featuring stories about the Black experience around the world. Read the full essay at the link in our bio.⁠
________________⁠
📝: Edwin Okolo

'Everything Good Will Come' — Sefi Atta w/@rache

'Everything Good Will Come' — Sefi Atta w/@racheleyo

'Sefi Atta's ability to write historical fiction made me understand the importance of the genre. I love learning about Nigerian history, but it’s not every day that you can sit down and read a textbook or academic text on it. It’s just not realistic for me. Reading Sefi Atta’s “Everything Good Will Come” and being able to learn about military rule while also experiencing a young woman going through her coming-of-age years or discussing her love life is more digestible for me.'

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? For more book recommendations, click the link in our bio.
____________
📝: Temi Ibirogba
#ReadSomethingAfrican #SefiAtta #Nigeria

Today in 1920, Amos Tutuola was born. #RxHistory⏳⠀
-⠀
On 20 June 1920, Amos Tutuola was born in Abeokuta, Nigeria. He was a Nigerian novelist whose works featured rich Yoruba folklore written in nonstandard English. Many of his books featured stories he had heard as a child.⠀
-⠀
Tutuola was born on 20 June 1920 in Abeokuta to cocoa farmers. He went to school for six years before training as a blacksmith in 1939. He later worked as a civil servant with the Nigerian Department of Labour and Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation.⠀
-⠀
In 1952, he became Nigeria’s first internationally recognized author with the publication of 'The Palm-Wine Drinkard'.⠀
-⠀
Although canon-builders and literary tastemakers initially caricatured him, his books are now considered an influential pioneer of Nigerian and African literature. He was viewed as an amusing cultural curiosity by Western readers and considered an anachronistic embarrassment by the African literary establishment.⠀
-⠀
Did you know that 'The Palm-Wine Drinkard' was written in three days? For more on Amos Tutuola, click the link in our bio.⠀
____________⠀
📝: Ibukun Olokode x Ugonna Eronini⠀
📷: Amos Tutuola. Unknown Photographer⠀
-⠀
@paperbirdbooks / INSTAGRAM

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