Old brigade!
Why Chinweizu, Odia and I haven’t married–Hyacinth
Obunseh, ANA deputy scribe
By HENRY AKUBUIRO (akuhen@sunnewsonline.com)
Sunday,
March 9, 2008
|
•Chinweizu
Photo: Sun News Publishing
|
|
Hyacinth Obunseh may not be the most popular writer in Nigeria
today, but he is one of the most popular writers’ administrators
in the country. He has been in ANA exco for a fairly long
time that you begin to wonder whether he can’t do without
the writers tribe.
A playwright, Obunseh prides himself for beating Prof Femi
Osofisan in a literary competition almost ten years ago –
and wasn’t that a major feat by a ‘rookie’
writer like him then? He is also the CEO of a publishing company,
and has a reputation of publishing many new writers in the
country who went ahead to win award-winning books.
His romance with books started as a schoolchild, reading both
magazines and newspapers. “As much as I can remember
I have always liked to read books, magazines and newspapers,”
he tells Sunday Sun. Surprisingly, he did not study literature
in secondary school, but after he left school.
After his higher education at Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State,
he worked in one or two places before running into an old
friend and school mate of his, Richard Mammah, who had his
own publishing house, Mace Books. “That meeting was
all it took to tame my restlessness, and set me on the 'book'
cause that has brought me to where I am today – wherever
that is,” he recalls.
Obunseh publishes writers, but he isn’t prolific himself.
“Being prolific or not is not for one to decide to be
or not,” he says. He attributes the creative inspiration
to the Muse, “The muse determines prolificity or otherwise.
Besides, published is the word you used. I have other works
that are even now receiving critical attention. I am not worried
about this because I know I don’t have to be prolific
to make my mark in literature.
There comes for writers, that defining moment that makes them.
It is sometimes that one book, written in youth, or in old
age. I believe that my own will come, if it has not already
done so!”
It is no longer news that writers like Chinweizu and Odia
Ofeimun haven’t yet married (Odia is almost 60 while
Chinweizu is in his 70s), though they have all it takes to
get married. What is going to be news is when they are going
to get married – but nobody knows when it is going to
be possible yet.
Obunseh, in his forties, and Chike Ofili, the chair of ANA
Lagos, also in his forties, are some of the younger writers
who are still in bachelorhood. Isn’t there a reason
for their bachelorhood?
Obunseh speaks for all, “Writers are idealists, always
seeking the ultimate points, the ideal situation and the best.
They tend to want to and mostly succeed in living in the world
they create in their books. It is had, therefore, and almost
impossible to find matching partners.”
Hybun Group International, his publishing outfit, isn’t
as big as the Longmans and Heinemanns, but it is popular among
the new generation of writers, maybe because it encourages
them to be published through vanity press. Hybun Group International
has published writers like Maik Nwosu, Tony Kan, Ahmed Maiwada,
Unoma Azuah, Emeka Agbai, among others.
It was that eventful meeting with his old friend and secondary
school mate, Richard Mammah, in 1996, that became a watershed
in his life. He says, “It changed my life, my focus
to writing, publishing and the book generally.”
His outfit, which was founded in 1997, marked its 10th anniversary
last year and, given his modest achievement, it called for
celebration. “It has been challenging,” he notes.
So many things are going for him. “Perhaps, I would
say two things are unique about Hybun Group International.
As the publisher and Chief Executive Officer, I am a senior
member of the ANA National Executive Council, which puts me
in position to experience, first hand, the writers’
situation and challenges, and the fact that we do not just
publish, like other publishing houses (we promote books by
organizing workshops, seminars, conferences, and attend book
fairs regularly, as well as other readings and special readings
for the 'book' and our authors) are some of the things going
for us.”
What experience in particular is unforgettable a writer/publisher?
Winning the ANA Matatu Prize in 1998 with his first book,
Valley of Decision, as a writer/publisher was particularly
something he celebrated then and has kept celebrating whenever
he remembers it!
What’s more, “In 1999, the same book made the
shortlist for the Association of West African Young Writers’
Prize. Although the prize money of N10, 000 then was some
big deal, it was not that for me! What made it so for me was
winning! The 'big' persons I beat [including Prof Femi Osofisan]
to win, and that I could call myself a WRITER, in capital
letters, without any fear of the title being questioned, perhaps
because I have a publishing house, without waiting for them
to say, ‘Prove it!’ The proof is there, we published
an award winning book!” he echoes with contentment.
For four years, he was ANA’s Public Relations Officer
(South) under Prof Olu Obafemi’s administration, a period
he describes as both interesting and challenging. “I
first worked with Professor Olu Obafemi in his second term
in office. He was and still is like a father to me. Under
him, however, I did not have much opportunity to express myself
in my office, because we had a Super General Secretary (Nduka
Otiono) who was in Lagos and was quite able to do things alone.
That was his style, and I must say he mostly delivered.
“In my second coming, I worked with Dr. Wale Okediran,
a man who believes in giving you space to prove your worth,
celebrates you when you do, and calls you to order when you
step out of line. Under his wing, I became, not just the ANA
southern spokesman, but also Supervisor of the Lagos based
ANA National Secretariat.
“I won’t say I have excelled and blossomed under
his watch, but I can say that he respects me and am very close
to him, because of my work rate and results. I will add, with
all sincerity, that it has been a very interesting period
for me, working with a president I look up to as father and
friend, a general secretary – Denja Abdulahi –
who respects my views, believes in me, and is not threatened
by my work in Lagos/the National Secretariat; and colleagues
who give me room to do what I can/need to do, for our collective
good, and take me as I am.”
When he was seeking to be elected as assistant general secretary
at the Owerri national convention last year, there was hue
and cry from some writers who felt he had overstayed his welcome
in the association’s executive council. He explains,
“ I sought to be re-elected, and having spent two terms
as the Southern Spokesman, in the office of the National Assistant
General Secretary, because I still have so much inside me
to give to ANA; so much ANA can benefit from my working for
it. And like the landslide electoral victory I scored at the
polls, I feel that ANA said to me, ‘Go on, we know what
you are doing with our association, and we are with you’.”
What does he say to his critics? “We will deliver, even
better than we did last time, which led to our landslide victories.
As the president said in his speech after our elections, ‘it
is not yet uhuru for us’. We have rolled up our sleeves
and put on our thinking cap. We remain focused on bettering
the lot of the Nigerian writer, at home and abroad, improving
on our poor reading culture, put together more capacity building
workshops, and, very importantly, lay the foundation stone,
and complete the building of our long dreamt Abuja Writers’
Village, all within our two-year tenure. Then and only then
would we beat our chest and say, ‘We have done well’,”
he remarks. |
