Renowned Nigerian writer, poet, and novelist, Gabriel Imomotimi Okara, died on March 25 at the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Aged 97, the great writer and consummate artist was the life patron of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA). In his death, Nigeria has lost a legendary poet, a great patriot and one of the most significant and serious early Nigerian poets.
Regarded as the first Modernist poet of Anglophone Africa, Okara published his early experimental novel, The Voice, in 1964, his award-winning poetry, in The Fisherman’s Invocation in 1978 and The Dreamer, His Vision in 2005. Born in Bomoundi in the Niger Delta Region in 1921, Okara was educated at Government College Umuahia, and later at Yaba Higher College. At Umuahia, he was taught by the famous Nigerian artist, Ben Enwonwu.
He studied journalism at Northwestern University in 1949. The deceased worked as a printer and bookbinder for the Nigeria’s government-owned publishing company for nine years. It was during this period that he started his writing career as a poet. At the beginning, Okara translated poetry from Ijaw into English. The influence of his people’s identity, culture and environment are very much evident in his poetry.
He also wrote scripts for radio. Before the outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War in 1967, Okara worked as Information Officer for the Eastern Nigeria Government Service. During the war, he worked as a roving ambassador for Biafra’s cause together with Chinua Achebe, Cyprian Ekwensi and others. Unfortunately, he lost most of his unpublished poems and other manuscripts during the war. After the war, he was director of the Rivers State Publishing House in Port Harcourt.
His award-winning poem, “The Call of the River Nun”, was published in 1953. Some of his poems were published in the literary magazine, Black Orpheus, edited by Ulli Beier. By 1960, Gabriel Okara had won recognition as an accomplished literary craftsman and his poetry had been translated into several languages.
He attended the landmark African Writers Conference of 1962 at Makerere University College in Kampala, Uganda, along with such writers as Chinua Achebe, Rajat Neogy, Bloke Modisane, Okot p’Bitek, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Wole Soyinka, John Pepper Clark, Christopher Okigbo and others.
Some of his widely read and most anthologised poems include, “The Call of the River Nun,” “New Year’s eve midnight,” “The snow flakes sail gently down,” “Moon in the bucket,” “Suddenly the air cracks,” and “Piano and drums.”
In 1953, Okara won the Best All-Round Entry in Poetry at the Nigerian Festival of Arts, for “The Call of the River Nun,” the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, for “The Fisherman’s Invocation” in 1979 and the NLNG Prize, for The Dreamer, His Vision in 2005. In 2009, Okara was given the Pan- African Writers’ Association honorary Award.
His works include The Voice (1964), The Fisherman’s Invocation (1978), Little Snake and Little Frog (1981), An Adventure to Juju Island (1992), The Dreamer, His Vision (2005), As I see It (2006) and Collected Poems, edited by Brenda Marie Osbey (2016). Okara will be remembered for his numerous literary works and his contributions to the growth and development of Nigerian literature.
He will also be remembered for the motifs of childhood, innocence and nostalgia that run through many of his poems. His love for music is evident in most of poems in terms of their lyricism and imagery. Without doubt, his place in the pantheon of African literature is assured. We urge the Federal Government to immortalise the late poet and compatriot for his contributions to the nation’s literature and nation building. We join millions of Nigerians, his fans and the literary community to mourn the passage of the literary icon.
We commiserate with his family, the literary world, the people of Bayelsa State and the Federal Government on the passage of the literary giant. May God grant his soul eternal repose.