Education has been said to be the key, there has been need to ensure that Nigerian students cultivate the habit of reading. Having this in mind, a Nigerian author who was an accountant by profession recently published his book titled “RIOT IN UBAHU”, a book that has gotten accolades from scholars and book enthusiasts. The Nigerian education authority recently endorsed the book to be part of the syllabus of the English Literature. This is a testament to the qualities of the book.
In a media parley, the author and publisher of the book, Iroha Chimere while speaking to some journalists during a media parley said, “My writing career as another profession started long time ago at the early stages of his life, my dad introduced him to a lot of literature books. One of my dad’s friends, Ken Saro Wiwa, was one of his mentors in writing. Ken Saro Wiwa influenced me to be a writer. So, reading lots of literature books became a part of him. He deeply introduced me into a whole lot of literature books research like Wole Soyinka, Shakespeare, Chinua Achebe. Besides, he didn’t just stop there, his zeal and the love he has for writing made me to push further in achieving in spite of limitations just like the tittle of one of the books he wrote.
I am not the kind of writer that is motivated by money but by a strong urge and as well as passion driven. I don’t compromise when it comes to writing, i always make sure i gave my best despite my tight schedule.
Writing of book it’s not easy.There is no author that will tell you that he or she has a particular formula or model they use in writing. It depends on how the spirit leads. I started by writing this story book using exercise books and I did it in about three months. But you know, it was disorganised, so I started typing it and adding flesh to it every day and it took me about six months to finish the book.
There are times when I was writing it that I won’t have inspiration. That’s why most people got discouraged about writing. Plotting and assigning characters are the most difficult aspects and at times it can be very challenging, then the imagination aspect is another issue. Charles Dickens doesn’t have formal education but his imagination is great. If you don’t have good imagination you can’t be a good writer.”
The setting of the novel is in a town called Ubahu in Okigwe, the third largest city in Imo State, Nigeria. Its a fiction but the town is real and there is a Federal Government College in the town as well. Ubahu is the village and there was a riot in that secondary school there at a particular point in time. So, i picked my inspiration from there.
“Riot in Ubahu is the story of a school – a federal government college, as she fares under her principal, Chief Obanma Orizu, fondly called Obama by students, staff and family members. A strict disciplinarian, Obama works tirelessly to raise the academic and moral standards of the school. Inadvertently, he is known for discipline and fairness. The school itself thrives – having both excellent
Academics as well as infrastructure to show for the principal’s hard work. The setting of the book is the FGC Ubahu which is home to various kinds of shenanigans – bullying, extortion, bounds breaking, sorcery, and the occasional riot. In this narrative, a riot occurs at the end of the novel when Obama is transferred, and a new principal leads the school to the edge of ruin.“The riot is ruinous as it can be – leaving rape, destroyed school property, and hooliganism in its wake. A side of the school – especially the students, that had never been seen comes to the fore. And it falls to Chief Obanma Orizu to restore order and splendour to a school he once called home”, Iroha concluded.