Opinion article by Duke of Shomolu, Joseph Edgar
That was my father. I remember that day so well. I had just finished a copy of James Hardley Chase and the hero had found a manuscript that was written by someonelse and stole it.
It made him a millionaire. I loved the prose and it captured me. By this time my father had introduced me to newspapers.
I had fallen in love with Dele Giwa, Pini Jason and Chichi Emuchay.
It was crazy, my love for words. I will spend hours reading and not just reading, devouring the words. I loved books and it was just novels, books.
Cyprian Ekwensi, Flora Nwapa, Chinua Achebe and Ndaeyo Ukoh.
I was eclectic and didn’t limit myself. Once the prose was good, ill devour it.
So, my father walked up to me one day. I was in form four just about to fail the first of three times in that class and he asked that question.
He saw the genius in me. He knew I wasn’t normal and could sense that he had just given birth to an intellectual monster.
So he had big dreams. This could be the first Akwa Ibom President of our country. This could be an Ibibio Timi the law, this could be another professor Awojobi.
So when I said,’ writer’ he lost his erection. I didn’t see the knock. It came as a flash and almost tore my scalp.
He was a stammerer so he couldn’t get the words out on time hence the knock. By the third knock, I knew I had to change professions.
I said, ‘ lawyer’. He calmed down and explained to me why I had to be a lawyer.
We are minority. We are Ibibio. We are not reckoned with in the scheme of things. You have intellectual strength, so you need to use it to fight for your people. He said.
He continued. See we are fighting for our own state. We are no longer comfortable in Cross River State, we need our own state so get ready and come and join the fight.
I said,’ but sir, I thought we were from shomolu’ another knock hit me and by this time my mother shouted from the kitchen.
‘‘Sammy mbok leave my son. Is he not the one that said you should not go to school that you want to kill him?
So when JAMB came and we put Law and we hit 227 against cut off mark of 280, my father called a strategy meeting.
Let’s do political science. Same thing, he said. You will be a politician. I liked that. I wanted to be like Azikiwe. I said, Lets do that.
That’s how we got into political science. What he didn’t know was that I had started contributing articles to magazines and had gone to Fame Magazine to beg to be a contributor.
Today, I am a writer. As I sat in front of the three SANs yesterday, I interviewing them for what is going to be my most influential essay, I smiled as I remember my father that morning filling my JAMB form – political Science University of Ibadan first choice.
Political Science , UNIUYO second choice, Political Science UNILAG third choice.
I am a writer daddy. I am a writer oooooo
*Duke of Shomolu*
