Oladele Babajamu is the National PRO, North, of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and immediate past chairman of the Kwara state Chapter of the association. In this interview with ABDULHAFEEZ T. OYEWOLE, he speaks about how his writing background and military-civilian experiences contribute to the growth and development of his crafts as well as his roles in the Nigerian writing world.
Can you give a brief on your background?
My name is Colonel Oladele Babajamu (retd). I retired from Nigerian Army in the year 2011. I served the Army for 30 years, four months and 11 days before I retired. Since my retirement, I have been in private business. I do a lot of writing.
I was born on May 19, 1959. I started my primary school at Community LEA School, Oro-Ago and I followed my aunt in 1967 to school in Kaduna, however, I came back to Ilorin, Kwara state, and completed at St. Michael’s school in 1971.
I went to Government Secondary School (G.S.S.) Ilorin between 1972 and ’76, before I now went to Nigerian Defence Academy from 1981 to 1983. While in the Army, I was opportune to attend Obafemi Awolowo University, where I studied Electronics/Telecommunications up to Diploma level and I also have Masters of Science Degree in Strategic Studies from University of Ibadan, after I finished from Defence College.
What was your experience when you started writing and how has it been so far?
My first writing was in Form 1 in 1972. I just wrote a small poem for the school magazine, G.S.S. Ilorin. We called the magazine: The Golden Stallion. Then, when I went to Bible School in 1999, there was a subject that’s called Dynamics of Potentials. It was there we were told that God has deposited something in everybody, that if we discover it, it will be very beneficial to human being. So, when I looked inward, I discovered that I had a talent of writing and since then, I started writing.
My first book was: Artillery: My Beloved Corps”. Nobody has ever written any book on artillery before. So, I was the first to write a book on artillery. This was in the year 2012. I wrote about two professional books before I went into literature genres: poetry and prose. I have written literatures in all the genres apart from drama.
What is the greatest influence on your writings?
The greatest influence on my writings is my environment. Every writer is a product of his environment. You can’t be in Nigeria and be writing about Australia. You write from what nature has bestowed you with in the society. So, what influence me mostly is my environment. When I was in the Army, I was writing military books. In fact, when I came to Kwara ANA, they made a lot of jest of me, that is when I was in the Army. The title of my books was: Ink In My Gun. But today, my latest manuscript is Ink In My Thumb, because I no longer carry guns.
How far do you intend to take your passion for writing?
Well, we are still on the journey. Writing is a journey. My father wrote his last book at the age of 80. So, I think, if at the age of eighty, I still produce books, it will not be an offence, since I inherited writing from him. So, writing still continue until eternity.
How many of your works have been published?
My first book like I told you was in 2012, titled “Artillery: My Beloved Corps”. The book dealt so much about the origin of artillery in the world in 1822. In fact, I traced it origin to the bible (1 Chronicles, Chapter 26:15), from what we called Ballista (invented in 146 B.C.), up to the time that they invented the gun in 1822 and how it passed through various stages.
It also went to the history of how artillery started in Nigeria and I wrote about the background of most of our Commandants which we have in the artillery. It was after that I wrote “The ABC of Military Professionalism and Values” in 2004.
My poetry work when I was in the Army was “The Gunner’s Post”. I also wrote a very short story book: “Destined for Marriage” about a lady officer that married another rank. Soldiers can only marry soldiers, officers can only marry officers in the Army. But in this case, the officer wants to marry a soldier. So, it became a dilemma.
So, how was it resolved?
If you get the book, you will know.
What inspired your poetry book: “Timeless Verses”?
Timeless Verses was published few years ago. It was when I became Kwara ANA Chairman that I wrote the book. We went to see Yusuf Ali (SAN) that day and we met Dr Badmus, the Proprietor of Iqra College, Ilorin, there.
So, he said to support us, anybody that had a good manuscript should bring it. He will help us with its production. I had a manuscript that time and I submitted to Dr Badmus. He screened it for more than one year. In the end, the book came out.
What is ANA to you?
Oh! ANA is my second profession after Nigeria Army. I so much like ANA. When I left the Army, the Kwara state chapter of ANA had been moribund. It was just picking up with Dr. Uthman Oladipo-Akanbi. When I joined after a year or two, I don’t know the type of election they did and they just made me their chairman.
Since then, I have affinity for ANA and the affinity is so much that I have attended all the conventions, apart from that one held in Ibadan.
How would you assess ANA at national level?
Before, I used to say ANA is an orphan, but these days, things are taking shape in ANA. The ANA of the future is a very big project, particularly with the land General Mamman Vatsa gave us at Mpape, Abuja, 60 hectares that is now 30 hectares.
Now that the work has started earnestly on that land, I can see a glorious future for ANA, especially by the time all the projects in that Writers’ Village are executed and are put into action. We were there in January and we saw the works we have done. The one room apartment we want to use for rent is ready, the Auditorium has got to a lintel level, the prototype secretariat is ready too; it is only furnishing that is left.
So, ANA has a very bright future and a very glorious future by the time we move to the Writers’ Village we’ll will compete favourably with any veritable organisation in the world.
What activities is ANA having for Nigerian authors and writers this year?
What we normally have is the Yusuf Ali Competition. But this year, we want to invite ANA Chairmen from 16 states to a workshop. We want to examine how far we have gone with the Yusuf Ali project. We want to assess it in a holistic view so as to see how to move forward.
We also want to present something in terms of write-ups, and publicity to show our benefactor, Yusuf Ali, what we have be doing with that money.
So, this year, we have a workshop for the people which will come up may be in June. The ANA Chairmen and executives will meet maybe in April in Ilorin, Kwara state. It is then we are going to decide on what we are going to choose.
We also have this programme which we want to document the names of every member of ANA and their books: one or two publications. So that by the time we put our hands on the computer when they mention your name, you will be able to access your name, the state you are from and the number of books you have published.
Have you won any award for you writing and taking up leadership roles?
Oh, fantastic! When I was in the Army in the year 2005, I won the Editor’s Choice Award in poetry from International Society for Poetry in America. In the same year, I won the Nigerian Army’s Chief of Army Staff Commendation Award for consistent literary contributions to the Nigerian Army.
I also won the 2006 FCT ANA Merit Award for sustainable contributions to the development of Nigerian Literatures and their authors.
In the year 2014, I also won a Merit Award at my old school, Government Secondary School (G.S.S.), Ilorin, during their Centenary Celebration.
So, I have won some awards of recognition that are very interesting since I started.
Has any of your works been critiqued before?
Two of my works have been reviewed in the newspapers. There was a critique in The Sun in 2005 or thereabout. The one I wrote on Oro-Ago (Oro-Ago Gbęngbę: The Audacity of Might) was reviewed by Rowland Olanishuwa of The Herald Newspaper in 2009.
Any feedback or reaction to the reviewed works?
Well, there’s not been any official release. Everyone is left to his or her own opinion.
Which writer do you admire the most?
Oh, Chimamanda Adiche, any day, anytime! I have read all Chimamanda’s books. In fact, her work: Americanah, is fantastic. She is a craftsmanship. When it comes to description, Chimamanda is fantastic.
She describes scene and mixes it with idioms. Also, like Chinua Achebe, she brings Igbo into her works. If Chimamanda Adiche enters this office, she can use five pages to describe it before she starts to talk about what she has come to do. I am a big fan of hers. I am a fan of good works.
Which do you consider the best book you have read?
I always read Toni Kan’s “The Night of the Creaking Birds”. It is a collection of short stories. In fact, there was a day I even extracted one of the stories for our reading in Kwara ANA. Toni Kan is also one of the fantastic writers.
These days because of eye problems when I read too much, my eyes will bring down water. So, I have reduced the number of books I read.
Are there things people don’t know about you that you will like to share?
Simplicity. I am a very simple person, but a lot of people don’t know. They have a misconception until they come in contact with me. I am a very straightforward person. I always believe in people to a fault.
I don’t have friends because I am always very frank whenever I talk to them. So, that’s why, apart from my wife and family members, I don’t have very close friends. Because of my frankness, I usually meet most of my friends outside and we greet.
What do you do at your spare time?
At my leisure time, I read other people’s works. There is no sort of books I don’t read. I have Qur’an here. I read because the only raw material for writing is reading. So, I read and study my environment. And when I am not doing that, I am watching television.
Any advice for readers, budding and established writers?
Writers should try to produce more works. Like in Kwara state, one of our challenges is that our production is very low. In a year, maybe out of 20 authors, you will see one or two new books, from one or two authors, which doesn’t augur well.
A lot of them complain about economic recession. Well, for every vision, there’s always a provision. Once we trust God, I believe there will always be a provision for our works.
So, we should try and produce more quality works. We should do a lot of research before we go into writing. Research does not necessarily mean academic work. When you read other people’s works, you can also look at how you can be inspired by their works to produce something similar to it.
