I spent some time with an Asaba man yesterday and he unfolded huge plans for Asaba by its prominent indegenes
Nollywood Walk of Fame, a new Palace for its King, a velodrome, historical sights – apparently Mungo Park and Lander Brothers died and were buried there, Film Village and many other things
What really intrigued me was the spirituality of the meeting
I had met him when he was organising the huge Burna Boy show, which attracted over 30,000 spectators and threw Billions into the ecosystem of Lagos and so when he reached out for my thoughts on his new project, I rushed in and here lies the spiritual link.
After a session with Chief Femi Fani Kayode, it was agreed that I do a play on the wives and kids of those who lost their lives during the 1966 coup
This was supposed to be a tear-jerker expose on the women who gave their lives with their husbands that fateful night and the children who saw those dastardly acts and have lived with the trauma all of their lives
I contacted an authority, Prof Ahmed Yerima to work with me on the Project.
He instead submitted a synopsis of a play titled Asaba.
The play, according to him, would be about the gruesome massacre of men in Asaba at the tail end of the civil war.
Up until that moment, I had never heard of the Asaba massacre.
My new friend explains – at the end of the war they came to Asaba to set up a base and were confronted with a seeming loyalty issue
These were Igbo-speaking people who lived across the Niger. They were caught in between as they were not Biafrans but didn’t really have the confidence of the Nigerian side
What followed was the most robust massacre of men in our history – I don’t think any family escaped without losing somebody in Asaba – according to my friend.
This story must be told and told from the eye of a detached master who has done great work in researching and speaking to descendants of the victims so that we completely heal and fight never to go through that darkness again as a Nation
So here I was, being given a history lesson by Prof Ahmed Yerima a few months ago and then being met with the same prospects much later in Lekki by this gentleman of vision.
I have great friends from Asaba. People like Chike Ogeah and others and I have been to Asaba a couple of times and the town intrigues me with its silent beauty and historical significance
I cannot wait to meet its new King who I hear is a professor of Law, drink with its elders, tour the numbing historical sites and stare across the Niger at the wonderful trading post of Onitsha
Something tells me that Asaba would soon begin to unfold and emerge as a true historical destination that it has set out to be
Asaba is written and will be directed by Prof Ahmed Yerima. It will be our 32nd Play and will show this Dec at the Agip Recital Hall of the Muson Centre in lagos
Meanwhile, please help me beg the nearest Ekiti person to you, to please take my calls o. Kai
Duke of Shomolu
