Akeem Lasisi
It was a great deal for emerging writer, Nina Ifechukwude, on Sunday when several top film-makers and other stakeholders joined her in Lagos to usher onto the shelf her collection of stories, titled, Disowned.
The compact but rich library at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, beamed with celebrities that included Joke Silva, Ireti Doyle, Kate Henshaw, Ramseh Noah and Lala Akindoju, with the event’s godfathered being Richard Mofe-Damijo, who the author, fondly called Nina, described as her mentor.
Media gurus, such as the Group Head, Marketing and Corprate Communications, UBA Group, Bola Atta; a former Managing Director of Em-Net Africa, Biola Alabi, and seasoned broadcaster, Adesuwa Onyenokwe, were also in the house.
But the subject of the book published by Bookcraft, whose Chief Executive Officer, Bankole Olayebi, was also in attendance, lured child and women rights activists to the place.
The book is a collection of inflammably emotional stories bordering on sexual abuse and harassment. The emotion, which the stories spin and the anger they wield, are so infectious that the women who dominated the presentation almost began to carry placards right from the venue.
With Diswoned, the verdict is clear and square: Most Nigerian women, girls, children and daughters are not safe in the hands of men prowling at schools, offices, homes, markets and various joints.
The victims of Nina’s tales say this all. The experiences she projects in the stories – Nnena’s Loss, Daddy’s Little Girl, Two of a Kind and Disowned – are so vivid that many participants could not help asking if she was once a victim of sexual harassment. But she diffused this fear. According to her, she has never been a victiom. All she presets in ‘Disowned’ are products of what she gathered from the field, as embellished with imagination and language, which (language use) was also roundly commended.
Olayebi conceded that it was unusual for first-time writers to grab the attention of publishers. But he noted that the quality of the manuscript she got from Nina compelled him to take another look and asked her, “Are you sure you wrote this?”
He added that Nina got into her characters in a way that would make the reader fall in love with her craft.
“Nina, I can’t wait to have another manuscript from you,” Olayebi enthused.
Thanking Silva and the other ‘big girls’ profusely, the author said she could not believe that all of them were there just because of her. She also acknowledged the presence of members of the corporate community, including Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Manager, Nestlé Nigeria PLC, Victoria Uwadoka. But the same Nina would soon burst into tears as she recounted her experience talking to abused ladies and children.
According to her, although the idea of ‘Disowned’ started casually when she needed to while away time at an airport in London, the promise it generated promted her to want to know what obtains in the women’s world. Her encounter with harassed girls deepened her conviction that ‘Disowned’ must come out to make a statement.
“I went home every night, opened my laptop, and the darkness started coming. The more I wrote, the worse it became. How do we let the kids be violated every day as if it does not mean anything?” At this point, Nina could not disown her tears again.
Guests further got an insight into the book as some of the dignitaries read excerpts from it. Among them are movie director, Tope Oshin; TV presenter, Michelle Dede; Alabi, who is also the founder of Biola Alabi Media; Attah, and Onyenokwe.
While Dede noted that Nina’s decision to write the book was a brilliant one, Alabi, who advised the writer to adapt Disowned to film, said the story she read – Daddy’s Little Girl – touched the bottom of her heart. On her part, Atta described the book as a well-written one.
“It is a well-crafted and extremely powerful literature. The way Nina projects the stories and goes into the lives of the characters is incredible.”
Child rights activists, including Mercy Makinde, who is the CEO of iAspire Radio and Founder, Amazing Amazon; and Funke Oguntuga, Founder of Heartfinders Societal Advancement Initiative, narrated tales from their enounters in the field, with stories that further deepened the audience’s concern.
While RMD described the situation as frightening, adding that ‘Disowned’ was a book whose time had come, Doyle, who moderated a discussion that concluded the programme, declared that the time of silence was over.
“What is it about us as that makes us silent despite all abuse? What is it that makes us keep a culture of oppression?” she asked.
Silva recalled an earlier attempt to break the silence when she and other actresses staged Vagina Monologue in 2009. She said, “It is not easy to break the silence. You get a lot of enemies in the process of doing so. But we have to keep talking. The more life experiences we have, the better the action gets,” she said.
On her part, Henshaw noted that she had been involved in the crusade for long, especially through the Project Alert.
She commended the Lagos State Government for setting up an agency that has been fighting domestic abuse. She, however, said that men too should be encouraged to join the battle.
Onyenokwe believes that part of the antidote to the social disease is teaching children, especially girls, the art of self-defence, just as Akindoju and some men also joined them to express the readiness to advance the cause. At the end of the programme, Nina became more fulfilled based on the steam that her book had generated.
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