Author: Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth,
ISBN:978-978-964-995-2
Publisher: Media Report Projects, Ibadan
Year of Publication: 2019
Sometime
in 1995 there was a conference on African Philosophy at the SS Peter
and Paul Seminary Bodija, Ibadan. It was focused on The History and
Historiography .
History is about Chaps we are told and
Geography is about Maps but what is Historiography? Historiography! I
had learnt the word in the newspaper, when Dyaily Times was still
Daily Times. with Ayo Olukotun a former Student Union President
writing a column. He is still at it now a Professor, one of the
Columnists had said he had come to some kind of conclusion and so
'Historiography'. I liked It.
The internet had not arrived in
Ibadan by then or the smart phone. So I did not do an instant check
on the word. Is Historiography a combination of History and Geography?
Father of African Geography ,Professor Akin Mabogunje reveals in his
voluminous Autobiography, 'MEASURE OF GRACE',that about 70 years ago,
he learnt from his Professor at University College, London that all
geography is historical.And so, HISTORIOGRAPHY? If Mabogunje learnt that
all Geography is Historical then you can guess we would all be asking
What did 'bapitan' Professor Jide Osuntokun learn from his own
professor? I have gone on the web searching for his autobiography
without success I am wondering if its been the case of a historian
writing about other people and other nations but forgetting to write or
too busy to write about himself. This is part of the Philosophy of Life
like civil engineers working themselves to death, producing engineering
marvels but forgetting to sign off.
I invited
a childhood classmate practicing Law next to the gate of the
Seminary. This former classmate of mine ,bears the name of a king. None
of the kings were mentioned at this Conference .It was Saint
Augustine of Hippo attracting rave reviews. Comrade Ola Oni, Marxist,
now late, was at the gate to the venue of the conference but he was not
out to participate. He was seeing a friend off. He lived close by.
Comrade Oni affirmed that those in there, I mean participants at the
conference, were merely after career advancement. One of those in there
was Professor Sophie Oluwole a pioneer woman philosopher now late,
and recently too . With a prophetic name she spoke like a parrot,
Sophie means wisdom
Professor Segun Sowunmi also,now late was
there listening sympathetically. He was then Nigeria's leading exponent
of creative thinking. Also present at the conference was a
'babaosha' Sanya Osha,a Gregorian and Russian authors loving poet,
novelist,Philosopher of the Thursday group of intellectuals at
University of Ibadan. The motto of the Philosophy Students at Ife is
'Man lives to think and Man thinks to live'. Are Nigerians thinking ?
My
Mother was the Carpenter to the conference..Yes. She helped to knock
the seats together at the venue of the conference. Yes, Men
Philosophizing and Women being Carpenters. Its reminds one of the
anthropologist visiting a community , observing on his visit that men
were not busy at anything . Curious ,he asked one of the women, what
the men did in the community , she smiled and said they did nothing.
Professor Tomi Adekanye Nigeria's first woman Professor Of Agriculture
revealed that more than any other continent African Women are farmers
but African women are not the majority of the staff of our faculties of
Agriculture perhaps because professors of Agriculture are not expected
to produce food; they produce papers instead. Many of the papers
presented at this conference sold like hot cake and some of the
participants were very greedy about these papers.
Some of
these papers travel far and wide but one should be concerned perhaps
because a major handbook of African Philosophy as edited by Nwalimu
Toyin Falola aand Adeshina Afolayan was published by a London based
firm Palgrave Macmillan and so you are bound to ask: What happened to
the Philosophy of self- reliance as espoused by Nwalimu Julius Nyerere
of Tanzania ? Interestingly, the world conference on African Philosophy
is due in Tanzania from October 28 to 30 , 2019.
As the
conference proceeded, Wole Soyinka who is now 'confirmed' to be present
in in Tanzania for the World Conference on African Philosophy , was
then in the Kitchen washing dishes, not qpuite, he was on the book
stand in a 1970s Interview with John Agetua of Ghana denouncing a
philosophy of violence. Soyinka is still at it. I first saw a Soyinka
Play at the venue of this Conference. It was the Road, directed by
Africa's first woman professor of theatre arts Zulu Sofola now
late, I thoroughly enjoyed 'THE ROAD' but like 'Historiography', I
do not think I understood it. I was only in Primary Four . Imitating
the actors, of 'The Road', I went home with 'SAY TOKYO KID. SAY TOKYO
KID. THAT SOME MEN YOU DON'T HAVE TO CALL ME TWICE…..ME SELF I BE PEACE
LOVING MAN BUT WHEN E REACH FIGHT I No KNOW MY Brother AGAIN...' These I
wrote on the cover my exercise book, my teacher crossed all out with
red ink.
Wole Soyinka is the son of a Catholic mother but
does the Pope read Wole Soyinka? One of the seminarians who acted in
'THE ROAD', bore the nick name Janjala he played the bata drum in the
church. Theatre Artiste Duro Ladipo was expelled from the Baptist
Church for doing the same thing for they thought he was trying to bring
another god Into the church. The Catholic Church has what it calls
LITURGO-Cultural. We are told that a man who loses his culture has
lost his soul We are also told that the Church is the hospital of the
soul. More than any denomination, the Catholic Church built hospitals
for mental and physical ailments.
On a radio interview,
Archbishop Alaba Job of the Catholic Diocese of Ibadan, once the
youngest bishop in the world , perhaps, by popular demand like Saint
Augustine, speaking in Yoruba , he affirmed 'A ki se Roman, Catholic
ni wa' meaning, 'we are not Roman. We Are Catholic'. He spoke of what
he called 'ecclesiastical imperialism' to a caller to the radio station
who referred to him as Roman Catholic. Well, in the Seminarians
Magazine they have asked the questions "Can we be Christians and at the
same time Africans.? How can we be Christians and at the same time
Africans?”
There at the conference, Wole Soiyinka's cousin,
Fela Anikulapo- Kuti was spiritually present. He was brought in as a
philosopher by one of the participants complete with the invocations of
the Chief Priest. But one of the priests said he had come to the
conference not as a priest but as a philosopher. Fela was a
philanderer and a mystic Like Saint Augustine. One of the names given
to Fela by his numerous fans is Augustine but the name Augustine
comes about from his protruding head. In Yoruba Language, a protruding
head is known as 'ogo' pronounced AuGur and so the name elongated to
Augustine. Do not be surprised to find a priest quoting Fela on The
pulpit. Even Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okojie is a fan Of Fela Anikulapo
Kuti. Bishop Matthew Kukah, referred to the Catholic Church as the
Church of Sinners. Saint Augustine is described as a great sinner and a
great lover. A great genius. A great saint/,he was the chief student of
the university and the chief of professors.
A reverend
sister who participated at this conference had opined that if a man
does not know the disease that killed his father that disease might end
up killing him. This is why we study history and its some how a
validation of Fela Kuti Who opined 'If you do not know where you are
going to you would at least know where you are coming from' as
surprisingly quoted in an edition of the Scientific American Magazine
first published on Saint Augustine's Day( August 28) precisely 1845
and interestingly on the 170th anniversary of the publication of the
Scientific American, August 28 2015 , Wole Soyinka was hosted by
Globacoms promoter , Dr. Mike Adenuga just as another Dr.
Olukorede Adenuga was presiding, that day, over the scientific
conference of the Opthalmological Society of Nigeria in Jos where you
have the Saint Augustine Monastery and the Saint Augustine Seminary.
Fela was born in 1938 the year the Augustinians came to settle in Jos.
Born on August 28 1938 is Alexander Animalu currently with 28 books to
his credit he is the greatest scientist to have come out of Africa. You
can call him Alexander the Great but perhaps his parents should have
given him the name Augustine. Same goes for Segun Odegbami, soccer
genius, visionary and a philosopher of development like Professor
Mabogunje particularly through the game of soccer. Odegbami has a VISION
OF OGUN STATE AS A BEACON OF THE BLACK RACE. HE WAS BORN ON August 27
1952, the eve of Saint Augustine's day and he grew up in Jos. Odegbami's
was given the name Patrick which is prophetic for Odegbami studied
engineering and Saint Patrick is the patron Saint of Engineers. Without
Engineers we would all be living in caves we are told and Nigerians
are, metaphorically, cave dwellers. Engineers are at the top of
government business in China and as such they seem to have done very
well in China. They created heaven on earth. It's left to the historians
and philosophers to explain why as someone one put it its only the
Black man that would have to die to experience heaven. Almost exactly
ten years before Odegbami was born, The world saw the birth of the
Engineer JOSE EDUARDO DOS SANTOS PRESIDENT OF ANGOLA, 1979 to 2017 the
unofficial richest man in Africa. Interestingly his daughter Africa's
richest woman attended King's College, London. Remember Remember none
of the kings were mentioned at this conference.Coming before her father
as first president of Angola was Agostinho Neto a poet.
Present
there as the chairman of the Globacom Literary Prize was Femi Osofisan
born June 16, 1946 two days after Donald Trump , born June 14, 1946.
June 16 in the world of Literature is known as Bloomsday to celebrate
the Famous Irish writer James Joyce in his first outing with Nora who
was to become his wife. James Jocyce's middle name is Augustine and
has been influenced by Yoruba 'Esu' whom I learn from Soyinka on
Youtube is a dialectician. Esu is not the devil as many think. Femi
Osofisan has a play titled, 'Esu and the Vagabond Minstrels'. Joyce was
also influenced by Adamawa and Hausa but his biographers would not
mention .
Furthermore,Wole Soyinka's 'Ake: The Years of
Childhood' has been compared with Saint Augustine's Confessions
detailing the first 35 years of his life. Soyinka has also been
referred to as a secular saint but he would rather refer to himself as a
secular Humanist. Saint Augustine was poetic and literal.
Saint Augustine was into wine women and song before he got converted
whereas, Wole Soyinka has been described as a connoisseur of wine and
women. Wole Soyinka's 'best friend' Donald Trump, with regards to his
'graphic sexual remarks' has also also been compared with Saint
Augustine by Rudy Giuliani former mayor of New York then addressing
the people of St. Augustine city, the oldest city in the United
States...Interestingly on November 13, 2016, the anniversary of the
birth of Saint Augustine, Trump's first interview as president- elect
was broadcasted to the American people. It coincided with the 160th
anniversary of the birth of the people's Lawyer Louis Brandeis the first
Jew to rise up to the Supreme Court of the United States.Brandeis set a
record that remained unbroken for many decades at Harvard University.
On
November 14, 2017, exactly one year and one day after Donald Trumps
first broadcast as president-elect, Wole Soyinka gave a three part
lecture at the Harvard University's The Hutchins centre for African and
African American Research. His Childhood friend Muyiwa Awe, who set a
record at Unibadan would have been 85 years the day before his widow is
Professor Bolanle Awe ex long serving director of the Institute of
African Studies University of Ibadan, Nigeria's response to Harvard. In
the African world view there must be something to all these but in the
Western world view these are just just coincidences .
Saint Augustine had been accused of throwing Europe Into darkness by stressing belief over reason.
Would
Donald Trump throw the world into darkness by being a climate change
denier. Belief had not been a bad thing for traditional Africa . its
kind of made Africans live in harmony with nature. Take Wangari Maathai
in her book, 'The Challenge of Africa before the arrival of the White
man' she claimed that Kenyans believed that God lived on mount Kenya
but the White missionaries were able to convince them that God did not
live on Mount Kenya the result of this what that mount Kenya ceased to
be sacred ,it ceased to be preserved all the trees on mount were cut
down for furniture , building and fire wood. In Achebe's 'Things Fall
Apart' we have the 'evil forest' which was nothing of evil to the
missionaries.
One of the participants at this conference
affirmed that when sharing food the fewer the people around the better.
It appears he wants philosophy to be exclusive if not elitist this has
been explained as the reason for the rise of Donald Trump, philosophers
talking to other philosophers in a language only they understand.
The
African Philosophers spent about ten years in trying to define whether
there is African Philosophy. It is now generally agreed that there is
African Philosophy. Aside from Saint Augustine, some of the other
philosophers regularly mentioned at the conference were Anthony Appiah
,Kwasi Wiredu, Paul Hountondji, Odera Oruka V.Y. Mudimbe other names
have emerged on the African but its seems the African Philosophers or
Teachers of African Philosophy seem to covet the title, PHILOSOPHER
for people within the departments of philosophy.
I have
recently referred to Professor Ladipo Akinkugbe as a philosopher. Is
there a philosopher in him. In his autobiography 'Foot Notes and Foot
Prints he Unknowingly quotes Saint Augustine's 'WHAT IS TIME?'. His
body reflections is contained in 'Strands of fabric of mind.' Professor
Ladipo Akinkugbe and Muyiwa Awe his classmate at Government College
shares the same birthday with Saint Augustine having been born on
November 13, 1932. Like Saint Augustine, Muyiwa Awe has been referred to
as a genius. Like Saint Augustine, he was a pastor and professor.
And
there is another Anthony, after Anthony Appiah also with a British
Mother, Anthony Marinho. Is there a philosopher in Anthony Marinho? He
seems to have been flaring like gas in the Niger Delta. I can discern in
his writing, political philosophy, social philosophy, educational
philosophy ,moral philosophy and the philosophy of business. Marinho
is good with non profits whereas his time twin time twin Ronald
Chagoury is good at for profit enterprises.. They were born at the same
point in time, January 8 1949, but at different points in Space.
Attending
the conference,I was wondering what was making the seminarians so
excited. It's like they were filled with new wine. Jide Olaniyan, who
was nicknamed Othello, was an undergraduate then a president of the
Unibadan Debating Club, a student of philosophy had told me
Undergraduates at Unibadan were 'free but not disciplined' and
seminarians are 'disciplined but not free' but these seminarians
attending the conference were like people dancing disco fuji to the
rhythms of African philosophy. I could hear them calling out, OB! OB!!
OB!!! That’s the now Professor OBC Nwolise. He should have told them
Africans do not call their elders by first name except of course in the
Fela Anikulapo- Kuti's household maybe they had forgotten they were not
in the 'Kalakuta Republic'.
What was the Drama at this
conference? I have heard of Claude Eke's 'Coming from nowhere dazzling
the crowd' and going like that.. Plane Crash. I have heard of
Christopher Okigbo being invited 'Surveying the crowd' finding there
were no poets and subsequently returning home in the next available
plane. I have even seen Kayode Soremekun, internationalist, of the
'GURUS Go TO KURU' fame, now a Professor and vice- chancellor breezing
into the venue of an International Conference on Nuclear Energy at
Ife, telling the participants there that they had a knack for keeping
their heads in the clouds and the conference participants eliciting
some assurance from a senior colleague of Soremekun, a certain Dr.
Onwuka who himself had been involved in another drama at Ibadan a
Skirmish over a Publication.
The drama at this conference
revolved round the colour black and white. Philosophers have been
described as People who raise a cloud of dust and complain they cannot
see through it. It seemed a simple situation but not simple to hair
splitting philosophers. One of the participants, an albino, had given a
presentation on Othello who I learnt is a black soldier created by
William Shakespeare but the presentation did not seem to go down well
with one of the seminarians who pointed to his own skin as not black but
brown. One of the philosophers who referred to the rest of the
participants as 'professionals' had threatened to stage a walk out. So
What Happened to the philosophy of tolerance?
Exploring Minimalism:The joy of living more with less the
number could be higher today but in 2013 there were 6 billion clothing
in United Kingdom's households roughly a hundred per adult and a
quarter of these never leave the wardrobe so informs the book, 'Empire of things: How We Became a World of Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First by Frank Trentmann, a professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London
Research
by the Professional organizer, Regina Lark, also reveals the average
American home has 300,000 items and one in ten Americans rent outside
storage for their many possessions
It
so happens now that there is a growing movement around the world to
'Live More with Less'. Members of this movement are called Minimalists.
Many are finding fulfilment in leading simple lives and not being slaves
to possessions which in many cases the advertising world has made
them to purchase, In Africa we are seeing what some have termed the
'supermarketization or shoppingmalization' of the landscape and
aggressive advertising with the result that more and more are made to
buy things that that are not that necessary. There is also the exposure
of the general public to the opulence of the entertainment industry and
influence of social media such that people begin to feel
dissatisfied with goods they have already acquired.
Some
of these unnecessary purchases are due to what Professor Trentcmann
refers to as the 'symbiosis between religion and riches' on page 615
of Empire of things, Professor Trentmann quotes Pastor Enoch Adeboye
then General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. Adeboye
is reputed to have said, 'God is the God of the rich he wanted people to
prosper and have cars. a house, clothes, land anything money can buy'.
What you now have some saying is, 'Christ is not enough. I want Christ
and money.' You can use the Bible to justify things seen as good as
well as bad.
For
instance, in the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon, Israel’s richest King,
of his worldly acquisitions said 'I denied myself nothing my eyes
desired'. At the end of his life Solomon stated 'when I surveyed all my
hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve everything was
meaningless- a chasing after wind'.
And
talking about storing possessions, Jesus in Matthews’ Gospel said 'do
not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moths, and vermin
destroy and where thieves break in and steal but store up for your
selves treasures in heaven where moths and vermin do not destroy and
where thieves do not break in and steal'.
The Author
Augustine Adebayo Togonu- Bickersteth is a mentor,leader, public affairs analyst and minimalist. He lives in London.
