January next year will make it 50 years since Nigeria held FESTAC 77, a festival that brought Africans together culturally. Meanwhile, the story about the creator of the logo used is still nearly buried in obscurity.
It was the late Jamaican political leader and proponent of the Pan-Africanism movement, Marcus Mosiah Garvey, who once said, “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”
The above words clearly underscore the relevance of history to human society. A society without a sense of its history is a lost society. A society is made up of individuals, and it is the activities of these individuals that shape the history of a society. Put in another way, individuals make history.
It is for this reason that it is important for individuals, especially those who play active part in the events that shape society, to tell their stories – or have their stories told by those who have the right tools to do so. Such stories, if well told, hold a lesson or two for those who hear or read them. Unfortunately, many important stories are left untold, thus denying humanity of the lessons that should accrue from such stories.
This is why everyone who has played a part in putting together the book, Pa Joseph Alufa Igbinovia Obayagbona: The Account, deserves commendation.
Authored by Felix Osarhiemen, a lecturer in the Department of History, University of Benin, Pa Joseph Alufa Igbinovia Obayagbona: The Account is a historical account based on the life of Pa Alufa Joseph Igbinovia Obayagbona. The author describes the book as an academic biography which relies heavily upon the documented facts and noted accomplishments of Pa Alufa Joseph Igbinovia Obayagbona’s life; a historical excursion that interrogates the interplay of related facts and incidents that coalesce into the totality of existence as well as the all-round accomplishments of the subject.
Presented in a chronologically organised form, the book tells the story of Pa Alufa Joseph Obayagbona’s life as a visual artist and sculptor in a variety of media, his humble beginning, his ancestry and place of birth, childhood and family influences, stint with formal Western education, foray into non-formal vocational training, rise to national prominence, and the shabby treatment meted out to him.
The 145-page book is presented in eight chapters. The first chapter deals with Pa Obayagbona’s environmental background, genealogical origins, childhood and family influences, educational development, arising complications and alternative outcomes, while chapter two takes a look at the structure of the Benin state and society into which Pa Alufa was born, the beginning of his career as an artist, and so on.
Chapter three delves into Pa Alufa’s life as a family man; chapter four looks at his professional exploits and prodigious expressions, including his membership of the Edaiken United Carving Industry, his relocation to Port Harcourt, and his return to Benin City; chapter five jumps into the issues around FESTAC ‘77 and Pa Alufa’s involvement in it, and chapter six embarks on an excursion into the history of Idia, mother of Oba Esigie and pioneer Iyoba in Benin Kingdom, the battle for the throne, the Benin-Idah War, and the 1897 invasion and looting of artefacts.
The seventh chapter relates the story of how Pa Alufa was short-changed by the Bendel Arts Council and his return to private practice, while the last chapter examines his recognitions and awards for excellent achievements.
The book presents Alufa Joseph Obayagbona as a child prodigy, whose prodigious nature became fully manifest while he was still undergoing apprenticeship in Igbesanmwan, in Benin City.
“Within months of his tutelage, he began to exhibit skill and competence that were far above his age and ahead of his learning on the job,” the author notes.
“This precociousness was not unnoticed by his master, as well as the other apprentices in the workshop – four in number at the time. Further proof of his exceptional talent was shown in the unusual development where he began to accompany his master to execute commissioned jobs outside of the workshop in the guild quarters in Igbesanmwan,” he notes.
The author further cites an instance when a royal mandate was given to Alufa’s master, Samson Okungbowa, and other carvers in Igbesanmwan to design and install befitting carved wooden doors in the Holy Aruosa Cathedral – the Benin native church located along Akpakpava Street directly opposite Igbesanmwan Street – where the Oba of Benin and his subjects worship Osanobua or Osanoghodua, the Supreme God.
“As an apprentice, Alufa was also privileged to accompany his master to other works in the palace, the abode of first-class chiefs in the kingdom, as well as other very important personalities in the capital city and its environs. This was a remarkable occurrence as apprentices were hardly ever allowed to leave the workshop while undergoing training, let alone joining up with masters in executing works outside of the guilds’ locale,” the author writes.
But perhaps the most important aspect of Alufa’s life story as presented in the book is his involvement with the Second World Festival of Black Arts and Culture, otherwise known as FESTAC ’77, which took place in Lagos from January 15 to February 12, 1977.
The book notes that to facilitate the processes leading to the organisation and execution of FESTAC ’77, the arts councils of the various states in Nigeria opened communication lines and advertised in all media at the time (print, electronic, voice, non-verbal, etc.) that all interested artists, cultural groups and troupes as well as writers and performers should submit their works for selection and assessment, adding that the successful works selected by a panel set up by the arts councils on behalf of the Nigerian government and the other international organising agencies would be exhibited and thereafter showcased for display as testaments of African cultural expression and as hallmarks of development in the human race.
When the then Bendel State Arts Council, Alufa’s home state, put out the advertisement, he set to work and produced two impressive carved pieces separately named Em’édo Em’ighan and Olokun Obanamen.
On November 6, 1976, Alufa presented the works to the Bendel State Arts Council as his entries in response to the call for submissions as announced across various media. He received commendations from the Arts Council for the high level of artistry demonstrated in the wooden sculptural piece. In due course, he would be called upon to replicate the ivory mask of the semblance of Queen Idia, the first Iyoba of Benin Empire, which was chosen as the official logo and emblem of FESTAC ’77.
The story was that the organisers of FESTAC ‘77, having put in much funds and efforts and raised expectations in respect of the scheduled activities for the festival in Lagos, made contact with and requested from the British Museum the use of the ivory mask of Iyoba Idia, but the British Museum said the artefact was too fragile to be conveyed from England to Nigeria.
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With the time for the event close, and with no opportunity to choose another emblem, the idea was mooted that an exact replica of the ivory mask depicting the face of Iyoba Idia should be made to serve the purpose of the festival.
Out of five carvers and artists commissioned by the Bendel Arts Council to hasten the process of getting the logo for the FESTAC ’77 ready in good time, it was Alufa’s work that was chosen.
Here is how the author narrates it: “The officials in the Arts Council were ecstatic that Alufa achieved this feat within record time. The Permanent Secretary and other senior officials of the Arts Council commended him greatly for the superlative work he had done, especially given the short timeline, the sophistication of the finished work and the overall symbolic importance that it held for the local community, the state, the country, the African continent and the Black race for whom it had eternal global cultural relevance.”
However, as the author puts it, the successful replication of the Iyoba Idia mask that was used as the logo and symbol of FESTAC ’77 totally changed the trajectory of the life and professional career of Alufa Joseph Obayagbona by a curious twist of fate.
“Ordinarily, it brought him for the first time into official limelight at the local, state, national and international levels. However, in its associated societal expectations – monetary, personal popularity, communal acknowledgement, etc. – events did not exactly play out as would have been the case,” the author writes.
In the end, Pa Alufa Joseph Obayagbona, according to the author, felt short-changed by the system (as it is erroneously claimed in some quarters that the FESTAC 77 emblem was done and created by Pa Erhabor Emokpae – instead the balanced story is being recorded by the US Library of Congress and the champion of FESTAC 77, Olusegun Obasanjo, who is still alive). Putting this record straight has become most imperatives due to the wrong narratives about Pa Alufa Joseph Obayagbona, the creator and carver of FESTAC 77 emblem, and draw attention to the book – Pa Joseph Alufa Igbinovia Obayagbona: The Account.
Pa Joseph Alufa Igbinovia Obayagbona: The Account may not be a perfect book. However, it is one man’s account of what happened at certain times in the course of history. The book should trigger reactions from key players mentioned in the book who may feel that what is presented in the book is not the complete story. This reaction, one would expect, should come in the form of biographical or autobiographical accounts where they either affirm or deny the roles they played in the entire process. That is how scholarship is enhanced.
Meanwhile, the book is available at University of Lagos and Lagos State University bookshops.
(Contribution by Osa Victor Obayagbona)
