By Japhet Davidson
IT was indeed a home coming and a dream come true as United Arab Emirates, UAE-based biomedical scientist and poet, Ifeanyi Amadi presented his two books titled Tourist in Wahala Land and The Chemical Poems of Ayatollah Khameni to the public in Lagos.
For the young activist, Ifeanyi Amadi who then as a student at University of Port Harcout, was not confortable with the events of the day, the hunger for positive change lured him to form a student movement to fight some of the ills in the society. But he was dissappointed when many of the students backed out of the movement for one reason or the other. And not satisfied with that and bent on actualising his movement, Amadi concluded that what he could not get through physical violence or revolution, he will achieve through books, hence the publication of the two books.
The two books – Tourist in Wahala Land and The Chemical Poems of Ayatollah Khameni which were published in the UK by Authorhouse was officially presented to the public last week at Win Arc Gallery Ipaja, Lagos State.
Speaking about the books, Amadi who has concise style of writing in the diverse subjects of his books, including regions and characters outside his Nigeria origin said that the books were his potent weapon of venting his anger on the ills in the society.
Amadi who highlighted some of the challenges he faced on the course of the publication in the United States, UAE and Nigeria before he finally went to UK where it was published said it was a dream come true.
The fisrt book, The Chemical Poems of Ayatollah Khameni is a collection of poems he used to express his anger towards the ills that happened in Nigeria and other African countries.
This poetry collection offers a series of political, satirical, sarcastic, surreal, and adorational rhymes and rebukes to the events of our contemporary society.
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The Chemical Poems of Ayatollah Khameni is a collection of poems written mostly from a laboratory at the University of Port Harcourt, one of the prestigious universities in southern Nigeria.
Author, Ifeanyi Amadi who was an activist and aspiring scientist was keen about revolutionary figures during his student days. .
Amadi also harbored a restless revolutionary spirit and fervor, even desiring a revolution for his own country, whose ceaseless corruption and inept leadership continue to impede her political greatness and economic advancement. These antecedents and more culminated in his mates nicknaming him Ayatollah Khamenei, after the spiritual leader of the Republic of Iran. That name, in combination with one of the famous Rosicrucian manifestos, The Chemical Wedding, form the title of this gathering of poetic thoughts. Issues like corruption, leadership failure, looting, nepotism etc., did not just end with only the evils, the author in some of the poems also expressed hope that we can come together and do the right things to bring about the desired change that we all need.
The second book is a three-act play titled Tourist in Wahala Land.
According to the author, Tourist in Wahala Land presents a political satire designed to cast literary light on the corrupt goings-on in the dysfunctional systems of most third world states. It also points out the roles developed societies play in contributing to the failures of these third world nations and seek to expose the hypocrisy of some religious adherents who sneak into the red-light districts to partake in sexual activities at dusk while feigning chastity, sanctity, and sanctimony during the day.
In all, this play reveals the near absence of justice and communal welfare in a failed society as everyone struggles for what they and their cronies alone can benefit from the corrupt system.
It is a political satire that tries to dramatise the corruption and other ills of the society.
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