By OKOFU UBAKA

BOOK tours are a rarity in this part of the world. But when they do take place, they are interestingly rewarding, especially for a nation with so much to celebrate. The seeming barrenness in this sector might have been the docility, if not the inability, of the relevant authorities to take advantage of a marriage between the Nigerian book sector and the country’s buoyant tourist potentials.

Perhaps, it was against this backdrop that the Delta State University, DELSU 2012/2013 MA students marked Olaudah Equiano’s birthday(1745-1797) with a tour to the demised slaver writer’s Ashaka birthplace in Ndokwa East LGA of Delta State. The tour would go down in the anal of history as one such committed group’s effort in identifying with the Nigerian book in such a unique and  patriotic fashion.

The last time a book tour was embarked upon in this country was in 2000. Then, it was as a build up to the LAGOS 2000 BOOK FAIR. Synergy Educational, a Lagos based non-governmental organisation, and a Nigerian book advocate in partnership with the Nigerian Railway Corporation, which had suffered, and still suffering the same fate of neglect as the Nigerian book organised the Ake: Book Tour, with Okofu Ubaka Omamuli as land officer for the event.

Essentially, the Ake Book Tour was built around Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka’s Ake: The Years  of Childhood. The initiative by DELSU 2012/2013 MA students to take a tour of some of the landmarks Equiano mentioned in his narrative is insightful and commendable. The students and notable names in Delta State literary circle and friends of Prof. Darah  thickened the event as well as joggled the memory of the people of Ashaka, and indeed Deltans of a rich heritage in Equiano.  The visit to Ashaka, the birth place of Equiano, which the demised slave author describes as “a charming fruitful vale”, is historic.

Childhood experiences

At Ashaka, the guests relive the Equiano’s cherished and innocent childhood experiences, and took some readings from his book The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano(1789) in reminiscence of the tranquility that was characteristic of an African communal life. Participants of the tour departed from Abraka through Obiaruku and Umuaja, the source of river Ethiope. At Ashaka, the august visitors paid homage to the Opala Ukwu and the council of elders in the community. At Mater Dei Grammar School, Ashaka, the students presented a  matinee of the re-enactment of Equiano’s kidnap episode. The visit was rounded off with a light entertainment.

Why a stop at the river Ethiope source at Umuaja, one might ask? It is believed that the serpentine river Ethiope offered Equiano’s kidnappers and those of other million slaves stolen from this part of the old Niger Delta area the cover and escape route to Sapele en route Koko, and probably Warri where the White merchants were waiting for an onward human  transportation through the Atlantic Ocean to the New World, and the Caribbeans.

There were only two links in this part of the Delta during the dark days of slavery. The Warri (Escravos) and the Koko estuaries or coastal outreaches. These two outreaches were fed by both the Ethiope and Ughoton channels. The network is further complemented by a half-straight and a half-winding footpath called Jackson Line; it was used to link these water channels.

The purpose of JacksonLine, like the channels earlier mentioned, was to provide access for slave kidnappers and their victims down to Koko, Warri and several hidden slave loading ports in the Delta.  There is no gainsaying that Africa’s peace was disturbed by the unwelcome White invaders, and in no time, the continent was  a big boiling cauldron of torment, pains, anguish and distrust. Looking back, the slave phenomenon in Africa left no fewer than 10 million Black souls ferried en mass  through the “Middle Passage” as chattels to the New World and the Caribbeans.

Although, it is pathetic and regrettable, one thing is certain: that the gory slavery experiences had further expanded and enriched the history of Africa. It is true that all races have their own history; that of Africa, and especially the Blacks, for its slave experiences shouldn’t be one at a glance! Africans must be proud to identify with this aspect of her history.

Long before now, early slave heroes and heroines made it very clear to their adversaries that the difference between them and their masters were only in the colours of their eyes, skin and texture of their hair and not in intellect as the latter had conceived. Although providence was kind to these slaves, they were also said to have demonstrated a high sense of industry and uncommon desire to succeed. Africans stand to gain a lot by living through these experiences. One cannot but imagine how inspirational the activism of Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) had contributed to catapulting the likes of Oprah Winfred, Amiri Baraka and Michelle Obama, the American First Lady to that point  they are today.