Title: Abuja Nunyi

Author: Denja Abdullahi

Reviewer: Omale Allen Abdul-Jabbar

Publisher: Kraftbooks Ibadan

No of pages: 82

Price: N300

Denja Abdullahi's Abuja Nunyi will, no doubt, go down in history. And he could very well be the second poet laureate of the city after Vatsa. Just like Simbo Olorunfemi for his Eko Re (This is Lagos), Denja, as he is fondly referred by his peers, will henceforth be synonymous with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

The collection harbouring a total of 41 poems, spread across what - for convenience sake - I'd prefer to call six seasons, is a must read for Nigerians as well as the global community. Let us find out why.

The first season is entitled 'Welcome Song'. The succeeding ones are 'Songs On The Lips Of Modern Abuja', 'Songs The City Taught Me', and 'Songs Of The Future' and 'Farewell Song'. One quick question comes to mind, why songs, for a song gives trappings of music. It connotes a tale that is actually sung as opposed to mere telling. Although the panorama and cruise effect of the poems and stylistic deportment may portray this, Abuja Nunyi is actually told while the first impression is something like the troubadour or minstrel of Ezenwa Ohaeto or his own very Mairogo chanting away.

Each season addresses the particular thematic concern of its capturing, allowing the poet the ambience to wade and narrate his hilarious, emotive, serious, highly introspective, and historical cum educative tale of his enamored city. Denja's style or approach herein is really commendable and he wades into the tale from all angles; from the omniscient narrator, the first, second as well the third person. The poems become really thrilling when the poet 'steps aside' and the characters begin to converse.

It is poetry for every facet of the Nigerian masses, children alike. The last point is so true when gleaned from the point of view of the absence of dense jets of metaphorical postulations we are often quick to jump into when writing to impress.

His mentor, Meg Peacocke, who midwifed the birth of this collection via the British Council/ Lancaster University Crossing borders on-line mentoring project 2005/2006 opines: "These poems deserve to be read. I add that Abuja Nunyi (Gbagyi: This is Abuja ) deserves a place in the National Assembly , the presidency, airports, prominent bookshops and tourist centres across the globe as the poet's task was to present the Nigerian capital city to Nigerian and the international audience alike.

Okay. Three questions, and very important ones at that.

1. Will Abuja Nunyi get the desired place and attention ingovernment quarters?

2. Will the poet ever get a chance to read it in the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly?

3. And how successful exactly is this particular outing by Denja Abdullahi in terms of thematic concern and craft?

The poet engages the vehicle of illustrations; in other words, he calls on the aid of images to assist in conveying his messages. The publishers, Kraft books, deserve commendation once more for a job well done. The city gate, bright rising sun in full glory, and rocky patches that welcome the visitor to the city are well captured in the front cover of the book. The font size lettering readily betrays the accessibility of the poems within.

The entries begin with the singular poem 'City Gate' in the first season, ending with 'How Has Abuja Treated You?' in the last.

You are welcome

If only you would shun the ethnic

And soak in the waters of patriotism

On and on, he goes with his welcome and call to patriotism. The second season 'Native Songs' harbours nine poems. All chronicles the hydra- headed concerns of the aborigines of the city now owned and treasured by all Nigerians. Their joys, sorrows, pains and mixed expectations of the new dawn. What I find very distinctive about the poetic style is the personification of this place as characters who talk and the poet himself becomes an observer

All the poems harbour the theme of unfair deal.

What have we done for the Aborigines of Abuja whose lands we joy in today? This is food for thought from the poet.

The second season 'Songs On The Lips Of Modern Abuja' takes the visitor and inhabitants through a panoramic cruise of the nooks and crannies of the elite city, enabling him/her to feel her tempo and character. This is a ready map for the tourist as well as the inhabitants seeking adventure and a rounded knowledge of Abuja.

Mamman Jiya Vatsa, the first poet laureate of Abuja, is the concern of the first poem in this season.

The news of Vatsa's execution reached members of his family - Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) - while they gathered for their annual international convention.

A really thrilling poem in this season is 'Aso Villa' betraying the vivid imagination of the poet and the his eye for details that the ordinary folk would have missed. A very successful poem in the last part is the crux of the message where the persona escapes the quick ordeal of wrongful detention:

From this giddy height

I smell again the multi-odorous farts

Of the mighty and I ask

Aso villa, are you a resort or a seat of power?

But the lonely sentries looked up

And my poetic reverie was aborted!

'Abuja Babes', versed in pidgin English, narrates the ordeal of young ladies following dreams of greener pastures to the city:

This bakassi wey papa God give me

I go swing am here and there so tay

Ministas and senators go forget wetin

Bring dem come Abuja...

But she repents:

I would tread carefully on these broadways

I am a child of God, spiritually protected against

Their one-eyed snakes

Then a truly hilarious piece, also wrought in pidgin 'Carry go', recording a dialogue between an 'Okadaman', a cab and a bus driver migrated to Abuja for the Golden Fleece and a robust dream of return to marry their enchanted maidens.

And a truly emotive one, 'Gidan mangoro' for the ordeal of the Loyola Jesuit children in the Sosoliso plane crash:

Beneath the many mango trees

They sang a joyous song

They sang of oasis in patched lands

The sang of plenty in the midst of want

... the angels came down too soon

they winged away sixty more children

to a place where songs never cease

even as forlorn parents bid a tearful farewell

But in the next season, 'Songs The City Taught Me', lies the true tourist map of Abuja, qualifying the poet as the true chronicler of tides. The notorious but very vivid poem 'Zone 4' tells you where you could patronise the women of easy virtue, if that's what you desire!

Flushed faces, tempting cleavages

Too sweet smiles....

From the four wheeler, the voyeur peeps

Undecided on the juiciest of them all

Welcome to zone 4!

In all, the poems in this collection in their assorted fragrances and panorama make for a very successful outing that would remain relevant in literary discourses for a long time to come. This book will, in no time, definitely be taught in poetry classes in the country and beyond!