Ayo Obe (née Ogunsola), legal practitioner, trustee of Senegal’s Gorée Institute, trustee of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group and a massive member of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign is incredibly modest about her epoch defining role in the shaping of Democracy (with a capital ‘D’) and Human Rights movements in modern day Nigeria.

Intelligent, lazy (lazy?) and efficient – her words - Ayo Obe’s CV is one many would envy. She has been President of the CLO (Nigeria’s first indigenous human rights organisation), been chair of the TMG (an election-monitoring/democracy-building coalition of independent NGOs), on the Steering Committee of the World Movement for Democracy and Nigerian Civil Society’s panel on Police Reform, the list goes on.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The fight for democracy, the funding and evolution of the Civil Liberties Organisation and the heroes of the day – Olisa, Abdul Oroh, Chidi Odinkalu …;
• Bring Back Our Girls, End Sars, and no, Ayo doesn’t believe there was a massacre at toll gate;
• Salvation Army, feast to famine (and back again), Tufnell Park to Seascale, the parent as Deus ex Machina. In there lies the moving tale – Nope, Ayo suffers no angst, thank you very much;
• AWO, Gaza and famine as a weapon of war. Yes, heroes do sometimes have feet of clay;
• Peter Tosh – Equal Rights, Down Pressor Man – Ayo CAN hold a tune;

The back story, the present one, the continuing activism and, yes, the soft-spoken modesty; this episode is one for those of us with much to be modest about.

Links

Americanah – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Down Pressor Man, Equal Rights – Peter Tosh

Stagger Lee – Lloyd Price

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Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi, (B.A. Hons English, U.I, M.A, Ph.D. Dramatic Lit, NYU) started out with full commitment to academia. Somehow (fate? luck?), he segued into journalism and the rest, as they say, is history.

Born in Kano to a Yoruba father and Igbo mother (he was the original WAZOBIA), that early search for ‘home’, of being ‘the other’ translated into a super power, well, two super powers, actually – three languages and a deft hand at winning friends and influencing people.

Committed, engaging and forgiving (his words), Dr. Ogunbiyi is that enigmatic open book. Fulfilled man, deep thinker, great reader, friend to all and foe to none. Non, Il ne regrette rien.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Pre-civil war Kano, Igbo masquerade songs, the Yoruba Oriki and the search for identity;
• Great Ife, those halcyon days and the absolutely forgivable name dropping – Soyinka, Aboyade, Kole Omotoso, Biodun Jeyifo, Niyi Coker, Akinwunmi Ishola, we could go on….and we do;
• Babangida, Daily Times of Nigeria and that recurring juxtaposition of high points and low;
• Ghadaffi, Bhutto, Sankara, Mugabe, Thatcher, Shimon Peres, Kaunda - Dr. Ogunbiyi has interviewed them all. And he has the book to prove it;
• AWO (or to the uninitiated, Chief Obafemi Awolowo), the man, the ‘Royal WE’ and yes, the definitive book – Dr. Ogunbiyi is writing it;
• Playing Boswell to Soyinka’s Johnson? – there’s one for the bucket list;
• Fela, Jazz, the funny ha-ha story and, naturally, it involves another iconic figure.

The ready wit, the telling anecdote, this episode will invoke, perhaps, a smidgeon of la recherche du temps perdu. And, as he is a believer, 2 Samuel 1:19-21.

Links:

📘 Encounters with History: The Road Never Forgets – Yemi Ogunbiyi

📕 Adventures in Power: My March Through Prison – Obafemi Awolowo

📗 Fugitive Offender – Chief Anthony Enahoro

🎭 Death and the King’s Horseman – Wole Soyinka

🎬 The Battle of Algiers – Gillo Pontecorvo

🎞 Memories of Underdevelopment – Tomás Gutiérrez Alea

🎶 Water, Trouble Sleep, Lady – Fela Anikulapo Kuti

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Stephanie Busari, award-winning journalist, tri-lingual story teller and soon to be media mogul (from our mouths to the ears of God), believes journalists are born not made. She got her first byline on her first assignment and hasn’t looked back since.

Friendly, happy and kind (her words), Stephanie does not believe in hiding the female light under a bushel. From that award winning, career defining Chibok girls’ story to turning the lens on to other women with her latest project ‘HERSTORY’, Stephanie Busari straddles the information landscape with, she hopes (no prays) truth, faith and a touching incongruous gentleness.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The CHIBOK GIRLS story and the juxtaposition of high points and low points;
• LA LAW, big energy and being blinded by ambition;
• Her next power moves – HERSTORY, the Story Telling Academy and ….. (stay tuned to her channel ….)
• The scramble for African minds, African Stream and the Western news machinery;
• Legacy media, alternative facts and our bewildering post-truth present;
• Church, faith and yes, Nathaniel Bassey (again);
• Mother as the favourite person vs ‘How to Talk So Your Teen Will Listen’ - that sweet agonising circle of life;
• The challenge of finding the ready joke or even anything for the Bucket List – O to be an award-winning journalist!

As Stephanie steps into her next chapter, the sun in her face, the world at her feet, HerStory is now for the telling. This episode will get you thinking about stories and narratives, how they are framed, how they are told and who does the telling.

Links:

HerStory – Stephanie Busari

How to Talk so Your Teen Will Listen, Adele Faber, Elaine Mazlish

Nobody Wants This, Netflix

Trevor Noah, Born A Crime.

Nathaniel Bassey – Greatest Hits.

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Banana Island Living's YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/yIS0FwNp1I8

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