Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports
He debuted as Biyi Bandele-Thomas and astounded the literary community with his astounding prodigiousness. After I had left the institution where Prof. Wole Soyinka served as our Head of Department, Great Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), he was accepted. He had a tireless passion for the arts, and he was determined from the start to rule the literary world.
With his play “Rain,” he took first place in the International Student Playwriting Competition. He left Ife for London to receive the award and did not return to his studies there. The Man Who Came In From The Back Of Beyond, in which the younger brother of my classmate and buddy, Owei Lakemfa, served as the fictional protagonist dubbed Lakemf, was later published by him in 1991. The BBC World Service aired his play, The Female God and Other Forbidden Fruits, in 1991.
The First Lady Mamagee of the nation of Zowabia sits for a picture with some monkeys in his second book, The Sympathetic Undertaker And Other Dreams, only for the editor of Zowabia News to put the following in the caption: “In the picture above, the Lady Mamagee is standing third from right.”
When the editor claimed that “the Lady Mamagee – First Lady for short – was standing third from right or even right from third in a picture which she took with monkeys, and to wit, in a picture in which she happened to be the only human being,” angry State Security officials beat the poor man to a pulp.
He received the coveted Arts Council Bursary in Britain in 1992 to help fund his passion for creative writing. When he wrote the screenplay for the BBC production Not Even God is Wise Enough, he expanded his horizons into screenwriting.
Born in Kafanchan in 1967, Biyi Bandele has built a wonderful career of publishing novels, producing and directing plays, shooting still photos, and making movies.
He received praise for his work on the stage adaptation of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, the film adaptations of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun, the masterwork of the 2015 London Film Festival called Fifty, a season of the MTV drama series Shuga, the first Netflix Nigerian Original series Blood Sisters, and a Yoruba language adaptation of Wole Soyinka’s Death And The King’s Horseman titled Ele
The news of the passing on August 7 in Lagos of the all-around creative arts figure I affectionately referred to as Boy Biyi came as such a shock.
In the home of our common friend Adewale Maja-Pearce in Surulere, Lagos, we frequently had lively discussions about many facets of the arts.
I once invited him to join us at a made-for-television discourse on JP Clark’s work but he could not make it due to the exigencies of Lagos.
He spent a lot of time in Lagos taking street photos, which he regularly shared to his Facebook page.
He and I first crossed paths in London when I went to accept a BBC short story award. He remarked cheekily that I was so unassuming in contrast to other Nigerian authors who had “Writer” printed on their free cards. He published my writing in the London-based publication Homeland News, which the legendary journalist Tunde Fagbenle created.
Biyi, who was only 54 when he passed away, accomplished enough throughout his lifetime to guarantee his immortality. The real story of Biyi Bandele is that he arrived early and made sure to travel through all the lanes before leaving early.
Biyi Bandele, an Egba from Abeokuta in southwest Nigeria who was born in Kafanchan in the north, achieved the title of “citizen of the world.” He was an extraordinarily private person who never once engaged in any form of self-promotion, letting his copious work speak for itself.
In his humble demeanor, he gained the admiration of the entire globe while devoting all of his time to producing timeless works. Although he was at home everywhere in the world, he had an unwavering affection for Lagos, where he ultimately passed away.
London, England is another major location in Biyi Bandele’s works, as seen in his 1999 novel The Street, where the statement “people reaching out to one another, yearning for love” captures the eccentricity of the multiracial assemblage.
His 2008 book Burma Boy recounts the horrifying tale of the Second World War, in which his father served, but Biyi injects humor and humanity beyond lunacy into the narrative of the fourteen-year-old protagonist, Ali Banana.
The fact that Biyi embraces everyone regardless of paternity, maternity, or consanguinity is striking. He has no use for discrimination in his vocabulary. His primary mode of expression is humor, and like me, he admires Mullah Nasruddin, a Muslim folk hero who once advised his wife not to erect a stone slab over his grave when he passed away because he didn’t want to hit his head on it on the way to heaven.
Biyi’s devoted daughter, Temi, shattered many people’s hearts when she revealed his passing on Sunday, August 7: “Biyi was a prodigiously creative writer and film-maker, as well as a loyal friend and adored father.
He was a storyteller at heart, with an unwavering viewpoint, distinctive voice, and wisdom that fearlessly spoke through all of his art, in poems, books, plays, and films. He shared tales that had a significant influence and motivated people all over the world. Through his work, he will leave a lasting legacy.
The epitome of a global citizen, Biyi Bandele felt at home on every continent. Trying to comprehend how Biyi managed to complete all the job in his remarkably brief period is truly amazing.
It is sufficient to recognize Biyi Bandele as a believer who persisted in erasing barriers and forging enduring connections.
