Greatness in the Grain
Harry Ogunleye
Fellows,
special thanks to kasirimi Nwanu for this piece,it opened up an old family
wound. you see the Arinjale of ise Ekiti in Ekiti state is my
Grandfarther,and the great olowe whose talent the article (reffered to
above) was written about spent the better part of his life working for my
Grandfarther as the 'AGBEGILERE OBA' (ie the king's sculptor)
Now get this,Between 1973 and 1975 certain part of our
palace was repeteadly broken into by unknown men/women who looted my
grandfarther's treasures including all the sculptors and other acient
treasures too painful to mention .This sad saga caused so much 'wahala'
within my family side of the rulling houses in our village,Even as I
speak naturaly we realized that this shameful event could not have
happened without the help and cooperation of some members of our family.I
must tell you that my Grandfarther the late 'AGUNSOYE BI OYINBO' OBA ADEYEYE
THE ARINJALE (2'nd) of Ise Ekiti later died in 1976 as a result of the
'FIASCO'and frustration that grew out of this rarther shameful episode in my
family history.Let me further state that I know as a matter of fact that
baba olowe lived and worked for my Grandfarther untill he died sometimes
around the late 1950's I also know through family history that baba olowe
gave only one piece of sculptor work (ERE) to a group of some white men
believed to be from the office of the district officer (during the colonial
days) who visited my grandfarther's palace at that time.It is also a fact
that baba olowe carved a wooden door for the
ogoga of Ikere Ekiti (15 miles) from our village I can also tell you
categorically that baba olowe never travelled out our village,it is not true
that he was born at Efon alaaye (although his family may have migrated from
their to Ise Ekiti .
My question now is given what i descibe above(which i can proof beyound
reasonable dout) How did baba olowe's works
made their way out of our village to the art galleries and exhibition all
over the world ie Europe and USA,Is'nt it possible that these may very well
be my family treasures? is there anyway that my family and I can do
something about this? just at about a week before I stumbled to this piece
posted by K. Nwanu on the Net, my sister and I were talking about this
shameful part of our family history,And bingo few days later right in front
of my eyes .
MY MISSION :
"""""""""""""""
1) it is more than important for me and my family to proof to the whole
world that these treasures exihibited world wide may very have been 'stolen
properties' from us .
2)the whole world should know that baba olowe's decendants are living in
appauling porverty in our village today under the leadership of oga
ogundele (as we call him) He is the only surviving son of baba olowe he is
still a young man in his 50's .
3)Do you think micheal Angelou's decendant (if any) can be living in the
kind of wretchednes as the olowes.is'int something seriously wrong with a
situation where by a man's talent, creation
and handworks are profited world wide,and yet his family members live in
dispeakable condition like destitutes.
4)If these are my family stolen treasures(as iam sure they are) Don't you
Guys think that someone somewhere owe my family and olowe family something
in addition to sincere apology? I know that there are uncountable stories of
how the white men stole black men's treasures,inventions,etc
all over the world from slavery to colonalism to neo colonialism only to
profit from
them world wide I am
also concious of 'BLAME THE WHITE MAN SYNDROME' but I assure you neters
that I know what Iam talking about.I was in secondary school when all of
this was going on in our family as you can see I was not a baby then
infact I can recorgnize most of the crafts if I see them .
You see I first read about baba olowe's work in the usa about 8 or 9 years
ago my problem then as it is still is now is wether anybody will believe me,
especially in these days of international '419' but today I no longer care
how many people believe me or don't believe me I fill like I owe it to my
family and olowe family to say something.Thus I wish you fellow villagers on
this net will consider this as a gennuine call for help ,Iam sort of
confused and don't know where to go, and what to do I am hoping that some of
the opinion leaders on this net e.g. prof.charles ochie,prof.Bolaji Aluko
,mr. Ayo ayetigbo,Francis I.Achike,kasirimi Nwoke,E. Duruigbo,Nubi
Achebo,Obi Iheduru,Sam Akintimoye to mention just a few And please any
lawyer on the net?
somebody please talk to me on this if you want any proof you will be
overwhelmed by many infact there was a Govt. enquiry on this matter by then
western state and later Ondo state Govts. As you can imagine there was
plenty of 'grammar and drama'but no result case reffered back home to be
settled as family dispute. no culprits arrested no treasure found.
if these later turn out to be my family's stuff, I hope I will be able to
expose some people,restore some honor back to my family ,And hopefully help
the olowe family family.
And please if something good come out of this for my family it will be 'all
well that ends well'.But God knows that conpensation adventure is not my
priority.
thanks to my friend Harry for letting me in 'on the NET secret' ,And thank
to you fellow villagers for listening to me. now I will siddon dey wait for
'your ideas'.
Prince Timothy Adedapo.
Harry Ogunleye
o. kasirim nwuke
Look here my friend, Harry or Timothy or whatever your name is. I have
corrected you privately before and here you repeat the mistake. My name
is kasirim nwuke. Stop making this mistake common among SOME people from
your part of our country of never paying due attention to and never
wanting to learn to pronounce the names of "outsiders" correctly.
I am very angry at you.
okn
----------
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher
esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
Nietzsche
************************* end of message ********************************
o. kasirim nwuke
You may be angry but did I state the TRUTH?
You should be angry if what I stated is NOT true.
okn
----------
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher
esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
Nietzsche
************************* end of message ********************************
On Wed, 1 Apr 1998, Akinwumi Ogundiran wrote:
> kasirim,
> I do not have any problem with you admonishing Harry for
> mis-spelling your name after a previous correction from you. But it is
> wrong for you to insult, the way you have done, the people from Harry's
> part of "our country". Harry is a Yoruba. No matter how you coin the
> grammatical nicety, it is rude on your part to say that "Stop making this
> mistake common among SOME people from your part of our country of never
> paying due attention to and never wanting to learn to pronounce the names
> of "outsiders" correctly." I am offended by this statement from you.
> Be angry with Harry but please refrain from abusing the Yoruba people. I
> advice you to please apologise for this rudeness on your part.
>
> Thank you
>
> Akin Ogundiran
> Aremu Ogun
o. kasirim nwuke
Any person who uses a different name at different times must be a
fraudster, a 419. And you Phillip Olusanmi Omoaregba Sanmi Abode are a
419-ner of the first order. You are a fraudster. You probably have more
than one social security number. Perhaps the authorities at Calstate
Fresno need to be alerted.
A***h*le.
okn
----------
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher
esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
Nietzsche
************************* end of message ********************************
On Wed, 1 Apr 1998, philip abode wrote:
> Hehehehe
>
> Okoro no dey gree o! Why are you so angry?
Akinwumi Ogundiran
kasirim,
I do not have any problem with you admonishing Harry for
mis-spelling your name after a previous correction from you. But it is
wrong for you to insult, the way you have done, the people from Harry's
part of "our country". Harry is a Yoruba. No matter how you coin the
mistake common among SOME people from your part of our country of never
paying due attention to and never wanting to learn to pronounce the names
Be angry with Harry but please refrain from abusing the Yoruba people. I
advice you to please apologise for this rudeness on your part.
Thank you
Akin Ogundiran
Aremu Ogun
On Tue, 31 Mar 1998, o. kasirim nwuke wrote:
> > >settled as family dispute. no culprits arrested no treasure found..
Philip Sammi Abode
Dr O, thank you for that piece. You see, this our okoro friend is just
too much for me! He has done worse things to me than a mere mis-spelt
name. He has called me a "communist" just because I care what happens to
others. He has called me a fraud just because I have many names and I
used them all!!
Really, I do not care how you spell my name. If I were to care, its cost
would be incalculable. What's in a name? Just another label !!!
o. kasirim nwuke
Akinwumi:
You have made up your mind on this matter. Nothing will make you see
things differently even though you live in a country whose citizens are
not infrequently told that they do not know (and seldom make tthe effort
to learn) how to pronounce foreign names. And they do not take offense.
Anyroads, I have no answers to your query as I have neither the intention
nor the time to provide to you explanations explanatory of that which has
already been explained.
Take care.
okn
----------
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher
esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
Nietzsche
************************* end of message ********************************
On Wed, 1 Apr 1998, Akinwumi Ogundiran wrote:
> kasirim,
> I am offended because what you said is not true. I lived in many parts of
> Nigeria outside the Yoruba area. And so you did outside your ethnic area.
> Do I need to abuse Ikwerre people because kasirim and other kasirims
> (supposedly from Ikwerre) call me Akim or spell my last name as Oguduran?
> Show me the truth of your rudeness.
>
> Akin Ogundiran
> Aremu Ogun
>
> On Wed, 1 Apr 1998, o. kasirim nwuke wrote:
>
> > You may be angry but did I state the TRUTH?
> > You should be angry if what I stated is NOT true.
> >
> > okn
> > ----------
> > "The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher
> > esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
> > Nietzsche
> >
> > ************************* end of message ********************************
> >
> > On Wed, 1 Apr 1998, Akinwumi Ogundiran wrote:
> >