Umar Abubakar Sidi, Tade Ipadeola Explore “The Incredible Dreams of Garba Dakaskus”

Ibadan once again lived up to its reputation as a city of letters when on Saturday, September 22, the city hosted members of Nigeria’s literati for a book reading and conversation at the RovingHeights Bookstore in Old Bodija.

The spotlight of the event was Navy Captain Umar Abubakar Sidi, poet, novelist and the author of the novel, The Incredible Dreams of Garba Dakaskus. Sidi was engaged by the moderator, Poet laureate and the 2013 Winner of the Nigeria Prize for Literature, Tade Ipadeola. Sidi’s novel has garnered some international attention, having been shortlisted for both the NOMMO Prize for Speculative Fiction and the Dublin Literary Award. It also underscored the power of Nigerian and African literature.

Curator of the event, Femi Morgan, set the tone, highlighting Sidi’s rare dedication to literature despite the regimented demands of military life. “Sidi is one of the few authors who place high premium on engaging authors and readers across Nigerian cities,” Morgan noted. He reminded the audience that Sidi’s poetry has twice been shortlisted for the Association of Nigerian Authors Prize in 2018 and 2023, marking him as one of the most consistent literary voices of his generation.

The evening was also a moment of homage. Morgan acknowledged the intellectual backbone of Ibadan, paying tribute to Prof. Mark Nwagwu, Prof. Sola Olorunyomi, and Ipadeola himself for their commitment to nurturing literary and cultural life.

For Ipadeola, Sidi’s work was more than a novel; it was a daring experiment in the tradition of cultural philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin’s call for storytelling to resist rigid categories. He described the book as a caricature of “political animals” in modern society, one that traverses history, interrogates tyranny, and explores the complexities of cities and civilizations. He suggested that the Dublin Literary Award likely recognized the novel’s narrative range and its bold development of the book as a character in itself.

Ipadeola further stated that Garba Dakaskus was a book he himself would have loved to write, given its engagement with power, metaphysics, and psychological trauma. He thanked Sidi’s publisher, Masobe, for taking a chance on the novel, noting that many publishers might have expressed skepticism. He stressed that Masobe has begun to change the landscape of African publishing despite the challenge of capital and systems that have plagued the industry.

Responding to a question on his creative process, Sidi explained that it took him six years to complete the novel. He added that his motivation came from a sense of frustration, as many Nigerian novels he had read had begun to take on a similar, predictable, and linear form.

Sidi also stated that he had influences from Ben Okri and Italo Calvino to write a novel he would love to read. He stressed that his novel was also inspired by the exploration of Timbuktu and the several underground cities of knowledge and civilizations in Africa. For him, subtle and blatant colonisation of the African peoples dealt a blow on the knowledge and civilization of underground cities and knowledge systems found in cities like Timbuktu, Sokoto and Ife.   

Responding to how he was able to balance the regimen of military life with his creative output, Sidi noted that for he practiced Salman Rushdie’s approach of taking a hot bath to wash away the salesman to consciously become the writer every day. He also stated that he always kept awake after work hours by drinking coffee.

The event was not limited to literature alone; it was a platform for broader conversations on sustainability. Ipadeola stressed the urgent need for government investment in libraries, while governance expert Sylvia Oyinlola challenged individuals and NGOs to step up, institutionalizing libraries as legacies rather than spending fortunes on transient celebrations. “We need to build respect and dignity for books, authors, and the creative ecosystem,” she urged, reminding the audience of the stakes for Nigeria’s cultural future.

The diverse audience underscored the reach of such conversations, which included Professors Nwagwu and Olorunyomi, poet and publisher Servio Gbadamosi, forensic criminologist Jane Orire, naval officers, students from the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ibadan, and other culture enthusiasts.

In a city renowned for hosting and nurturing some of Nigeria’s finest literary talents, the event was a telling reminder that with such voices like Sidi’s, African literature is on the rise.