Synopsis
In Africa’s Vision- A Second Anthology, Obaze, who deems himself an accidental poet, takes the reader on a journey of eclectic poems, which in the author’s own words are ‘a convenient special purpose mechanism for the capturing and demythologization of events and people.’
Like most poets, Obaze plays on time and space and even abstracts, as if painting far-flung scenes and scenarios on a subliminal, yet illuminating canvas. Accordingly, his poems unmask in very uncanny ways, humanity, complete with observed foibles. As he underlines, “these poems and odes on human foibles, nature, rebirth, and society, are analogous to doodling done over time. In that context, the canvas is rich and the paintings rendered in very vivid colours are exquisitely captivating.
Africa’s Vision – A Second Anthology, Obaze’s second anthology after Regarscent Past –A Collection of Poems (2015), adds vim to the emerging African voices that resort to poetry to render history and capture events, both sublime and the ridiculous. As the richness of Africa’s oral history and folktales, including moonlight tales wane, poetry such as this finds both space and salutary coveted niche in Africa’s literary world.
About the Author
Oseloka Henry OBAZE (OHO) is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Selonnes Consult Ltd., a policy, governance, and management consulting firm. In 2019 Mr. Obaze was the Anambra State Chairman of the Atiku-Obi Presidential Campaign Council. In 2017 he contested for the Anambra State governorship as the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He served as the 9th Secretary to the Anambra State Government (Secretary of State) from 29 June 2012 to 8 June 2015. A former Nigerian Foreign Service Officer (1991-2012) and United Nations official (1982-1991), Mr. Obaze has a diverse professional background as a diplomat, strategic policy adviser, political analyst, writer, literary critic, public speaker, administrator, and politician.
He is a native of Ochuche Umuodu in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria. Born on 9 April 1955 in Ogidi, Nigeria, he had his secondary education at Christ the King College, Onitsha, and Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha. He attended Nebraska Wesleyan University and the University of Nebraska, both in Lincoln, Nebraska, from where he respectively received his Bachelors’s and Masters’s degrees in Political Science and International Relations. He is also a graduate of the Nigerian Foreign Service Academy.
He is co-author of Joe Garba’s Legacy (Xlibris, 2012) and the author Regarscent Past, (Ben Bosah Books, 2015); Here To Serve, (Ben Bosah Books, 2016) and Prime Witness, (Safari Books, 2016), Africa’s Vision–A Second Anthology (Parrésia Publishers, 2020), The Waning Strength of Government (Parrésia Publishers, 2020) and co-author of Nigeria: Caught in the Whirlwind (Safari Books, 2020). He has published numerous articles on governance, political, social, and development issues, on journals, websites, and newspapers. The manuscript for his collection of poems, “Regarscent Past: A Collection “of Poems” placed second among the top three finalists in the poetry category in the African Writers Endowment Publishing Grant Program for 2004. He also contributed a tribute paper titled, “Achebe, Ike, Momah (AIM): Celebrating the Umuahia Literary Trio”, in Chukwuemeka Ike: Fifty Years as a Trailblazing Novelist, (Ed.) Kanchana Ugbabe (2015).
Mr. Obaze is married to Dr. Ofunne Omo Obaze, and they are blessed with children. A widely travelled man, he has visited sixty-seven (67) countries. He is an avid sportsman and soccer enthusiast; he reviews books and arts as a hobby.
About the Author
Oseloka Henry OBAZE (OHO) is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Selonnes Consult Ltd., a policy, governance, and management consulting firm. In 2019 Mr. Obaze was the Anambra State Chairman of the Atiku-Obi Presidential Campaign Council. In 2017 he contested for the Anambra State governorship as the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He served as the 9th Secretary to the Anambra State Government (Secretary of State) from 29 June 2012 to 8 June 2015. A former Nigerian Foreign Service Officer (1991-2012) and United Nations official (1982-1991), Mr. Obaze has a diverse professional background as a diplomat, strategic policy adviser, political analyst, writer, literary critic, public speaker, administrator, and politician.
He is a native of Ochuche Umuodu in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria. Born on 9 April 1955 in Ogidi, Nigeria, he had his secondary education at Christ the King College, Onitsha, and Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha. He attended Nebraska Wesleyan University and the University of Nebraska, both in Lincoln, Nebraska, from where he respectively received his Bachelors’s and Masters’s degrees in Political Science and International Relations. He is also a graduate of the Nigerian Foreign Service Academy.
He is co-author of Joe Garba’s Legacy (Xlibris, 2012) and the author Regarscent Past, (Ben Bosah Books, 2015); Here To Serve, (Ben Bosah Books, 2016) and Prime Witness, (Safari Books, 2016), Africa’s Vision–A Second Anthology (Parrésia Publishers, 2020), The Waning Strength of Government (Parrésia Publishers, 2020) and co-author of Nigeria: Caught in the Whirlwind (Safari Books, 2020). He has published numerous articles on governance, political, social, and development issues, on journals, websites, and newspapers. The manuscript for his collection of poems, “Regarscent Past: A Collection “of Poems” placed second among the top three finalists in the poetry category in the African Writers Endowment Publishing Grant Program for 2004. He also contributed a tribute paper titled, “Achebe, Ike, Momah (AIM): Celebrating the Umuahia Literary Trio”, in Chukwuemeka Ike: Fifty Years as a Trailblazing Novelist, (Ed.) Kanchana Ugbabe (2015).
Mr. Obaze is married to Dr. Ofunne Omo Obaze, and they are blessed with children. A widely travelled man, he has visited sixty-seven (67) countries. He is an avid sportsman and soccer enthusiast; he reviews books and arts as a hobby.
