Welcome to Ikenna Ugwu's Blog

Ever been on a date before? Yea! Many, many times I hear you guys say. Did it all work? Many went sour, I know.   But did you give up? No, you don’t give up. You keep on. You try again and again, till you win. Here, I want to propose a date to you. It’s not like the ones you’ve had before; not the romantic engagement with some licentious, promiscuous, cheap ladies; it is a valuable, purposeful and far enriching romance with a ‘special’ fruit. But you need to keep up with this date. You need to be faithful…and then you will definitely gain. It is the Date palm fruit! How much do you know about this elegantly charming fruit? I’ll tell you more. Come… Dates are fruits of the date palm, a tree mainly grown in the dry arid regions. It is native to Africa (mainly North Africa) and western Asia. Here, it is most popular and common in the northern part of the country. We call it Debino. Remember? Dates can be eaten fresh or dried. Though used as ingredient in sweets, cakes and ot

 A writer’s Pain and gain.   (For Jude Dibia and Chika Unigwe...and all who love beautiful stories) Although I came across the information about The Bold and Beautiful Youth Literary Forum by what seemed like a stroke of chance, yet I do not think that my eventual participation was an accident. April 2011. The event has come and gone and everyone spoke well of it. We searched for words to express how we felt. It was a spectacular experience. We have our reasons to believe this, for it was a matter of impact and everyone felt it. It was indeed bold and beautiful.   This story is not particularly about The Bold And Beautiful Foundation, my co-participants at the forum or the liberal facilitators. It is about me. But because the event was not and could not have been without them, they are unavoidably part of my story. I can say they make my story.     I thank The Bold and Beautiful Foundation for giving me a fabulous experience. I wish to say that her steps were not just bold

YES, ALL MEN WILL DIE (In memory of my late ‘sweet’ mum) When my mother died, people said, ‘…your mother has gone to fight for you…’ I heard much of this amid tears. Today, I still hear the voices reverberating. I believe! While the remains of my mother was being lowered into the grave and everybody (family members) had moved closer to the tomb,   I remained on my seat right at the front where they made for the family members. I was not still shouting down heaven and asking God “why?” I was just there, like a doll placed on that plastic chair. I did not move or speak, until two people held my hands and said something almost in a whisper, “bia ka iwunyere mama aja.” Reality had dawned. Mama was already in the grave. It was time to pay my last respect. It is traditional. A man scooped deep-brown sand with the shovel and handed to me. “Ngwa…,” he said. With my hands shaky, I let the sand drop on mama’s coffin three times before tears clouded my face, and again those two hand

I read Babs Ajayi’s article– “The Grabby lives of the Jonathans: Lesson from Cherrie Blair.” Babs wrote all the way from Quebec, Canada. Ideas have a multiplicity function. Bab’s idea of the article came (according to him) after he read Mrs. Cherrie Blair’s autobiography, and mine came from reading his revealing article. Our goal is the same: to raise our voices, crying, screaming, perhaps the Jonathans would hear and learn. Babs Ajayi’s article was a window into the life of former British First Lady as revealed in her autobiography “Speaking for Myself.” He talked about how things were and is done in the seat of power in UK. He also recommended the book for the Jonathans. But I am concerned about the place of Mrs. Dame Patience in President Jonathan’s administration. I hope she read Mr. Bab’s article too. Because she would be, am sure, unnecessarily too busy to read Cherrie Blair’s book. Seeing Mrs. Jonathan’s assumed position in her husband’s government inspires myriad ques