Humans are often times afraid of making hard decisions that could shoot them to limelight because of fear of failure or disappointment. Olukorede Yishau’s book, In the Name of Our Father, is on the long list for this year’s prestigious Nigeria Prize for Literature. However, without constant push from acquaintances, this book Yishau first drafted many years ago would not have seen the light of the day.

THE AUTHOR

Yishau, a dark complexioned man in his mid-40s, has been a journalist for 20 years and has worked with several print media outfits, including The Source and Tell Magazine. After leaving Tell magazine 13 years ago, he joined The Nation, a frontline Nigerian print medium where he works as an Associate Editor.

“I see myself as one of the very few people Journalism has been fair to,” he said. “I have risen quite well in the career ladder, and I am still being well appreciated where I work now.”

Yishau has won several awards, including Nigerian Media Merit Award’s Columnist of The Year, Aviation Industry Reporter of the Year, Capital Market Reporter of the Year and the Olu Aboderin Entertainment Reporter of the Year.

“When you are being trained in those days, you are expected to be an all-rounder,” he said.

Yishau holds a degree in Mass Communication from the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, and a professional diploma in public relations.

He developed interest in writing while growing up in a family of eight in the Agege area of Lagos State. He read any book he came across and, with that, started making attempts at writing short stories. While in secondary school, his principal discovered his talent for writing and became his mentor. The Principal would mark Yishau’s essays and give him tips on how best to improve on his use of words and grammar. That strengthened his love for writing, and after leaving secondary school, he proceeded to the Nigeria Institute of Journalism (NIJ).

“While I was at the NIJ, a crisis ensued and, as a result, I had to start a job as an intern at the Source Magazine. The then associate editor, Victor Ogene, could not help but ask if I had worked in a media outfit because of how impressive he found my writing,” he said.

IN THE NAME OF OUR FATHER

Olukorede wrote his debut novel, In The Name of our Father, at the age of 24, while reporting for the Source Magazine. The 228-page book is set in the regime of General Sani Abacha. It tells the story of a prophet who tried to use his influence in the military government to stop a journalist from publishing a book on his activities. The idea, Yeshau said, was to fictionalize the experience under Nigeria’s infamous military regimes in relation to shocking atrocities being committed in the religious sphere.

“The book is about religious deceit and military dictatorship,” he explained. “It is also about the need for us to see that even the worst of democracies is better than military rule. On the religious part, there are men of God and there are also the ones that are not of God. This means we need to be vigilant as regards our dealings with them at all times”.

ONLY YISHAU NEVER BELIEVED HIS MAGIC

Despite giving the manuscript to a few friends and getting positive feedback, Yeshau still felt it was not good enough and had no urge to publish it.

“There is always this element of doubt that a creative writer constantly suffers,” he told FIJ. “That feeling often times makes you feel what you have written or the job you have done is not good enough and should not be presented to the public.”

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Still not having confidence in his art, he gave the book to a few other people but got yet another positive response. Due to his constant doubts about the book, the writer still concluded it was not good enough for publishing.

“Every single person I gave the book to said it was good enough. In fact, one of my friends got angry with me and said I should stop discussing about the book with her until I was ready to publish it. I must have given the book to almost 10 people and they all came back to me to say it was good enough for publishing.”

THE TURNING POINT

Life, they say, starts at 40. Yishau decided to recreate himself, ready to shove doubts aside and publish his book project that had stalled for 16 years.

As he was about turning 40 in 2018, he decided to give himself the birthday gift of publishing the book. Still doubting the writing, he gave the book to award winning author and publisher Toni Kan for a verdict. In the end, and just like every other feedback he had gotten in the past, Kan said he had done a marvelous job.

‘A GREAT WORK OF ART’

After publishing the book, a peer review journal published in a Turkish university reviewed it and called it “a great work of art”.

A review was also done at the English and Literary Studies Department, University of Nsukka, and it emerged with commendation. On books.google.com.ng, a reader, Oluwaseun Ekundayo, described the book as a “mirror of the past and future of the impacts of religion”.

He said, “Olukorede Yishau has been able to potray how overwhelming power can be when men get at it. In The Name of Our Father is a mirror of the past and the future of the impact of what religion has done to our society. The average standard of living of families in our country is well portrayed. Also well highlighted is the level of corruption and how far people misuse power for their own selfish reasons.”

In a review done by Edward Dibiana and published by the Premium Times on June 12, 2018, the following was said about the book:

 “If Literature is the mirror of the society, In the Name of our Father showcases Nigeria in its ugly nakedness. The novel tells the tragic story of a critically sick nation — a soulless society, drowning in a sea of moral, ethical and cultural decay; a nation of banal, disappointing, disdainful, ruthlessly insensitive, abysmally irresponsible, and self-serving leaders, at different levels and diverse spheres of authorities.”

For The Cable, Femi Morgan wrote in his April 2020 review of the book: “The book does not engage our nascent democracy, it does not make comparison with this newfound freedom in the nation. What a calm and experienced reader will see while reading the book is that the writer maps the trajectory of power drunk leadership and perhaps hopes that we become aware of them irrespective of the forms they may take in any dispensation or pseudo-democaries.”

THE NLNG PRIZE FOR LITERATURE

After being inundated with several calls and pleas from friends and colleagues to put the book up for the NLNG Prize for literature, Yishau eventually asked his publisher to do so. Out of 202 entries for the award, In the Name of Our Father was named among the best 11.

“Incidentally, it was the person (Toni Kan) who gave me the final push to publish the book that called me on a Sunday morning to check the Lagos review website. It was then that I discovered I had been long-listed and, of course, I was very delighted. This is, in fact, a wonderful achievement for me and I am deeply honoured,” Yishau said.

To would-be authors who feel their works are never good enough, the author had this to say:

“The fact that you have written something down means it can be improved upon. Even if you feel it is nonsense, write it first. Seek people’s opinion about it. It is okay to be doubtful, but in the end, give it a push and allow the public see it. Who knows what would become of the work in the end?”