I feel it critically necessary with a sense of duty, taking up this emergency theme, of also our time, WAR.
Human history is full of wars. Kingdoms were built with vast volumes of human blood and each rested on huge ruins of people’s lives. Empires rose, lasted and fell upon cruel days that left inglorious landmarks of dreadful memories. At worst, mankind has witnessed two world wars, while the third threatens. Nations still rise against nations. The great wastage of lives and destruction of diverse values are measureless. Many innocent people are still the daily victims of other forms of new warfare including neo-colonialism and terrorism.
Times have seen mankind surviving through this recurrent disaster and globally spread tragedy. But man is habitually active in the same social wrong. Today the wouded and weeping human family has arrived of age as modern means of communication are increasingly unifying the world. War and other events in any part of the Earth is directly or indirectly felt everywhere. The news of war creates reactions at all levels of public life and upsets the peace of human society as a whole.
Horrors of the wars in Africa and other parts of the World are still doing irreparable damages. Human crisis often occurs. Genocide, social vices and mass displacement are common. The anguish of the old ones and separation of family unit are unbearable. Babies starve and get lost in the uncontrollable stampede. Wild abuse of children and other bewildering acts against humanity challenge sanity. Total destruction of cities and villages is evident with damages or complete disruption of public infrastructures. Huge funds, materials and human resources are yet, being wasted by peaceful but insecure states keeping armies whiles hunger, malnutrition, diseases, homelessness, death, tears and sorrow are the order of the day in war and poverty affected areas worldwide.
Ironically enough, war is not a natural disaster. It is an artificial creation of man. It is indeed a policy, planned and implemented by governments. Sometimes, it is an organised criminal business operation, between local and foreign interests. War is the worst method of conflict resolution in today’s world. But the outbreak of more wars continues to defile and frustrate international pacific efforts wanting to end war permanently on Earth. Concerned men and women have raised voices, written words and taken actions against war all over the world. This is my contribution among many other media of decent, addressing the early minds of the junior generations. I am doing what my conscience and human ability, allow me to do.
I saw war partially as a child when the Nigerian civil war was ending. There were news and rumours about the fall of far big cities, distant towns and nearby villages; while it lasted. Refugees surged into my village tired and hungry. It became our turn later. I was one of the many children that walked the long distance with swollen feet, when the war arrived. We ran to the farm settlement and again into the forest. It was raining night and day. The mud was up above knees. We stayed under the grooves for more than fourteen days. There were sounds of guns and bombings. War planes roared past in the sky above. The disgusting odour of human decays was everywhere. The scenes of bloody corpses, skulls and skeletons were horrifying. Sights of mines, grenades, bullets, guns and soldiers terrified my infant mind and constituted nightmares to my memory thereafter.
The terrible impression left deep in me was reawakened years afterwards, when I saw refugees once again coming into Nigeria, with the outbreak of wars in the West African sub-region. This awareness further drew my attention, imagination and thoughts increasingly with time. I became more and more conscious of its holocaust effects, more so while wars were spreading in all parts of the entire Africa continent.
The wars of recent times witnessed, all over the world show the notorious extent of human calamity consciously being caused by man. Notably so far include the wars of: Nigeria Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Chad, Congo, Angola, Algeria, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Mozambique, Namibia, Colombia, Philippines, Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, India/Pakistan, Iran, Israel/Palestine, Chechnya, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Afghanistan Lebanon and Iraq etc.
I use animal and other forms of folklores, inspired by my grandmother earlier in my life in making my story. That offers me better and familiar means of addressing young ones as I was who will be the leaders of tomorrow. I do think that most of the national leaders who take most of the decisions to go to war, have done so mainly because the common literatures of their childhood did not discourage but glorified war to them. I hate war and I write against war!
This narrative also shows animals with senses of humour, love, organisation, choice, friendship, survival and family etc. This helps us to compare our attitudes with the characteristics of animals as a mirror of human behaviours, in order to see the images of our selves. Such abstraction turns us into the audience, to watch the stage replica of man’s worst social vice, in a simple and unforgettable form.
This story is a symbolic tale a grandfather would tell his grandchildren, showing the huge world of mankind with a small village setting. The text is written in verses of seven lines, for easy reading and clear understanding. It reduces greater realities into the lowest common forms. War although serious, is reconstructed into a dramatic satire to make mockery of it.
The story is principally meant for juniors of 10-20years old. But it is not my intention to impose limits on the literary values that could be derived by the adults likewise. Human community is shown as an animal society. The human occupation transforms to animal behaviour. A particular animal therefore represents a large sector of human profession.
- The vulture (scavenger bird) represents material interests
- The owl (nocturnal wondering bird) represents public rumour
- The bat (seeming coal-dirty like a blacksmith) represents weapon industries
- The weaverbirds (noisily clustering coloured birds) represent news media
- The lion, shark and hawk (flesh devouring animals) represent military profession
- The mantis (seemingly meditative creature) represents the religions
- The dove (peaceful and friendly) represents pacifisms
- The sheep and ram (very feminine and masculine respectively) represent Love
- The cocks and frogs (periodic noise raisers) represent the state propaganda etc.
The Earth is also recreated into an animal planet made up of only three continental nations without man.
Those are: Amaland, the nation of land animals
Zaquinia, the nation of water animals
Airecia, the nation of air animals
Among the main characters in the drama are:
Banetus a Vulture businessman
Sadowin an Owl Sadist war monger
Domigan an Elephant king of Amaland
Megalord a Whale king of Zaquinia
Hugozone an Eagle king of Airecia
Patrick a Parrot diplomat Airecian Foreign Minister
Titus a Lion Amaland Military Head and Defence Minister
Chaka a Shark Zaquinian Defence Minister
Morana a Dove Peace maker
Babarube a Mantis Religious preacher
Gregory and Gloria are Ram and Sheep Lovers….
Names of persons and places are freely adopted or invented. The reader should apply the common sense of symbolism. This is necessary in order to receive with ease the simple but boundless messages to be found in this story of Nature.
It remains an irony, despite the present level of human development, that life on earth is continually endangered by the acts of man himself. The claim of human civilization, so far agreeable, is questionable if the civilized man of today still misbehaves, even worse than the uncivilized person of yesteryears.
I set out with NIGHTFALL IN PARADISE to give a word to someone and leave a voice for all. Both to, re-awake our consciousness and to build better tomorrow. I hope the book will be a source of inspiration, helping to make wiser decisions and leading to greater general life equilibrium.
