Ibadan Book Club Organises Poem and Essay Competition In Honour of Late Ajimobi (See How To Participate)

Ibadan Book Club, a book reading platform of the Society of Young Nigerian Writers (SYNW) is pleased to announce a special anthology of poems and essays in honour of the immediate past governor of Oyo State, Senator Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi.

Senator Isiaka Abiola Adeyemi Ajimobi (born on the 16th of December 1949) was a Nigerian Politician and from Oyo State, south-western Nigeria. He was formerly the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the National Oil and Chemical Marketing Company, a subsidiary of Shell Petroleum, Nigeria.

In 2003, he became a Senator of the Republic of Nigeria. He was a principal officer in the Senate, serving as the Deputy Minority leader of the Senate.

During his senate days, in 2005, he established the first and the largest FREE VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTER, in Oyo State. This Center has been recognized and certified both as a partner and training center by the Industrial Training Fund of the Federal Government.

In 2007, he contested the gubernatorial election under the umbrella of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) but lost the election bid. He contested again in 2011 under the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and was elected in a keenly contested election.

As the incumbent, he contested for a second term in an election that took place on April 11, 2015. He contested under the All Progressive Congress (APC) for a second time against 2 of his predecessors in office, Christopher Alao Akala and Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja and was listed by The Punch Newspaper as one of the 4 candidates contesting in the election. In the event of his re-election into office as the Governor, he achieved a remarkable feet by becoming the first person to occupy the highest seat twice and as well in succession. He was declared the winner of the Oyo State gubernatorial election by the Independent Electoral Commission.

On the 19th of June 2020, Ajimobi was admitted to First Cardiologist and Cardiovascular Consultants Hospital in Lagos after slipping into coma following Covid-19 complications. He was declared dead on 25 June 2020.

To this end, (a) collection of poems and essays is/are thus being prepared to honour him and
recognize his contributions to humanity especially the people of Oyo State and Ibadan in particular. Hence, friends, well-wishers, political fans, followers, colleagues are thereby invited to contribute poems/essays of significant insights on any specific or broad themes relating to Senator Abiola Ajimobi, his political ideology and legacy.

Submission Rules

• Language Medium – English and Yoruba
• Genre – Poetry/Essays
• No restriction on themes but strictly on the Late Senator Abiola Ajimobi
• Poems should be between the minimum of 20 lines and maximum of 40 lines while Essays should be between the minimum of 150 and the maximum of 300.
• Entrants should send the following information alongside their entries
• Name
• Age

iii. Gender

• Location
• Phone Number
• Where you heard about the Call for entries
• Name of school or university if any
• A Sentence of not more than 50 words describing the poem.
• Permission to publish your work among the shortlisted entries.
• Title of your mail should be addressed as “Entry in Honor of Senator Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi”
• All entries must be submitted to: ibadanbookclub@gmail.com and also copy societyofyoungnigerianwriters@gmail.com.
• Deadline for Submission is 1st of September, 2020.
• Any signs of plagiarism will disqualify the entrant.
• Submissions must be only in MS Word
• Organizer’s decision is final
• The Anthology is expected to be out around October of this year.

Benefits

• Award of Certificates of Participation to all Entrants.
• Award of Certificates of Excellence to only the shortlisted entrants.
• Only shortlisted work(s) will be published in e-book format
• Only the published Poets/Essayists will be invited for a special reading in honour of the immediate past governor of Oyo State
• Automatic membership into the Ibadan Book Club (IBC).

For more enquiries please call Wole Adedoyin on 08072673852 (whatsapp), 08136577687 or email: woleadedoyin@gmail.com