‘How I advised Ulli Beier not to use Obotunde Ijimere again’

Writer, poet and dramatist, Chief Ifayemi Elebuibon who trained under the late Duro Ladipo and his patron, Ulli Beier, reveals why the German never wrote using the inventive pseudonym again after just one publication.

LOVERS of African literature, particularly the Heinemann African Writers Series, know that Obotunde Ijimere, the author of ‘The Imprisonment of Obatala and Other Plays’ was none other than the late Ulli Beier.

The German teacher and anthropologist arrived in Nigeria in 1950 to teach phonetics at the University College, Ibadan but later immersed himself in Yoruba culture. He did extensive work in Osun State and was a patron of the late Duro Ladipo. Beier also wrote extensively on Yoruba culture and organised several art workshops alongside his wife, Georgina from which master artists emerged. These include Jimoh Buraimoh, Muraina Oyelami, Adebisi Fabunmi, Taiwo Olaniyi Osuntoki (Twins Seven-Seven), Rufus Ogundele and Jacob Afolabi.

After Heinemann published ‘The Imprisonment of Obatala and Other Plays’ in 1966, it never released any other publication using the pseudonym again.

Clarifying why this was so in an interview in his Osogbo, Osun State home, poet, playwright and Ifa priest, Chief Ifayemi Elebuibon, disclosed that Beier and his first wife, Susanne Wenger (Adunni Olorisha) loved monkeys. They raised them in a room in their house on Ibokun Road but didn’t know about the treachery of the Ijimere (red patas monkey) as recorded in Yoruba mythology.

Elebuibon said: “He took it as his pen name because he loved monkeys. He had them as pets. We sat together one day and he asked that I told him about monkeys. I told him that Ijimere betrayed his boss. He then disclosed that he had chosen Obotunde Ijimere as his pen name.

“I narrated to him how Alakedun was a close confidant of Obatala.  All the other deities met and resolved not to drink palm wine again; Obatala used to drink palm wine then. And because Obatala had joined the others to stop taking palm wine, he would mash ‘eko’ (agidi) into his gourd and sip occasionally from it. Alakedun, his confidant, then went to tell the others that Obatala was still drinking.

“The others were amazed and asked if he was sure. He told them when he [Obatala] comes, ask him to bring out his gourd. But he was ignorant. He knew his boss was still taking a white substance and assumed it was palm wine. So, when they all got to Obatala’s house, they accused him of reneging on their agreement but he denied. They told him to bring out the gourd in his house. He did and poured out the content. They tasted it and it was pap.

“They told him it was Alakedun that came to tell them that he was still drinking palm wine. He sent for Alakedun and asked him why he spread falsehood. He said that it was because he saw the white content. That was how Obatala cursed him. That he should become an animal. When Ulli heard this, he said he never knew. He said he liked the name Ijimere but that he would stop using it henceforth. That’s why ‘The Imprisonment of Obatala’ is the only book he wrote as Obotunde Ijimere.”

The Araba Awo of Osogbo land and mentee of the German whose archives are in the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding, Osogbo also revealed the German’s impact on his life.

“Whenever Ulli had any collection to put together, he would ask me about the corresponding Odu Ifa. He asked questions like how Yoruba burials are conducted? What type of song do they sing? Any play that we wanted to stage, we will workshop it alongside my boss, Duro Ladipo and Ulli. That was how I started learning to script. Working with Ulli was beneficial to me as a writer because all the books he wanted to write, his Yoruba Myths, the majority of the stories were from me. By sitting with him, I was able to learn playwriting.”

Though Beier had mischievously created a fictitious persona for Obotunde Ijimere, he revealed years later that he was the one.

In ‘The Return of Shango: The Theatre of Duro Ladipo’ (1994) and ‘Yoruba Poetry (2002)’, he explained that he had drawn heavily upon the anonymous oral poems he had been collecting, transcribing, and translating since the early 1950s, with the help of Yoruba scholars and friends.  He, therefore, felt he could not use his individual name for such a collective enterprise.

“I felt that the plays had just ‘happened’; a specific set of circumstances had led to their creation, but hardly made me into a playwright. I hoped, of course, that they might be performed, and that they would be thought useful by Ladipo.

“I chose the name Ijimere, my favourite monkey. It walked with dignity through the savannah, and when you approached it by car, it gave you a defiant look before moving slowly out of the way. Among the Yoruba, it enjoyed a reputation of wisdom. It was also an obvious pseudonym. Every Yoruba knew that nobody could be called Obotunde Ijimere and it was therefore not very difficult for them to guess who the author might be.”

Beier, who worked in Ede, Ilobu, Okuku and Osogbo among others, passed on 2011.

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