Dillibe Onyeama Revives Popular Occult Book

By Rashidat Akashat

In the 70’s and 80’s, the sensational release of occult novels like Juju, Secret Society, Nigger at Eton, Sex Is a Nigga’s Game, Night Demon, Revenge of the Medicineman, Godfathers of Voodoo were bestselling, and their author Dillibe Onyeama seeks to revive them almost after three to four decades.

The books which successfully explored the world of African mystery and  root in sorcery and black magic activism, will be revived by Onyeama due to a recent high demand by readers.

We cannot certainly judge readers inclination towards a book which gives in debt analysis of African occult mysteries, neither can they be deduced to wanting to amass the wealth of knowledge this promises to infuse in them, but we are free to think whichever way we understand the reason for its high demand or not think at all.

In the second week of February, according to the Guardian, saw the release of two titles, Nigger at Eton and All Screwed Up, being influx into the market. The author who is also a publisher, will also launch the titles in Lagos and other parts of the country, and Juju will be released later in June.

All the occult titles are published in England by their original publishers, while the author’s publishing outfit Enugu-based Delta Publications Ltd will distribute the titles.

This year’s Black History month, will be commemorated with Dillibe’s Niger at Eton for its February reading event by 2pm, on Saturday, February 25 at Port Harcourt Book Centre (after Obi Wali Centre, beside Air Assault Golf Course, G.U Ake Road).

‘The Flaming Sword’

Dillibe will also introduce his readers to a new addition to his Occult books, ‘The Flaming Sword’ which took him 40 years to write.

The Juju author said “A U.K.-based American publisher, Mark Barty-King, who ultimately emerged Chairman of Transworld Publishing Group, which first commissioned my novel, Godfathers of Voodoo, was bowled over by the synopsis of The Flaming Sword, and wanted to see some specimen chapters. I elected to write the whole book without taking a commission and possibly disappointing him, and hand over a completed work. Some months before I finished the work some 38 years later, I was reading his obituary in disbelieving horror!

Based on the 2100 Pounds commission I received for Godfathers of Voodoo in 1980, which was 256 pages, this could have been anything as high as 5000 Pounds for 600 pages. But I elected to forego the carrot of a handsome commission and complete the book and hand over the finished project.”

His passion to revive these books is the high demand “Demand is great within that realm of the mysterious, the occult, and the hidden life. There is that aspect of African life that is unexplored. In those days in London, my books were selling as much as 30,000 copies. There was great demand for them.”

Onyeama Fiction Results Of Raw Imagination

Onyeama’s fictions are drawn from pure imagination since he was only eight when he left Nigeria for London.

Reading his books, one would doubt that his powerful imagination were not a bit stupefied with his high judgement of facts and mysteries.

He spoke about the place of occult in today’s phenomenon, saying that despite the full evolution of globalization, occult reality in Africa cannot be blanked from her history and future.

During a telephone call from his base in Enugu, Onyema said “Even at eight, kinds are very receptive to culture. Occult or voodoo still serves the African man in a big way. The African man can hold the cross (of Christ) with one hand for the whole world to see and still hold his totem or occult symbol with the other hand. All are still used in a great deal; politicians and businessmen and women still use occult till this day. It’s a real world out there, the occult world, and it still works and mystifies the white man.”

Although, Onyeama is razed with excitement about his books, the state of Nigeria’s publishing scene is a write-off from his lamentations.

Guardian mentioned that the prolific author lamented that booksellers are the stumbling block of book business, he said the money most book sellers owe him can be estimated up to six figures which is completely unacceptable.

“Booksellers don’t pay their debt; they make the business difficult for us.”

Therefore, the author and publisher has created a new policy of cash and carry at Delta Publishers Ltd.