Nigerian poet Tares Oburumu has said the country is still grappling with the unresolved consequences of the Civil War, arguing that historical denials, untold stories and the failure to address grievances continue to shape national life.
Oburumu made the observation in an interview published by Olongo Africa on September 28, 2026, in which he discussed the themes of his poetry collection, Flora’s Love Colony, his creative influences and his views on colonialism, racism and Nigeria’s national identity.
The collection is shortlisted for the 2026 Nigeria Prize for Literature, which carries a $100,000 award.
Speaking about the Civil War and its continuing effects, Oburumu said the conflict remained unresolved in the country’s collective consciousness despite the passage of time.
“The war is history. The point where the past and the present continually meet. In the absence of cannonballs, the battlefield shifted to the psyche,” he said.
He argued that the Nigerian state had failed to address sensitive national questions adequately, warning that the use of force against demands for redress could deepen divisions.
“You do not quell a people’s demand for redress with violence. Violence only breeds violence,” he said.
According to the poet, the consequences of the war extend beyond the historical conflict and continue to affect Nigerians emotionally and socially.
“I am a partaker of that war by birth and by being human enough to know how it has evolved over the years. Either way, I am fighting it. Every Nigerian is still fighting it. Sometimes, emotionally,” he said.
Oburumu added that the poems dealing with the conflict were his way of expressing disappointment with the country’s history.
“The war has not ended because of denials, untold stories, and the existence of the same illusions that led to it. It finds expression in everything,” he said.
He concluded his reflections on Nigeria’s national identity with the statement: “We are absurdities. A mix of hills and rivers, landscapes and cities, quite haphazardly.”
The poet also criticised the colonial foundations of Nigeria’s national identity, arguing that the country’s name and political structure reflected an arrangement that prioritised geography and imperial interests over the distinct identities and aspirations of its people.
Oburumu said Nigeria’s naming by Flora Shaw, who later married colonial administrator Frederick Lugard, represented more than a geographical description.
“It wasn’t just a naming. A projection, which was a misjudgement on the part of the colonisers, defining the people merely by geography,” he said.
He argued that the process disregarded the people’s spirituality, culture, psychological outlook, dreams and aspirations.
“In that naming, there was no thought on the people’s distinct spirituality, their psyche, metaphysical leaning, culture, dreams, fears and aspirations in their own distinct spaces of existence,” he said.
The poet also linked Nigeria’s constitutional and political arrangements to its colonial experience, describing the country’s constitutional framework as an embarrassment.
“The constitution till date is an offshoot of the colonial experience. Nigeria is a constitutional embarrassment,” he said.
According to him, the country’s regional and state structures have continued to reproduce the divisions established under colonial rule.
“When you define a people by geography, you divide them. The idea of the State and the zoning of the States perpetuates the naming and the Empire,” he said.
Oburumu maintained that a fuller understanding of Nigeria’s past was necessary for the country to confront its present challenges.
He criticised the removal of history from the secondary school curriculum at a point in the country’s educational development, describing the move as an attempt at erasure.
“History is not entirely a thing of the past. It’s an evolving process that holds both the past and the present in a line of action, or events. It stands not to be obliterated,” he said.
He further argued that much of what Nigerians know about their past was recorded by outsiders, leaving important aspects of the country’s history inadequately documented from indigenous perspectives.
“Our history was written for us, not by us,” he said.
Oburumu questioned the historical narrative that credited Scottish explorer Mungo Park with discovering the River Niger, arguing that such accounts demonstrated the need to scrutinise inherited historical claims.
He also questioned the sources through which Nigerians learnt about the naming of their country, saying his research for Flora’s Love Colony repeatedly led him to British publications.
“The lion wasn’t there. It was the hunter’s history all along,” he said, drawing on the proverb about the need for lions to have their own historians.
The poet also addressed colourism and discrimination among Black people, recounting an incident that inspired his poem, The Gift, The Curse.
Oburumu said he witnessed people from Ebonyi State being ridiculed by other Igbo people while working on a farm in Awka, Anambra State.
He said some workers identified the Ebonyi people by their skin colour and manner of speaking before subjecting them to derogatory remarks.
The incident became particularly disturbing when, according to him, a dark-skinned girl was called the devil.
“The people of Ebonyi State, existing among the Igbos within the East are often subjected to ridicule because of their nature,” he said.
“Subtle incidences of this nature occur here and there in a country composed entirely of black people. One can only be utterly speechless,” he added.
Oburumu said he wrote the poem as an eyewitness to events that had almost traumatised him, although he declined to provide further details.
The interview also explored the influence of visual art on his poetry. Oburumu disclosed that he had been interested in painting from childhood and once attended painting classes without his mother’s knowledge.
He recalled saving money for the lessons despite the possibility of missing supper because the classes took place on Saturdays, when he was expected to help keep the family home tidy.
His first painting was a portrait of former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, which his family displayed prominently in their home.
“I was the only one absent and I had to choose between supper and painting. I chose painting,” he said.
Although he eventually abandoned painting, Oburumu said the interest resurfaced when he began writing poems inspired by the works of painters such as Rembrandt, Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh.
“How this second gift (I had thought I had only one gift) got mixed up with my poetry is astonishingly unbelievable,” he said.
He also traced his literary development to a late introduction to books. Oburumu said he had little access to reading materials until he was 14, when he discovered his father’s small collection of books.
His encounter with Christopher Okigbo’s Labyrinth proved particularly influential, especially the poem Mother Idoto.
He later explored the works of TS Eliot, Derek Walcott, Seamus Heaney and Tomas Tranströmer, whose use of language and complexity shaped his appreciation of poetry.
Oburumu said he was not primarily motivated by recognition or comparisons with established poets such as JP Clark, despite similarities that critics might identify in their work.
“I write because my life depends on it. It is the one gift God has given to me and I am grateful. And I am showing my appreciation by not giving up on it,” he said.
He recalled receiving a letter from a Sudanese reader who said one of his poems had helped him abandon thoughts of self-immolation, describing such responses as a meaningful form of validation.
On the historical locations featured in Flora’s Love Colony, including Ugep, Ikom, Oloibiri and Duke Town, Oburumu said he wanted to draw attention to places whose colonial and slave-trade histories deserved greater representation in Nigerian poetry.
He said his interest in Duke Town was particularly strong because of its colonial history and reminders of the suffering associated with slavery.
“It would be meaningful to record such places in the form of poetry too, so we could build a robust conversation around those towns which signify a common heritage we cannot ignore,” he said.
He expressed concern that contemporary Nigerian poets often looked towards American literary examples instead of exploring the country’s own historical experiences.
The poet also reflected on the theological questions in his work, including whether God could be associated with Western identity and why slavery and racism had been permitted.
Asked why some of his poems raised questions without offering answers, Oburumu said the problem lay partly in the failure of people and institutions to listen meaningfully.
“In a country where no one listens, where they merely appear to have paid attention, proffering solutions is as good as preferring none,” he said.
Discussing his use of the Greek mythological figure Sisyphus, popularised in Albert Camus’s philosophical writing, Oburumu said he saw parallels between the character’s endless struggle and the daily experiences of ordinary Nigerians.
“I am simply fascinated by Albert Camus’ creation. Even more fascinating is that you find that character in the quotidian life of the average Nigerian, watched over by those who think they are far ahead in the climb up the mountain, only to be stymied by that stone, as the poor are,” he said.
Oburumu won the 2014 GAP Poetry Prize and received the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poetry in 2022 for Origins of the Syma Species. His work has also been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize, in 2023 and 2024.
His latest collection, Flora’s Love Colony, progressed from 223 poetry submissions to a longlist of 11 books before reaching the final shortlist for the 2026 Nigeria Prize for Literature.
A graduate of Philosophy and Religion from the University of Benin, Oburumu has published poems in several literary journals, including African Writer Magazine, The Dawn Review, The Loch Raven Review, Yaba Left Review, Afapinen, Agbowo, Konya Shamsrumi, Connotation Press, Bluepepper, Woven Tales Press and Eunoia Review.
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