The book: “Nimi the Warrior Girl: The Chronicles of the Undesirables 1,” is a surrealist fiction and fable fiction written by Abiose Falade and Damilola Otun.
It was published in 2021 by Commune Writers in Lagos.
Abiose Falade, a disability advocate, is a graduate of Mass Communication and Media Technology from Lead City University, Ibadan. She is a Co-founder of Angel Wings, an NGO that caters to the needs of persons with disabilities in Africa. And her co-author, Damilola Otun, is a graduate of Nursing from the University of Ibadan.
The work is a fiction set in the ancient times. It is also set somewhere between heaven and earth. And we read in the book about Ilaro where in the ancient times, people dump their deformed children because of the threats of killing by a Baale who is afraid of being dethroned by a promised future king on a chair. So in this village, parents who give birth to deformed children dump their children in the jungle, by the river bank, out of fear that the Baale will kill them. These children are thus left to the mercy of preying on carnivorous animals or the vagaries of nature.
In the book, we also meet Adunni, the wife of Boluwatife, a well-respected hunter in Ibadan. One morning, Adunni meets an old man on her way and he warns her to flee to another village in order to save her unborn child. This encounter with the mysterious old man shocks her because nobody, including her husband, knows about her pregnancy. But the old man simply sternly warns her against telling anyone in order to save the child from harm. According to the old man, this child will be special, and will save generations to come.
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But we read that Aja, the guardian of the forest, and Malika, two creatures chosen by Eledumare, are regularly parading the forests to rescue such children as may be thrown away by the mortals. These children are described as undesirables by the mortals. So this day that we meet Aja and Malika, they both wonder aloud why humans can wickedly dump children with disabilities in the forest, exposing them to preying carnivorous animals.
In this book, we read about a place called Agbedemeji Aye Orun (the meeting point between heaven and earth), where our protagonist, Nimi and other deformed children are kept, trained and prepared for their future role of saving their people back in Aye. Agbedemeji is an extraterrestrial location where the undesirables are given special training in spiritual and mental fitness which will help them to defend their people, and defeat the forces and agents of darkness haunting their land.
So after 19 years of tutelage under Malika and others, Nimi and her fellow undesirables graduate from their training and are released to their various places.
“Nimi the Warrior Girl, The Chronicles of the Undesirables 1” is a book which you would like to describe as a blend of surrealist fiction and fable.
It is a book that strongly condemns the rejection of persons with disabilities and shows at the same time that they are not to be discriminated against. It is a book crafted in the tradition of Fagunwa, and it is a beautifully written work. With this 69-page and 13-chapters work, the authors potently demonstrate creative imagination to transmit their message vividly with clear imagery and smooth narration.
. Olatunbosun is a broadcast journalist, fact-checker and book reviewer at Splash FM 105.5, Ibadan. He can be reached via 08023517565 (SMS and WhatsApp only) and email molatunbosun@splashfm1055.com.
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