By Canute Tangwa (Originally published in The Post after the death of BB on March 8, 2007)
Prologue: Thanks to Auntie Becky Ndive, the late Teh Che Augustine and I used to present a Literary Half Hour programme over CRTV Buea. We invited writers and freethinkers from within and without the academy. When Teh Che left, I ran the programme alone with the assistance of Edward Aminkeng.I decided to invite my teacher, friend and counsellor, Bate Besong alias BB, the Obasinjom Warrior and The Writer As Tiger! It was vintage BB.
I ushered him into the ramshackle CRTV Buea studio. As usual, he was full of energy and momentum. I signalled the technician to turn on the signal tune for the programme to begin. Loo! The lights went out! Darkness! He cursed. He was cocksure it was the handiwork of the "corrupt banditti"; those he had been railing at in his poems, plays and essays. Those who have disgraced our fatherland!
GENERAL MATTERS: It was a not-too-pleasant incident in high school that brought me very close to BB. I had just left CCAST BAMBILI for Bilingual Grammar School Molyko. By all standards, I was not a 'normal' student; I believed strongly that I could attend classes for one year at Molyko and pass the GCE Advanced Level in the Arts. Thanks to a bet between the then Principal, Ekwa Adolf, and my cousin I was admitted in early November. My cousin won!
When BB walked into class to deliver his lesson, he noticed a strange face. In his characteristic jerky, staccato tone, he told me to walk out and muttered something like failures that swell our ranks. However, my bosom friend, Nick Kaba, hinted that there was a test on The Swamp Dwellers the following week.
After school, I stopped at Francis Wache's place. He willingly gave me a copy of The Writer As Tiger by Femi Osofisan. I browsed through it. A week later, BB, dressed in jeans, a danshiki and thick soled sandals, breezed into class clutching marked scripts under his armpit. "Who is Canute?" he barked.
I thought he wanted to throw me out again or I had performed poorly. I stood up.
"Come here, Come here. Your paper is the best. Have you ever heard of the myth of Canute?" he stammered.
That was the click. BB became my friend and counsellor.
SUBSTANCE: Bate Besong was a strong breed in the mould of Wole Soyinka. He was the torchlight of renascent-progressive Anglophone literature.
His poems, plays and essays are vivid snapshots of our chequered history. In other words, the works of BB were obscure or difficult to those who did not know or understand our history. As a visionary writer, BB constantly fought against dictatorship, human rights abuse, and 'the cancer of betrayal'.
Adios BB!
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