Obo Aba Hisanjani is a Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

n poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

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He was born in the small village of Ajah

Ajah

Ajah may refer to:*A subdivision of Aes Sedai society, one of the Concepts in the Wheel of Time series see Ajah *Ajah *The American Journal of Ancient History...

, now a bustling marketplace

Marketplace

A marketplace is the space, actual, virtual or metaphorical, in which a market operates. The term is also used in a trademark law context to denote the actual consumer environment, ie. the 'real world' in which products and services are provided and consumed.-Marketplaces and street markets:A...

. He has campaigned against the development and exploitation of the surrounding areas for purely commercial purposes. In a television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 interview

Interview

An interview is a conversation between two people where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee.- Interview as a Method for Qualitative Research:"Definition" -...

 in 2001 he spoke about the loss of traditional land rights

Land rights

Land law is the form of law that deals with the rights to use, alienate, or exclude others from land. In many jurisdictions, these species of property are referred to as real estate or real property, as distinct from personal property. Land use agreements, including renting, are an important...

 and values.

Known in Lagos as the Bushman Poet, he is known for his native rhythm

Rhythm

Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...

s and complex Yoruba

Yoruba language

Yorùbá is a Niger–Congo language spoken in West Africa by approximately 20 million speakers. The native tongue of the Yoruba people, it is spoken, among other languages, in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo and in communities in other parts of Africa, Europe and the Americas...

 rhyme

Rhyme

A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words and is most often used in poetry and songs. The word "rhyme" may also refer to a short poem, such as a rhyming couplet or other brief rhyming poem such as nursery rhymes.-Etymology:...

s. His main themes cover traditional practices. He was criticised by many politicians in the 1980s for being against modernisation.

He is currently the Nigerian Poet Laureate

Poet Laureate

A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...

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List of works

• Èdè Yorùbá (1965)
• ÁLÍFÁBËÊTÌ YORÙBÁ (1966)
• Egbe Isokan Egbe Omo (1971)
• Oyibos are a comin (1982) (translated as 'Whitemen are coming')
• Ade Oyibos (1991) (trans. The Royal Banana Man / White Man)