Su’eddie

Last night my entire maternal family (OBF is what we call ourselves) held our breath as we watched and waited for the revealing of the winner of The Nigeria Prize for Literature.

One of ours, Su’eddie Vershima Agema had emerged among the three finalists for 2022.

We waited together on our whatsapp group as we kept ourselves occupied with discussions and jokes from the live broadcast of the Grand Award Night. The tension was really high for us all; we really wanted our Su’eddie to win. Besides the honour of being named the winner, winning came along with a “token” of One Hundred Thousand US Dollars.

The moment came, the winner was announced. It was not my Su.

Su as I prefer to call him is my brother and my friend. He is also my mentor and muse when it comes to writing. He is a pain in my neck whenever I go long periods without writing something. He still remains a pain concerning an unfinished project I have been working on. He is the same way even with himself, he starts a thing, he pushes himself and he completes it. He is a hard worker. He is diligent.

OBF took the news well, we went ahead to congratulate him because to us, being top 3 is a big deal.

Dear Su, I know there are more finalist positions, nominations and wins ahead.

Love you loads.