ABU IBRAHIM popularly known as IB is a Nigerian poet whose work has caused tremendous influence and change. His debut poetry album “Music Has Failed Us” was considered for a Grammy nomination at the 2022 awards. This body of work is available on all major streaming platforms. Some of his works have also been published in literary outfits in Nigeria, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and more. He has performed at the Pa Gya Literary Festival in Ghana, Lagos International Poetry Festival, Say It Out, Lagos Talks Town Hall Meetings, Nigeria National Chess Championship, Quramo Festival of Words, Global Poetry Meet organized by Poets of Bangalore, India, and more. He is the winner of the 2024 Poetry Journal Prize, recipient of the Lagos State University (LASU) Debate Society Impact Maker Award for Storytelling and Outstanding Impact, and the 2023 winner of the Port Harcourt Poetry Festival Poetry/Spoken Word Poetry Album of the Year.
Omi O L’ota
Ibrahim Abu
Omi O'Lota
by Abu Ibrahim
Fela said “omi o l’ota.” So we gave the ocean a wide berth. For we know first-hand never to trust
any entity that’s friends with everyone. Nothing ever stays neutral. The sea was the slave traders’
porch, and so was it our backyard. Water was the border between our home and the plantation.
For centuries the ocean waded her waves, strange men trickled in, and being close to the shore
was how one got dissolved into history. How generations got swept away by the tide of human
trade. How black bodies became anchors — thrown into the belly of the sea to steady ships. So
it’s never for surf when my people go close to the water — only for survival. Fishing is how we
try to cleanse our minds of the trauma. Swimming is how we relive the experience.
Translation: “Omi o l’ota” is a Yoruba saying which simply means water has no enemies.
