•Holds birthday exhibition
By Henry Akubuiro
Since 1983, the tip of Albert Oham’s brush has given birth to images that fill us with mirth and trigger wild emotions. Laced with sarcasm, they make us circumspect about overreaching the devil and fill us with bouts of laughter. With precision, he makes a light work of complex ideas, reminding us about the true definition of genius. Cartoon is a forte in which he has etched his name in gold. In four decades, it hasn’t rained but poured for Ohams.
The legendary Nigerian cartoonist and artist will be turning 60 by August 30, 2025. For Ohams, it is a birthday like no other, and let the drums roll! A special exhibition has been lined up to make the day memorable, together with other activities. “Sixty years is a landmark year,” he told Daily Sun. “We have to give thanks to God for his journey so far in a profession that started in 1983 as an artist.”
After secondary education in the early 1980s, his art career took off with an Aba-based newspaper, Weekly Eagle, owned by Dr. K.O. Mbadiwe, from where he joined another Aba-based newspaper called Nation, owned by Nwakamma Okoro. But his journey to stardom started when he relocated to Lagos in 1984 after the Buhari coup that ousted President Shehu Shagari. He enrolled at Yabatech to study fine art and had stints with Vanguard, Prime People, Vintage, and Ikebe Super.
In 1994, he travelled to Israel for an exhibition and returned to Nigeria in 1997, thus, making history as the first Nigerian artist to have an exhibition at the Nigerian embassy at Tel Aviv, thanks to Ignatius Olisemeka, former Nigerian ambassador to Israel. He was to join Champion newspaper as chief cartoonist after that spell in 1988. A goldfish, it is said, has no hiding place. So, in 2003, he was employed by Daily Sun as chief cartoonist, where he has remained till date. With fidelity to excellence, Ohams, has earned a chapter in the lore of Nigeria’s greatest cartoonists.
The forthcoming exhibition on the 30th of August is a reflection of his journey as an artist so far. He said: “The exhibition is to showcase some of the works I have done over the years as a painter. At least 20 selected works will be on display to accommodate the space provided by the gallery.” They include paintings and cartoons. It would be a convergence of his fans, collectors, and those who have supported him throughout his career.
One of his biggest clients is former Anambra State governor and Nigerian Labour Minister, Dr. Chris Ngige. Unconsciously, he earned a place in his heart by drawing a cartoon in Daily Sun depicting the embattled governor in a toilet surrounded by security men and hovering flies. “That cartoon attracted him,” recalled Ohams, “but I never met him until much later after he had resigned as the state governor and was trying to recontest as a governor when I encountered him in a gathering of Igbo journalists, and he asked me to come over to his table. He joked with me, and we took pictures. Since then, he has been nice to me and my family.”
Some of his fans include the high and mighty. Ohams was surprised, one day, when the former EFCC Chairman and current Chief Security Adviser to Nigerian president, Nuhu Ribadu, reached out to him, during a visit to Lagos from Abuja, through his media aide. “I was reluctant at first at first, because I thought it was a gimmick to lure me and arrest me. But when I went there, he was happy to see me. He is also one of my greatest admirers.”
A cartoonist, like Ohams, is a social critic. Sometimes he steps on the toes of powerful people, unwittingly. In his days in Champion newspaper, he cartooned Nigeria’s maximum ruler, General General Sani Abacha, and there was an outcry by the military government. “Most cartoons are a mixture of humour and serious issues to make those in government and individuals to sit up,” he said. He was alarmed when two strange men visited the Champion newspaper office along Apapa-Oshodi Expressway looking for him.
Suspecting them to be government security agents, he escaped from the office to save his skin. There was another incident when his son, who bears the same name as him, now in London, got into trouble at Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo, where he was schooling and was being attacked because of his father’s cartoons. “Some people thought he was the one doing the cartoons,” he recalled. “I was using my full name, ‘Albert Ohams’, then, in my cartoons at that time. Those attacks on my son made me start signing off my cartoons as ‘Ohams’ only. Each time they accosted my son, he would tell them the cartoonist was his father, and not him; but they were still angry.
“They accused me of being paid to attack some state governors in the South East. I didn’t know whether they were cultists or agents hired by the government. The hit became so much for my son that he dropped out of school in his final year. He was very afraid for his life. I told him to return to Lagos. He even told me to stop this work to save our lives. But I told I was passionate about the job.”
Asking Ohams to pick his best cartoons wasn’t going to elicit a cryptic answer. He remembered two cartoons he did on an EFCC in Daily Sun – the first, on a detainee and the second when an EFCC vehicle looking for politicians parked at Oshodi, forcing even market women to scamper in fright. “That cartoon fetched me an award at the Nigeria Media Merit Awards in 2000,” he said. Another unforgettable cartoon he did at Ikebe Super on a diminutive randy man with a limp phallus.
He was nominated eight times for NMMA (and won twice), Dame Award for Media Excellence four times, and won the Soyinka Prize once. He has also done many works for foreign concerns. A German publishing outfit, who came across one of his works online, reached out to him to use it on two occasions. Also, the Center for Cartoon Studies, USA, invited him to talk with their students in 2012, where he spent two weeks. He has also had exhibitions in London.
The Daily Sun Chief Cartoonist runs an art school – the Brush Centre – where he trains young artists. After the exhibition on August 30, he intends to donate drawing materials to one or two schools. “It is part of my 60th birthday package. We are raising funds for that. I want to encourage them. I also want parents to allow their children to follow their passion if they can paint and draw. Everybody must not be a lawyer, engineer, journalist or doctor. Art can put food on your table and it can take you to greater heights,” he said.