Kenya’s celebrated lawyer Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba popularly known as PLO ‘s oratolly skills have spread beyond Kenya with frequent speaking engagement across the globe.
The learned friend has recently received a standing ovation while addressing an audience that included several Nollywood stars who attended the Face of Okija a cultural event aimed at celebrating and preserving Igbo culture.
In his characteristic careful and well articulated diction, Lumumba laid tribute to great Igbos and Nigerians in general for their contribution in literature and in the movie industry.
“I remember ober 25 years ago when I started going to school, I heard about this land of Igbo from great writers such as Chinua Achebe. If it wasn’t Chinua reading, I was reading the poetry of Christopher Igbo. If I wasn’t reading Florence Nwapa and if I wasn’t reading Florence, I was reading Wole Soyinka.”
“Even in those days, I was able to recognize that what a young man cannot see from the top of the iroko tree, an old man will see sitting down,” he said at the onset of his speech.
The Professor added that Nigerians had also helped place Africa on the global map through the Nigerian movie industry (Nollywood) that now competes with USA’s Hollywood and India’s Bollywood.
“If Hollywood and Bollywood thought we could not produce movies, the great Pete Edochie and Yul Edochie have emerged. We not only have Yul and Pete, we have Genevieve Nnaji and Patience Ozokwor. If we go further to the land of Oduduwa, Olu Jacobs is present in our minds,” Lumumba stated eliciting a standing ovation from Pete Odochie who was present at cultural event.
Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adechie also delivered a guest speech alongside the Kenyan lawyer.
The former KACC director was recently deported from Zambia while preparing to deliver a speech on Chinese dominance in Africa.