Obaba Museum

There’s a picture that stayed with me since secondary school – Jaja Wachukwu sitting at the United Nations, eyes closed as if he was fast asleep. My classmates and I used to joke about it, wondering how a man could doze off in such an important meeting. For years, we believed that story. We never really asked questions. We never verified.

That’s the scary part. Not that we were wrong, but that no one corrected us. We didn’t have a history teacher then, so that photograph became just another meme in our young minds. Only later did I find out that “the sleeping man” wasn’t asleep at all.

He was protesting.

In 1960, Jaja Wachukwu, Nigeria’s first ambassador to the United Nations, was denied the right to speak after a condescending remark was made toward him. So he sat back, closed his eyes, and folded his arms, not in rest, but in silent defiance. That simple act of quiet dignity spoke louder than any speech could.

It’s fascinating how one image can hold two completely different stories: one born of ignorance, and another of courage.

Years later, when I learned the truth, it made me think about how many “sleeping men” we’ve misjudged in history, people whose actions we didn’t understand because no one told us the full story. It reminded me of the importance of teaching history, of looking twice before we conclude.

Maybe that’s what storytelling does, it wakes us up.