(This article has already been published in Daily Trust newspaper of Tuesday, February 13, 2007)

After my article, Re: Kongi’s Rebellion, a reply to Mohammad Al-Ghazali’s Kongi’s Rebellion of 23th January 2007, was published in Daily Trust newspaper of 6th February, 2007, I was bombarded by text messages and emails from all over the country.

The first was from a Yoruba man who said and I quote, “You are my man and God will surely multiply your wisdom. I’m very glad reading your rejoinder on Kongi’s Rebellion and guess you have placed Al-Ghazali where he belongs. Thanks. I’ll try to mail you. I am Ajibose Omotayo.”

 The second was from an angry undergraduate in Faculty of Law, ABU, Zaria , and I quote, “Just read your rejoinder in the Daily Trust. Since the Daily and Weekly Trust papers are sectional papers how comes you patronize them? It is a shame people like you still exist. What then is the difference between your rejoinder and that of Al-Ghazali piece? From Abdul Muhammad.”

And another goes like this, “Re:Kongi’s Rebellion. George, Please try and be objective in future. Nobody can take it from Soyinka, he has proven over the years to be xenophobic towards the Hausas, and Moslems.”

The former was a Yoruba man who thought I was supporting a Yoruba man, and the latter were Hausas who thought I was condemning a Hausa man for a Yoruba man. It is the Nigerian way, and for me with no apologies, what I had written, Re:Kongi’s Rebellion, was my own personal opinion on Muhammad Al-Ghazali’s Kongi’s Rebellion and nothing more.

I have read ‘The Man Died’ and it left me with no doubt why some section of the north see the writer of that piece as xenophobic and even accuse him of tribalism. Wole Soyinka , Nigeria ’s literary icon and 1986 winner of Nobel Prize for literature, has himself not done much to be tagged a nationalist. I would say he is not a nationalist, but who is or who has been in Nigerian history? Tell me.

During my undergraduate years in Bayero University , Kano , studying History, I never came across Soyinka’s The Man Died. I wish I had. It would have helped me more in understanding the 1967 to 1970 Nigerian civil war. The book was simply not available anywhere and I only had the opportunity of reading the book sometimes years after I had completed my NYSC. After the first three chapters of a very difficult book of lamentation I knew why the book was banned by the Yakubu Gowon administration, or so I heard that the book was banned. The Man Died is capable of inciting, stimulation, and provocation, and still is.

Soyinka simply blamed the north for causing all the problems. Who wouldn’t? This man had been locked up by the administration of Yakubu Gowon, a government perceived as a northern government, until the end of the war for conniving with the Biafran government which the Federal Government of Nigeria saw as treason. But then The Man Died is not a historical book. It is the experience of the author who was imprisoned during the civil war and his opinion about and of the war.

Wole Soyinka should have known that some posterity of northern breed would never forget or forgive him for The Man Died and that most of them would never see the book as a personal reflection of an author’s experience but as an insult. But then in reality what has changed from Soyinka’s The Man Died and today’s Nigeria ? Not much I tell you. But then who wants reality? We are a superstitious and highly sentimental people and reality is the last thing we all want to hear in Nigeria . And the reality is that Igbos and other natives of Nigeria are still being massacred in Moslem dominated northern Nigeria on any flimsy reason, be it Danish cartoon or United States war on terror far off the shore of Africa. I have watched hundreds died in what seem like images from the movie Hotel Rwanda . Tribalism, nepotism, religious bigotry, and hypocrisy are still the garments of most Nigerians and we all wear it shamelessly. During the Sharia imbroglio hundreds were massacred in Kaduna , Jos, Kano , and they were retaliations in the Igbos eastern part of Nigeria . These were human beings we are talking about here. But who cares?

I wouldn’t mention the Niger-Delta because it is a different kind of problem all together. The Niger-Delta people claimed they are fighting against marginalization by the Nigerian government and the oil companies. It is not a tribal thing, religious or ethnicity.

What Soyinka failed to do is identifying with the north. I haven’t heard him give lectures in Bayero University , Kano , or University of Sokoto , or in the University of Maiduguri . He has managed somehow to isolate himself from the north. Soyinka must know that as a Nobel Prize winner all Nigerians want to identify with him and isolating himself from certain parts would only result to mordant criticisms by the intelligentsias from that part that he never liked them anyway.

I respect a man who says his mind and refuse to follow the crowd, and Wole Soyinka is that man. Like Karl Marx said, “follow your beat no matter what people say.”

The replies I got from those fellow Nigerians shows a divided country. We are only united when the Nigerian Super Eagles are playing a football match, and after the match we withdraw back into our shells of suspicion, xenophobia, and even hatred and disgust for one another. I don’t expect praises from any Yoruba or insult from any Hausa person because I express an opinion in a newspaper. Wole Soyinka to me is not a Hausa, Igbo or a Yoruba, from west, north, south or east, but a Nigeria who has excelled in the field of literature and is supposed to be a person to be celebrated by all Nigerians.

Robot  Villager

# 1 Wole Soyinka to me is not a Hausa, Igbo or a Yoruba, from west, north, south or east, but a Niger...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 15.02.2007 23:50

Oguguo Yakere  Villager

# 2 George, What a master piece of bitter truth you have written about one of, if not the most conscientious and vocal Nigerian of today. It is well known that no leader can bribe, buy or intimidate Wole Soyinka the way Nigerian leaders often do. First they bribe you, buy you and then possess you so that you remain faithful to them for ever no matter what evil they do. If you rebel after the process you do so at your own risk including loosing your life. Among many of such people Fani Kayode who will never see anything wrong with OBJ activities comes to mind. There used to be some fiery writers on the Nigerian web. One Rev. Father Ihenacho comes to my mind amongst many, but they have all gone silent leaving one to wonder why. As regards Wole's movements within Nigeria, please let us leave him with and trust his intuitions. Abacha did pronounce death sentence on him, but he escaped and did not return to Nigeria until God himself cleard the way. Wole Soyinka I believe takes intelligent precautions and need not be blamed for not risking his life by exposure to Nigerian killers. Even here in the United States and during Abacha's regime, he had to be sheilded and thank God that he is still alive today. There are people who are routing for Pat Utomi from both sides of their mouth, but not Wole Soyinka. He means it and that settles it for him. There are people who truly stand for equity, truth and justice in Nigeria. But they are the ones who when they become vocal get eliminated. Even the one charged to protect justice at the higest level positionally, Bola Ige got killed and nothing has come out of that. That is Nigeria for us. So Wole is too smart for them. He is human and not perfect but he has superceded all our elite who are either bribed or honor-awarded into silence or are so scared of speaking out that they sometimes even say "yes" when "no" is what is in their minds just to appease the evil leader. If for example a world renoun writer like Chinua Achebe had been half as vocal as Wole Soyinka, the level of credibility of Nigerian oppressors would have been considerably reduced in the international arena. A reference point is the high significance of his (Chinua's) rejection of Obasanjo's corruption riddled "national award". That rejection echoed both at home and in the diaspora. If he Chinua had continued in that trend and had been joined by others in their category of Nigerian elite, there would have been less impunity in the political nefarious activities in Nigeria since then. At the same time in the diaspora OBJ's so called friends some of who are better called co-looters of Nigeria would have been a little more hesitant in organizing the recent New York party and honor for him and also by extension NIDO in Toronto. What a wasted time and money. This is not to say that Wole Soyinka is perfect (and nobody is); but if we follow his track record of bodly addressing destructive issues that have been emanating from leaders that ruined Nigeria, we would see him as outstanding. His writings, lectures and interviews stand out and have been very effective in clipping the wings of Nigeria evil emperors. Finally, let me add that Wole Soyinka has the biggest credit for whatever the defunct NADECO may have achieved. A major part of that is the clearing of the way for a civilian government the opportunity of which which unfortunately the military boys captured to enthrone "their man". Yakere Posted by Oguguo Yakere| 16.02.2007 11:16

tanibaba  Villager

# 3 nice one but i think the prof. may have good reasons not to deliver lectures in those places. Perhaps the reasons given in your essay are enough for my people there to invite him for such an event in the first instance. taslim Posted by tanibaba| 16.02.2007 11:31