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“The man died in a man who keeps silent in the face of tyranny.” – Wole Soyinka.
If text messages were bullets I would be dead and gone by now. They cannonaded into my phone ceaselessly like bullets from the cartridge of an AK 47, from FCT to Lagos, Kano to Minna, Kaduna to as far as Sokoto, Yola, Zamfara, and all over northern Nigeria. I searched through to see if there was anyone to wish me ‘happy Valentine’s day’ but none came with love. They were mostly (98%) very angry messages and sometimes abusive. Few people actually called and those who called were all nice and told me they really enjoyed my articles, ‘Re: Kongi’s Rebellion’ and ‘Soyinka and a divided
Nigeria
,’ the latter which was published in the Daily Trust of 12th February, 2007, the former had earlier been published the week before.
I thought the text messages would stop soon but after three long weeks they kept coming and because of the misunderstanding of many northerners concerning the person of Wole Soyinka, I have decided to write to educate those who did not know and understand that personality.
The man Wole Soyinka have often been misinterpreted and misrepresented by the Nigerian media, from south to north, east and west. Like his poems, novels and numerous write ups, Wole Soyinka has remain an enigma, respected by those who understand him, feared by those who he often criticize, and despised by those who thought he is arrogant because all they know about him have been what they read in the Nigeria media in the past one and a half decade or thereabout.
Wole Soyinka is
Nigeria
’s most consistent social critic. It reflects in his work of art. He has been an ardent critic of the
Nigeria
government before independence. Now I have to define what a critic is because in
Nigeria
people assume a critic is cynic who only finds fault and see nothing good in other people’s activities. A critic is not what most of us assume. A critic is someone who draws attention to what ought to be done or what is not being done rightly by pointing at faults and at the same time commends and praises what has been done rightly and those who have done it. Criticism brings out the best in people, businesses, organizations and the governments etc.
If you have read some of Soyinka’s poem you would always notice the sarcasm and his mordant criticism of the Nigerian government. In Soyinka’s popular poem Abiku, he personifies Abiku as himself, the spiritual problem child who would always come back to torment his mother, the Nigerian government. Soyinka in that poem made it clear that he would always be around to criticize the
Nigeria
government and since Abiku he has been around to voice out his opinion on national issues, to engage those who want to ruin the country in war of words and much more.
He also made it clear in another poem, Joseph to Mrs Potiphar, that Nigerians are Eunuchs of Will, people who cannot talk when things are going wrong, and he said he would talk and in that prophetic poem he predicted today’s Nigeria of woes like Joseph who predicted seven years abundance followed by seven years of famine in Egypt. In the same poem where he compares himself with Joseph of the Bible who was unjustly imprisoned because he refused to be enticed to commit adultery with his master’s wife and dreamt his way out through predicting pharaoh’s dream, Soyinka refers to himself as a ‘cursing martyr’, unlike the quiet and humble prophet Joseph. You must now understand why our Nobel Laureate expresses his opinions undiplomatically. The comment on Buhari and Yar’Adua, which has caused so much stirs, is part of the whole. To be honest with ourselves, I have heard many northerners express same opinion that Buhari abused so many people when he was military president and therefore is not worth to be the next president and that Musa Yar’Adua was hand picked by Obasanjo and therefore is not suppose to be president. Why is it so painful when it comes to Soyinka?
During the Sani Abacha regime, Wole Soyinka was there to give that regime its headache and that was when he became so famous to most northern Nigerians of my generation who have not known him for literature. Till this moment most northerners think and believe Soyinka’s war with the Sani Abacha government was because Abacha was a Hausa man. In truth it has nothing to do with that. Sani Abacha’s government had executed a writer and another social critic, Ken Saro Wiwa, despite plea from
Nigeria
and the international communities to spare his life, and the Nigerian people were tired of the military. The only people who were comfortable with the military were those who were benefiting from the carcass of the military crass corruption. When Abacha suddenly died many people were relieved. I was in Bayero University Kano then and I remember most lecturers were condemning the government of Sani Abacha before he died and after, even in front of one of Abacha’s daughter who was admitted into some course in Faculty of Social Sciences after Abacha passed away.
But after Abacha passed away and the government of Abdulsalami Abubakar were busy tracking down the numerous bank accounts of an unpopular military president in the West and at home, his ardent followers were busy trying to redeem the image of their comrade, and they won many disciples in northern
Nigeria
. They had managed to convince the poor ignorant people on the street. Abacha’s posters were pasted everywhere, stickers with Abacha’s face with slogans on vehicles, in houses, in business places, bicycles, motor cycles, just name it. Olusegun Obasanjo took over from Abdulsalami Abubakar and pursued the Abacha foriegn accounts to the last. Abacha had jailed him and many thought it was personal vendetta against the Abacha estate. When the masses were disappointed with the Obasanjo’s government they yearned for the good old days and Abacha becomes a hero, and the people began to sympathize with those being incarcerated for committing crimes during Abacha’s government. And with the failure of the Obasanjo government to fight corruption fairly, Abacha has been given larger then life image. Many know if he was alive he wouldn’t have faced justice like many ex-this and ex-that who have stolen millions and millions of
Nigeria
’s dollar and are the key people making decisions for our government today.
And so when Soyinka made those comments on Buhari and Yar’Adua, the outcry from northern
Nigeria
was for his head. This is the man who fought Abacha till Abacha’s last breath, and Abacha in death has turned to some form of martyr in northern
Nigeria
. I can understand why Wole Soyinka infuriates most people who do not know him. The facts that he makes comment on crucial national issues always have his name ringing all over the profiteering Nigerian tabloids who get everything twisted, because if a news is not sensational in Nigeria it doesn’t sell papers.
Someone sent me a text message that I am obsessed with Wole Soyinka. No, I am not. He has been a great inspiration. In a country where you cannot confidently call anyone a role model, the few people like Soyinka who deserves honour should not be taken for granted. Soyinka like all of us has his excesses and shortcomings, but honour must be given to those who deserve it, and that is all I have been trying to say. And whatever you say, I would challenge you that when the man died in most of us in the face of tyranny, when we could not speak out because of fear, when the gloomy shadow of militarism and anarchy fell on the nation, when we kept mute and blind to truth, justice and equity, the man Wole Soyinka has always stood against those oppressive forces and challenged them alone. Now you know.
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Authors 
Posted by Robot| 28.02.2007 05:50