Soyinka @ 76: The lion in the sage
His feathery grey afro and his beard have come to be recognised globally as his unique trademark. An Indian journalist recently claimed that Soyinka is probably the most famous Nigerian in the world, challenged only by the infamous Umar Faruk Abdulmutallab, though this was in the aftermath of the Christmas day attempt. The teenager, it […]
His feathery grey afro and his beard have come to be recognised globally as his unique trademark. An Indian journalist recently claimed that Soyinka is probably the most famous Nigerian in the world, challenged only by the infamous Umar Faruk Abdulmutallab, though this was in the aftermath of the Christmas day attempt. The teenager, it would seem, has enjoyed his 15 minutes in the limelight but Soyinka’s colossal legacy has been charging down the years and does not seem to be abating.
Born some 76 years ago, on July 13, 1934 in the small town of Isara Remo in Ogun State, his parents called him Akinwade Oluwole Soyinka. The world now knows him simply as Wole Soyinka or sometimes Kongi, after one of the characters of his famous play, Kongi’s Harvest. His father was Canon Samuel Ayodele Soyinka, a headmaster of St. Peter’s School, Abeokuta and his mother, was Grace Eniola Soyinka, an Anglican and a business woman. Soyinka was brought up in this Christian home surrounded by the polytheist (Orisa) rites of his Yoruba kinsmen. His leaning towards the traditional faith of his forefathers is well known. Recently, in an interview, he declared that it was Ogun, the Yoruba god of thunder, who saved the 278 passengers of the Delta Airline flight that would have been blown out of the air over Detroit.
As recently as April this year, he demanded to see then ailing president, Umar Yar’adua, as an Orisa worshiper, after it emerged that Muslim and Christian clerics had visited the president and prayed for him.
Half a century riding the storm
Soyinka is no stranger to controversy. His plays have stirred the hornets’ nest on more than one occasion and he has brazenly attacked conventional ideologies and authorities. As early as 1965, Soyinka reportedly seized the then Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service and made a broadcast demanding the cancellation of the Western regional elections.
This provoked the authorities and Soyinka was arrested and arraigned. He was however freed on technicalities. He was only 31 at the time. Half a century later, Soyinka would again repeat a call for the cancellation of another election, but in less dramatic circumstances.
It could be said, he inherited his intellect from his father’s side but his restless spirit and relentless and fearless fight of injustice could be said to be from his mother’s side. Grace Eniola Soyinka, who he mischievously dubbed “Wild Christian”, was the daughter of Rev. Canon JJ Ransome-Kuti and Soyinka counts the legendary afro beat king, Fela, as one of his cousins. His mother was a women’s right activist back in the days.
In his student days at the University College, Ibadan, (1953-54) Soyinka, along with six others, founded a social organization called the Pyrates Confraternity to challenge corruption and injustice. Their, intention, they insisted was noble, but somewhere along the line, the confraternity was hijacked and today, the laureate has the infamous title of fathering secret cults in Nigerian campuses.
Soyinka’s first major clash with authority came at the outbreak of the Nigerian civil war. In the skirmishes preceding the 1967-1970 war, he crossed over to the Biafran side and held a secret meeting with the secessionist leader, Odimegwu Ojukwu in Enugu. The aim was to prevent the outbreak of war. This was in August, 1967.
He later went back to meet with Victor Banjo, a Yoruba man who was on the Biafran side. This man gave Soyinka a message to Olusegun Obasanjo, then a Lieutenant Colonel. The objective was to convince him on the case of the Biafrans. This development earned the writer government’s ire and he was arrested a month later and spent most of the war period in jail.
In the 27 months he spent in prison, Soyinka was productive. He penned several poems which were later published as Poems from Prison. He also made notes which formed the backbone of his memoir, The Man Died (1972). Many believe this book won him the Nobel Prize in 1986.
Daring the strong man
Soyinka has been known for his daring. He is as famous for challenging authorities as he is for his writings, or almost. He continued to be the pesky voice of conscience in the mind of the several dictatorships that have ruled Nigeria. His satirical plays and critical essays tongue-lashed the authorities, striking them like a thousand horse whips
He lambasted Shagari’s regime for its corruption. The military government of General Muhammadu Buhari, which succeeded Shagari’s, found Soyinka too bothersome. In 1984, a court banned his book, The Man Died. But there was no silencing Soyinka.
General Ibrahim Babangida, when he came to power a year later, tried to tame the lion and appointed him to head the Federal Road Safety Commission. He was critical of Babangida when he annulled the June 12, 1993 elections.
But his biggest test came when he dared Nigeria’s military strong man, General Sani Abacha. Soyinka was very critical of Abacha’s regime and sought an immediate handover to presumed winner of the annulled 1993 elections, Moshood Abiola. He was prominent in NADECO, a pressure group sworn to “restore Abiola’s mandate”. Soyinka also floated the phantom Radio Kudirat, which broadcasted anti Abacha messages. This annoyed the authorities and Soyinka was charged with treason and sentenced to death in absentia.
His life now was at risk and he had to flee Nigeria, which he did on a motorcycle across the border with Benin Republic. He would later recount this experience in his memoire, You Must Set-Forth at Dawn
He remained in exile until the sudden death of Abacha ushered in a new democratic government in 1999. He returned to a hero’s welcome.
The old lion still roars
He however stirred controversy when he said that Abacha’s regime was far better than Obasanjo’s democratic government, saying that it was not the democracy they fought to install.
When Obasanjo left office after conducting flawed elections in 2007, Soyinka again called for the dissolution of the elections and the conduct of fresh free and fair polls. At 75, Soyinka led a rally of the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) to protest the power vacuum created by the absence of President Umar Yar’adua while away for health reasons.
Soyinka’s daring does not stop at goading the authorities but goes further to challenge widely held ideologies. His eloquent tongue and prolific pen have taken on tyranny and thoughts literarily from Cape to Cairo. His 1986 Nobel Prize acceptance speech focused on apartheid being practiced in South Africa. His disdain for racial discrimination is encapsulated in his poem, Telephone Conversation. He has also been very outspoken and critical about Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe.
He also took on Loepold Sedar Senghor’s Negritude ideology. The then Senegalese president and poet had championed the rebirth of African pride using literature and the arts. It was an ideology that caught on and many African writers and painters began celebrating their culture and “africanness” in their works.
But Soyinka thinks the idea is misplaced, saying it glorified the black African past that neglected the benefits of modernization. “A tiger does not celebrate its tigritude,” he said.
Recently, in the aftermath of the Christmas day terror attempt, the famous writer lambasted Britain for being a “cesspit” and “breeding ground for terrorist”.
And he has a practical solution to people who are intolerant to other peoples’ faith. Put them in rockets and fire them off to space, he said. But of course, he was only joking.
Soyinka does not seem afraid to take on just about anything, from tyrants in sparkling jackboots, oppression in distant ghettoes and even vague metaphysical concepts, Kongi, even at 76, seems to say bring it on.