Soyinka, the literary octogenarian

As a literary patriarch and veritable icon, the literary world has begun to roll out the drums for a highly earned festival and celebrated unique life. As a Global citizen, the entire universe will dress and adorn him in rich and colourful garlands that will come, not just in wine and food—what he himself many […]

As a literary patriarch and veritable icon, the literary world has begun to roll out the drums for a highly earned festival and celebrated unique life. As a Global citizen, the entire universe will dress and adorn him in rich and colourful garlands that will come, not just in wine and food—what he himself many years described as a ‘salutation to the gullet’, but worlds in marble, golden songs and performances of dance, poetry and drama. And much more.
The whole celebration of his life has begun, last Saturday, with the 5th Edition of the most prestigious literary Pan- African Prize, called the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa. This biennial Prize, which was founded by Dr. Promise Ogochukwu, that blossoming literary queen, with many awards to her name herself, under the Lumina Foundation with a highly calibrated Board of Trustees, including its founding and current Chairman, Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi and the ever lush, forever green and photogenic Francesca Emmanuel, was held on Saturday, July 5, 2006. The colourful event of the presentation of the literary prize, which was contested for by 163 playwrights from Seventeen Africa countries; this year’s marked the beginning of a genre-specific series f awards. Quite auspiciously, the Award for this year is for Drama, Soyinka’s most pronounced domain of creative engagement. My own tribute to this great literary visionary, political artist and artistic politician will come next week.
What I do here is to share the experience of the literary Award, as Chairman of a Panel of Judges that evaluated the entries and pronounced the Prize winner, given the fact that  the event itself turned out as a kick starter of the celebration of Wole Soyinka’s chequered life deep into the Winter season, at Eighty. Entries were received from seventeen (17) African countries, Algeria, Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Namibia, Nigeria ( with the largest chunk of entries, 128 in number out of the 163 total entries), South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Zambia—all with entries raging rom Five to 1.
Salient among the evaluative criteria which guided the Five Judges, including Professor Sam Kasule from Ugadna, Professor Eid Sabbir from Algeria, Dr. Lislie Louw (South Africa), and Dr. Gloria Taburi from Mali are; evidence of creativity in the text, pace and dialogue, plot development, dramarturgy including dramatic structure, dramatic quality and dramatic technique, stageability of the plays, social relevance of the theme to Africa as well as universal appeal of the dramatic texts. Consideration was also given to the technical finish and quality of production of the play-texts. On the whole, it was gratifying that, even though the Judges worked independently in providing their three shortlist, there was a high degree of unanimity of the best choices by individual evaluators.
The Prize was keenly contested and the quality of the work was relatively high, even though the judges found a number of avoidable flaws including technical inadequacies. Any of the best three plays, and some of the other seven from the shortlist of ten can win any literary Prize anywhere, but only a play or at best ate of two plays had to win and the choice was unanimously arrived at by the highly committed and meticulous Judges who ad perfectionism their credo of judgment.
The profiles of the three final contesters were also very impressive ranging from the middle age of 64 to the very tender age of 23. Yet, neither age nor sociological consideration weighed with the judges in reaching their decisions. The three entrants to the shortlist are; Toyin Abiodun and his play, The Trial of Afonja,  Akin Bello and his Egbon of Lagos and
 TOYIN ABIODUN, one of the runners-up was born in 1963. He is a prince of the Lubokun Ruling Dynasty of Ikale land . He holds a bachelor of Arts Degree in English and a Masters in Literature from the Universities of Lagos and Ibadan respectively. He has published three plays to date, namely; Thunder in an Ancient Savannah,(1997), The Marriage of Arika(2010) and The Trails of Afonja (2012) and Othuke Ominiabohs and his play Odufa.
AKIN BELLO, winner of the Prize, was born in Lagos in the year 1950. He was educated at Oyo, Ghana, and the University of Ile-Ife from where he obtained a B.Sc (Hons) in Political Science with a Second Class Upper Division in 1975. A widely travelled man with a richly diversified work experience , he lives in Ibadan now where he works as Executive Director of an NGO. He was Chairman of the Oyo State Chapter of AN for four years (2008-2012). He has published three novels, and a poetry collection. Egbon of Lagos is his debut as a playwright. He is married with four children.
OTHUKE OMINIABOHS, one of the two runners-up is a Nigerian born and based writer and Computer Scientist. He was bon in Delta State in June 1989. He had his early education Ole, Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State. He received enduring private tutorship from his father who was an English teacher. The experience marked the beginning of his journey into an enchanting, beautiful world of literature. He is a scientist, playwright, novelist  and poet and has published several works.
Now to brief  evaluative comments on each of the plays.
THE TRIALS OF AfONJA by Toyin Abiodun  is a dynamic play, theatrically inspiring. It evokes the history of the great kingdom of Oyo. The script is provocative in its own way, with its historical narrative; its advancement of the idea that cultures and customs should change; its stand on greed and gluttony, on individual commitment to state and personal relationships, the notions of honesty and trust. The play is notable for its theatricality of creating a battle scene where Afonja faces his men. Through the clash between the war general and his soldiers’ moral positions and their need to support each other, the playwright takes us through an emotional journey, reminding us that in today’s nations, the fiercest battles usually rage within the political and military establishments.  Generally, the play has great depth and its focus on myth and history is engaging and relevant
EGBON OF LAGOS, the Prize winner, by Akin Bello, brings a dynamic approach to playwriting with its stylistic eloquence, wealth of purpose, moral sense and significance. It explores in a very lucid manner, man’s inner struggles, the dilemmas of living in a world that both dark and stale.  Bello makes the readers/audience feel essential part of the drama of each of our lives. This is an interesting and involving story of trials and tribulations of a radical journalist in a world of compromises. The play is both contemporary and the themes are universal and of great relevance. It weaves magic in both his use of language and characterization.
ODUFA by Othuke Ominabohs is a brilliant piece. It is rich in theatrical forms, full of death and meaning, though lacking in dramatic grace. The play is well written, witty and full of dramatic tropes. There is an excellent use of language and characterization that comes vividly alive. The play is an absolute delight and will have a powerful effect on the audience. The story is touching and affective. The theme is realistic. It is a story of abuse, love and betrayal that is very challenging. There is a great theatrical potential in the play. It is a complex play that interweaves the lives of two people who struggle to have a steady relationship in the context of ethnic differences.
The award, which began like a little experiment in the year 2004, has become the central literary Award in Africa and many, with ample justification, now refer to it as The Africa Nobel Prize built in honour of and around the leading literary patriarch of Africa, Wole Soyinka who turns eighty in the next 48 hours. For Wole Soyinka, who plans to celebrate his Birthday in the forest, hunting, winter is very like spring—and a thousand years be even like a year. Igba Odun Odun Kan! Happy celebration of a most engaging life of the living hero of letters.