The night Kongi burnt a demon in the forest

For several hours a  colourful effigy with the inscription “Corruption” stood aloof inside the ‘forest’ back stage with guests at the eventful night unaware of its fate. But, at about 10.45pm, chants of Sango (god of thunder) reverberated through the amphitheater, sending fire straight to the effigy, and up in flames it went in seconds. […]

For several hours a  colourful effigy with the inscription “Corruption” stood aloof inside the ‘forest’ back stage with guests at the eventful night unaware of its fate.
But, at about 10.45pm, chants of Sango (god of thunder) reverberated through the amphitheater, sending fire straight to the effigy, and up in flames it went in seconds. A rain of curses from the troupe trailed the burning of “Corruption” from bottom to the top.
“And that is how it should be. That is how it is going to be. We must collectively fight corruption from the bottom to the top. This night, this 82 young Nigerians and others in their peers have resolved to join and fight corruption starting from their level now to when they get to the top,” Alhaji Teju Kareem, executive producer of the play told Daily Trust.
The event, the 2016 Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange (WSICE), was held to celebrate Nobel Laurete Wole Soyinka’s 82nd Birthday, with 82 pupils selected to symbolise each year the famous author has spent on earth.
The celebrations with the theme, “Corruption: A Battle for the Arts”, was divided into two segments; youth and adults both focusing on how corruption could be checked.
“This is aimed at awakening the patriot in young Nigerians, even as many in the older generation have become disillusioned due to the recurrent failure of the Nigerian State,” Alhaji Kareem said.
The youth segment featured brilliant displays in essay writing competition by students, while the adult segment had two keynote addresses on the main theme as well as an all-female panel of discussion on corruption as it affects children, women and our common Humanity.
“For the youth segment, the theme for the annual essay competition is “Challenges or Not, I Love My Country”, and the writing competition will feature 82 students tackling the topic — in a reality television-like setting. In addition, 18 past winners of the yearly competition will be congregated to write commemorative essays on the same topic,” he said.
As the essay competition started, the 82 students had been accredited and assigned identification numbers. As they sat in the hall ready to commence writing, you could see the anxiety in their eyes.
The results of the competition was announced the following day at the Oba’s Complex inside the premises of the Ogun State Government secretariat in the presence of the Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, Deputy Governor, Mrs. Yetunde Onanuga, Secretary to the State Government Engr. Taiwo Adeoluwa, commissioner for Education, Mrs. Modupe Mujota, commissioner for Information and Strategy, Chief Dayo Adeneye and the birthday celebrant, Prof. Soyinka.
The announcement was made by the head adjudicator Dr. Razinatu Mohammed from the University of Maiduguri, Borno State, with Akinremi Naomi Ayomide of St. Peters College, Olomore coming tops. Sotonwa Adedoyin Goodness of Mayflower Senior Secondary School, Ikenne came second, while Edigbo Friday Zacchaeus of Adeola Odutola College, Ijebu Ode was third. Trophies were presented to them by governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun and Prof. Wole Soyinka.
Speaking, Soyinka, advocated imprisonment for corrupt persons either as a political or public officers, asserting that the fight against corruption is a collective will for all.
The celebrant further urged creative writers and artistes to use their works to fight corruption, stressing: “Yes, it’s a battle for everybody and definitely the arts must be in front as usual. Not just the arts, the theologians, the moralists, the philosophers, the architects, builders, the lawyers, it’s everybody’s work. Everybody is involved, even including you (journalists).
“There is only one way for corrupt people; it ends in the prison. It ends in Ibara or Oba (prisons in Abeokuta) or Kirikiri (Lagos prison).”
On his part, Gov. Amosun enjoined students and the youth in Nigeria to emulate the life of heroes like Prof Soyinka. He urged the youth to never give up on Nigeria in spite of the various challenges facing the nation.
“Just like Prof Soyinka is doing, you must continue to show love and support for the country, irrespective of the challenges facing the nation,” he added.
In the ‘Do Your Own Thing’ events, which took place at the Ogun State Cultural Centre with the 82 essay finalists, 18 past winners and 600 other Ogun State students were given the opportunity to showcase their talent in poetry, Ewi (indigenous Praise chants), reading and debate competitions.
Thereafter, all roads led to the “Ijegba Forest” home of Soyinka at Idi Aba, where they all met with him privately. Also present was his sister, who was the chairperson of the WSICE 2016 advocacy, Mrs. Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka. Prof. Soyinka spoke to the students about the need to persevere and hold on to their dreams until it is fulfilled.
At about 7.30pm, the entourage moved down to the forest, which the celebrant holds dear, where the advocacy and drama session took place. Going in to the forest was actually scary for new comers, but, the organizers assisted by illuminating the path which led to the amphitheater section. The scene was reminiscent of the old Greek amphitheater, with the stage backing the thick forest.
Eloquent Yinka Ola Williams presented the opening poetry on corruption to the admiration of the about 400 attendants, while the Ogun State Cultural troupe followed suite. The Guest of honour Prof. Femi Osofisan addressed the audience followed by the Chairperson Prof. Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka. The keynote speakers Mr. Tunde Fagbenle and Prof. Segun Ojewuyi gave profound talks on the theme, with Prof. Ojewuyi using Prof. Soyinka’s book, ‘Death and the King’s Horseman’ as a backdrop.
Osofisan, described Soyinka as father in the literary arts world with his legacy taking different forms and shapes. He identified greed and moral lapses as the driving force of corruption in Nigeria.
“When you help your kids to get admission into school despite the fact that you know they aren’t qualified, that is corruption. Corruption will not change by itself, we would have to fight it by leaving good examples at our own immediate environment,” he said.
On his part, Fagbenle, challenged practitioners in the movie, audio-visual and media industry to do more in fighting graft and other social vices by ensuring “self-censoring” of their works. He said the culture of glorifying corrupt people and inviting them to the high table at social functions must stop forthwith.
“Those in the movie industry, audio-visual and media must go into self-censoring. Many of them are no longer teaching quality characters to the young ones. Physician heal thyself. Those in literary arts must first purify themselves before they can think of purifying the society,” he said.
The panel discussion was most interesting and enlightening as the trio of Hafsat Abiola Costello, Rose Moses and Kadaria Ahmed led the discussion on “Corruption as it affects Children, Women… and our humanity”. The discussion was ably anchored by Ms. Sola Salako.
The trio spoke eloquently and profoundly on corruption with the celebrant spotted nodding his head intermittently among the crowd, where he sat, before taking his leave.
Abiola-Costello, in her contribution blamed Nigerian followers, describing them as “bad followers who allowed their leaders to go into corruption.” The daughter of the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola who is presently a political appointee in Ogun State said with her salary, she could not cope with the barrages of request for help every day, but, “I have to stand my ground.
She said, “When politicians are corrupt, they are using it to assist some people. That’s why they amass so much wealth. When people put pressure on public office holders, they would be forced to seek unethical means to satisfy their followers. That is the problem.
“There is a beast inside us. That beast is what makes people to acquire undue wealth and engage in unethical practices. This beast must be tamed.”
Rose Moses, a former editor of the Champion newspaper, blamed the prevalence of corruption on leadership. To her, “there is no sense of humanity among Nigerian leaders, as most of them just think of themselves only without considering the interest of the masses.”
On her part, Ahmed lamented that lack of humanity from the leaders attributed largely to a factor fuelling corruption. She said the debilitating poverty, coupled with lack of education, had so weakened

the people that they cannot properly mobilise to confront the government and demand improved service delivery.
She noted that government capitalised on the poverty situation to cheat the people and deny them social amenities.
The figurative burning of the corruption emblem was led by UK-based Dr. Peter Badejo, WSICE Technical Artistic Director, amidst chants of curses and abuse on all corrupt entities in Nigeria by the Masquerades who represented the spirits of the forefathers.
 Badejo, who further explained the details of the figurative burning said, “Maybe if we take our matter to our forefathers, using the traditional means, those involved in corruption would stop, because you know our traditional way works faster than the conventional way of cursing these thieves.”
“We must give thanks to the governor of this state who has been very interested in not only the WS @82 but also in the use of arts to promote what people need to know about their existence.
The event culminated in the cutting of the cake by the advocacy speakers, all guests and students present at the event.
One of the students, Temidayo Omodudu aptly captioned the night session as “night of lessons, a session quite revealing.”
The WSICE is organised yearly under the auspices of the Open Door Series as designed and promoted by Zmirage Multimedia Limited in collaboration with the US-based Global New Haven. It started in 2010 as an avenue to enlighten and enrich young minds through the use of various art forms including literature. It is conceived to engage the platforms of Literature, Arts and Culture in affirming and upholding the dignity of man.