WOLE SOYINKA AT 90: TRUTH AS THE POET’S HORSEMAN

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By Austen Akhagbeme

Prof Akinwade Oluwole Soyinka, often referred to as Wole Soyinka, one of the foremost world citizens of Nigerian descent, is 90 years old.

In faraway Morocco, in the City of Rabat, the world recently gathered to celebrate this literary giant, Poet, Playwright and Human rights advocate, as represented by the Royal Academy of Morocco, for “his contribution to world literature”

The event, organized in collaboration with the Pan-African Writers Association, PAWA, honoured the Nobel Laureate for his works which dealt deeply, with themes of Justice, oppression and Human Dignity even in the face of life-threatening opposition by the powers that be.

Wole Soyinka has been around for quite a while, no doubt. He’s been an undeniable part of our nation’s chequered history of truth, untruth and dissent. He has been praised, bruised imprisoned and vilified all at different times in his eventful life of resistance to the oppressive order.

But his fame climaxed on the world stage when in 1986, he was awarded the prestigious Nobel Prize for Literature. It was a first for Africa and a source of huge pride for Nigeria. Ever since this remarkable award, the Dramatist has remained relevant and respected among his contemporaries and the nation at large.

Just like Elesin-Oba, the lead character in his popular play: “Death and the King’s Horseman” who was expected to die by suicide alongside the demise of the King as the tradition demands from the King’s Horseman, Nigerians expect so much from Wole Soyinka.

They expect the Poet to remain on the side of the people, the oppressed people of his day. But at the twilight of his Life, Wole Soyinka appeared to display some level of inconsistency which drew the irks of his critics who felt they had lost him to ethnic chauvinism and political Ostrichism.

Nevertheless, living a life of impact and relevance for over five decades is no mean feat. This is why it will not be out of place, if drums can be rolled out in sincerity and patriotism, to celebrate the nonagenarian who has brought us fame over the years, while we expect the truth to be the Poet’s horseman, as it was from the beginning. Congratulations to Kongi. May you have a great harvest of celebration today and always.