FEATURE ARTICLE

Temple Chima UbochiSaturday, May 30, 2015
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Bonn, Germany

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ATTACKS ON THE IGBOS:
UNFORTUNATELY, PROF. SOYINKA ET AL HAVE FAILED TO OUTGROW THEIR PAROCHIALISM AND PETTY JEALOUSY (3)

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Continued from Part 2

Man is nothing but insincerity, falsehood, and hypocrisy, both in regard to himself and in regard to others (Blaise Pascal)

We create an environment where it is alright to hate, to steal, to cheat, and to lie if we dress it up with symbols of respectability, dignity and love. (Whitney Moore, Jr.)

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him (The Buddha)

rof. Soyinka has been consistently inconsistent, and unfortunately, for Edwin Louis Cole (1922-2002), "inconsistencies in men are generally testimony to their immaturity". Remember that in 2011, Prof. Soyinka gave Nigerians 30 reasons why Buhari shouldn't be the President of Nigeria. Then, a year to the 2015 presidential election, Prof. Soyinka was rooting for President Jonathan. He said that Goodluck Jonathan was one of the few Nigerian leaders you can't trace a skyscraper to his name, and that all his children are at home, and in schools in Nigeria, unlike many of his contemporaries. Soyinka added then that any Nigerian that voted for Buhari should have his or her brain re-examined, and that only those whose memories need calcification will opt in the ethnic and tribal bigot general as president. Then, by the end of 2014, when Buhari won the APC presidential nomination, and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State became the Chairman of Buhari Presidential Campaign Organization, Prof Soyinka changed 180 degrees; he called President Jonathan Nebuchadnezzar, and then went on to say that Buhari should be elected instead of President Jonathan. The question became: what made Soyinka to change his mind about Buhari? Some of us, who were against Buhari's candidature, during the election, did that because of his past records as a head of state, as there was no other record to judge him on, since 1985, when he was overthrown, till today? What happened between 2011 and 2015 that informed Soyinka's belated and better opinion of Buhari? The question becomes pertinent, because, Buhari didn't hold any political appointment within the period in question, and as such, there was no ground or way for him to have impressed Soyinka, leading to the favorable rating?

Many, who are not in the know, will not understand how Soyinka changed to see Buhari as the "lesser of two evils", when compared to President Jonathan, when there was no current records to base that judgment upon. What made Prof. Soyinka to jettison his long held opinion that Buhari has no presidential quality to rule Nigeria? The reason Soyinka started rooting for Buhari were because Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, who was Buhari's Campaign Chairman, allegedly, have been having an affair with Prof. Soyinka's daughter, and secondly, Prof. Osibanjo, the elected vice president, might be a colleague or a friend of Soyinka, and might have promised him a job. These might be the reasons Soyinka changed, 180 degrees, to support Buhari's presidential bid and became Buhari's "apostle". Prof. Soyinka was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature with the one million dollars attached to it, but, he didn't invest that whopping sum, and must have got it totally depleted. Going broke, he's looking for how to continue sustaining the life style the money from the Noble Prize ushered in. That's why he has stooped so low to even enmesh self in petty state politics and elections, thereby losing his patrician status. Prof. Soyinka is not alone here; people like Prof. Tam David-West, Kalu Idika Kalu, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, Mr. Festus Odimegwu etc, who overtly supported Buhari in one way or the other, by insulting President Jonathan in the newspapers, during the campaign period, are appointment seekers. I hope they all get what they are looking for! The point is that Prof. Soyinka, just like Obasanjo, must have known what so many of us didn't know, before the election, and that was that Buhari will be elected the president by fair or foul means, so saying nice things about him then, will make Buhari to offer him a position in his government. Now, who voted for his stomach, if not Prof. Soyinka, who became parochial and selfish immediately his daughter's friend and friend became Buhari's campaign manager and vice presidential candidate respectively?

Prof. Soyinka asked and got Buhari. Let me quickly add that Nigeria is now "agog" as Buhari has taken over as the President of Nigeria. Let's hope he sets things right, as failure would be catastrophic. I wish him all the best.

Prof. Soyinka has been speaking out of both sides of his mouth: As noted earlier, he is fond of making careless statements, and when there's public outcry, regarding to what he said, he will then take the denial route, claiming that someone misquoted him. There are many instances where Prof. Soyinka made repulsive comments unexpected him, and later pushed the blame to someone else; claiming that he never said such a thing. I hate to say this, but, I found it an act of cowardice for a man of Prof. Soyinka's class to always deny what he said. Why then say something, when he can't standby it?

When Prof. Chinua Achebe, a nonesuch, died; Prof. Soyinka, who claimed to be Achebe's friend and colleague, made an insulting remarks about Achebe, that many wondered why he has no respect for the dead. Not only that, Prof. Soyinka is not sympathetic; because, despite the fact that he won the Nobel prize for Literature, he is also relatively healthy, having survived cancer, and is in no way physically disabled, and still, he had no pity for Prof. Achebe, who should have also won a Nobel Prize, if not for anything, his book "Things Fall Apart" read worldwide, should have brought a Nobel Prize for him, but, he didn't get the prize for reasons still not explained till this day. Achebe, who was on a wheel chair for long time due to an injury he sustained in a car accident, should have received compassion from Soyinka. Rather, he, Soyinka, rebuked and insulted those who said that Achebe was the father of African literature, and even went further to tease that Achebe would have loved to hang a Nobel Prize medal on his neck but didn't get one. He said these while Achebe was dead and yet to be buried. When people attacked Soyinka for being rude to a dead man he claimed was his friend, he then denied ever making such stupid comments credited to him on Achebe, and even refused to attend Achebe's funeral, and insulted those who questioned his absence during the funeral despite the fact that he claimed that Achebe was a close friend. What Soyinka put up as a defense was that everybody has a way of mourning the dead, and that his absence should not be misconstrued to mean something else, that he was so busy and would find another time to pay his last respect to his friend. All were lies; his words caught up with him, and then, he had no face to see Achebe's corpse, and therefore, he dogged the funeral. Prof Soyinka should know that Gail Sheehy (1937), in her article of January 8, 2010, told all of us that "compassion, patience, love, those are the words I want us to be thinking about."

As I was putting finishing touches to this article, a friend sent a message reminding me of an article written by Chinweizu, in the Guardian in 1986, stating that Prof. Soyinka wouldn't have won the Prize on his own, but, was helped by his people who were occupying our foreign mission. According to my friend, it was then the turn of Africa and Prof. Achebe was a front runner, but, Prof. Soyinka's people took the advantage of their diplomatic posts to campaign for him.

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) advised all of us thus: "Show pity I beg you... We have today been struck down by fortune. But tomorrow it may be your own turn to die", and, Herman Melville (1819 -1891), in his "Bartleby", wrote that "To a sensitive being, pity is not seldom pain." Soyinka should know that friends are those rare people who ask how one is and then wait to hear the answer; so, one can't be a friend by mere professing it. This was what Chimalum Nwankwo, a Professor of English and World Literatures at Nigerian-Turkish Nile University, Abuja, said about Soyinka insulting those who called Achebe the father of African literature, the time Achebe died: "It is unfortunate, sad, and also rather depressing that Soyinka should go so far as to charge the millions of readers and critics� young and old people� all over the world with "ignorance" for calling Achebe "father of African Literature". Soyinka mentioned of those who could also be called father of African Literature, whether it is Mazisi Kunene or Kofi Awonoor or any other name that we could all think up, no one has a global text such as Things Fall Apart in his or her resume. Not even Soyinka himself. Let everyone try a shot at some honesty about this point�The last point about this really sad subject is that, I do not think Soyinka raised this subject at the right time. The whole thing is really so untimely and unfortunate�And this is about a man that supposedly was his friend. They wined and dined together. I truly really really wished that he had waited till after Achebe's burial for such utterances or debate. I wish he had never opened his mouth so early about this subject because I find it so untimely"

Prof Soyinka claims to be a freedom fighter, but, chastises others for fighting for their rights and freedom. So, how do we reconcile all that; is that not a case of preaching one thing and doing or expecting another thing? Just as Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), who was an escaped slave, Abolitionist, author, editor of the North Star and later the New National Era, wrote that "Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want rain without thunder and lightning". In Part 1 of this article, I promised to buttress some of my points with facts.

On FRSC job taken by Soyinka:

Someone pointed out that Surely Babangida's administration was marked by human rights abuses, economic strangulation, and dictatorship etc; we should not forget that the literary giant gave credence to Babangida's rule by serving under him. The ex-dictator proved adept at accommodating and manipulating public opinion and even buying off the opposition, earning the nickname Maradona (from Diego Maradona, the legendary Argentine soccer star). Kosovo wrote: "It could be recalled that the professor served the military junta as Chairman of the Federal Road Safety Commission. Isn't it then amusing that Prof Soyinka who was part of military oligarchy is now claiming to be holier than thou? And this is where the Prof is vulnerable to attack. Although I respect and admire the literary giant, I would never buy any argument as to why he chose to serve under the military dictatorship. In retrospect, perhaps the worst mistake this giant has made in his life.

On Abacha:

Sadiq Abacha, the son of general Abacha wrote: "Sir, I believe brilliance is not perfection. I have grown and watched you criticize regime after regime and at that young and naive age I was thinking why wouldn't this man just contest to be president so that Nigeria can be saved, I would have defiantly voted for Mr. Soyinka if it would have brought an end to Nigeria's woes. To my utter surprise, I heard about your FRSC leadership and how funds were misused and a great deal of it unaccounted for. "Oh my God! In the end he turned out to be just the same as everybody else" were my next thoughts. My hopes for you, all ended up in great disappointment".

On Boko Haram:

Prior to the election, Soyinka blamed President Jonathan for not fighting Boko Haram very forcefully enough, but, when Buhari won the election, he said that we can't get rid of Boko Haram, that it has come to be part of us.

On Sovereign National Conference:

The Punch, on January 25, 2012, wrote: Nigeria is already disintegrating - Soyinka. "Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, said, yesterday, that despite the fact that there is no formal breakup of the country, the nation was already disintegrating due to the refusal of the government to embrace national dialogue. Soyinka said this while speaking on "The quest for justice, tolerance and non-violent change" at a presentation highlighting Dr Martin Luther King Jr. and the American civil rights movement, organised by the Public Affairs Section of the US Consulate General in Lagos at the Freedom Park, Lagos. According to him, "the presidential system of government is totally unfitted to the governance of Nigerians. The legislators have become a bastion of corruption while the system operational in the country encourages corruption." Soyinka, who maintained his stance on Sovereign National Conference as panacea to salvaging Nigeria from total collapse said: "We can even remove the word sovereign; there is need for national dialogue because if we don't have a national dialogue, we will have monologues. Public detonators are monologues, Boko Haram is a hyper active secession by their expelling people in some states, purging it of the people who they believe don't share their ideologies".

Three months later, he was singing another tune: Then, The Vanguard, on April 27, 2012, wrote that "Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has urged Nigerians to drop lingering clamour for national conference, saying it is no longer necessary in view of emerging democratic liberties. In place of the conference, he called for regional groupings, which would, rather than summon it, begin to "act the national conference" by taking their destinies in their hands. He said it was time for the region to engage in policies and strategies of development that would progressively reduce the central government's powers to determine the "fate" of the people. He said the Federal Government was impeding the pace of development of the constituent parts and noted that only vibrant regional groupings could moderate its over-bearing disposition".

See more at:

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/04/soyinka-to-nigerians-drop-calls-for-national-confab/#sthash.DzZORSz4.dpuf

For B. C. Forbes (1880 -1954), Jealousy... is a mental cancer, and, Joseph P. Kennedy (1888-1969) added that "More men die of jealousy than of cancer". Then, Gary Allan (1967) wondered how "You can be the moon and still be jealous of the stars", and, Fulton J. Sheen (1895-1979) answered that "Jealousy is the tribute mediocrity pays to genius". William Penn (1644-1718) wrote that "The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves"; while Lope de Vega (1562-1635) argued that "There is no greater glory than love, nor any greater punishment than jealousy". Prof. Soyinka kicked when others called Prof. Achebe the father of African literature, but, he, Achebe, towered above Soyinka in all ramifications. Chino 11 wrote: As much as we know that Soyinka is good in what is knows best, but above all, Achebe remains the only positive symbol of black race, he has consistently been celebrated all over the world with his book -Things Fall Apart, having been translated into over 150 languages. His books are standard curricular all around the world, it is a single feat that has not been achieved even among British and American authors not to talk of in Africa where he is the foremost and most influential icon- According to The Forbes, the only African living that can closely be equated to Achebe is only Mandela". Someone wrote that "Chinua Achebe wrote AFRICA's most successful NOVEL. Personally, I think Chinua Achebe has achieved more than Wole Soyinka and I ran into this article which confirmed it. Do you have a different opinion?" Achebe rejected national honour twice, which Soyinka would have accepted with two hands. John Campbell, on November 16, 2011, wrote: "Today, November 16, is acclaimed Nigerian author Chinua Achebe's eighty-first birthday. A few days ago, he declined again to accept Nigeria's second highest national honor, Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR). In 2004, he did not accept it from then-president Olusegun Obasanjo ��.."

https://blogs.cfr.org/campbell/2011/11/16/chinua-achebe-refuses-national-honor/

Read more:

https://dub119.mail.live.com/mail/ViewOfficePreview.aspx?messageid=mgqWiBtBEG5RGvbgAhWte0pg2&folderid=flinbox&attindex=0&cp=-1&attdepth=0&n=10840877

To be continued!

TIT BITS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzmOHbLC27s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kOiWntMpP4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMAFyX1r3yw

THE THANX IS ALL YOURS!!!

Continued from Part 2

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