Woke Soyinka – A Familiar Target!

By

Dozie Ike Ezeife, Esq.

ezeife@yahoo.com

 

 I just finished reading a recent rendition of a rather old serial thrash. This one was composed by one Paul I. Adujie and titled “Wole Soyinka – Debts Nigerians Owe Nigeria”. I cannot say that I was surprised by the piece given the perennial practice of attention-seekers to run to the defense of a new administration in the hopes that they might be considered when appointments to ministerial and other sundry political positions are made by the new government. I do not entirely blame the gentleman. This tactic was deployed with devastating success by Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, Olusegun Obasanjo’s erstwhile lapdog. I suppose Mr. Adujie figured that it’s no use trying to reinvent the wheel when you can recycle a proven trick.

           

Mr. Adujie was apparently irked by Wole Soyinka’s testimony to the United States Congress on June 7, 2007 on the subject of the just concluded Nigerian elections. Professor Soyinka had taken the view that given the gravity of the fraud that took place during the said elections, President Umaru Musa Yar’adua had no legitimate claim to the mandate which he had assumed. Professor Soyinka had in his testimony called for a cancellation of the April elections and had referred to President Yar’Adua’s administration as protem and interim; perfectly legitimate leap from the premise of his testimony. Obviously Mr. Adujie is indulging in hair-splitting semantics. President Yar’Adua’s administration is momentary until the various election petitions challenging his “election” are resolved in his favour.

        

In his piece, Mr. Adujie sought to create the vicious impression that Professor Soyinka was some Yar’Adua-hating unpatriotic charlatan. The truth is that this impression flies in the face of Professor Soyinka’s impressive pro-democracy and civil rights credentials. Mr. Adujie cannot dispute the undeniable fact that Wole Soyinka has an enviable track record of unrelenting fights against political oppression, tribalism, nepotism and corruption. He most certainly suffered no fools especially of the political variety. His personal, professional and literary life is the very embodiment of this fight. He was an unrelenting critic of every military administration in Nigeria. He did not spare the corrupt and inept administration of Shehu Shagari. He waged a sustained campaign against the Abacha regime in Nigeria (and overseas after he was forced into exile). His long-drawn confrontation with the past administration’s corrupt and hypocritical policies could surely not have been lost even to a Paul Adujie. It is on record that Wole Soyinka was one of the few Nigerians who questioned the moral justification for waging the annihilation campaign against the Igbos during the civil war. Soyinka did also take issues with the sustained harassment of the leadership of OPC, MASSOB and other ethnic political pressure groups by the Obasanjo administration.

           

Professor Soyinka has not exhibited any personal animus towards President Umaru Yar’Adua. Professor Soyinka’s testimony was backed by facts and motivated by deep-seated personal conviction. The thrust of Wole Soyinka’s testimony was and still is that since Umaru Yar’Adua was the beneficiary of a wide-spread electoral fraud; his administration is temporary until the electoral malpractice is dealt with. That is neither an indictment of the President nor a denigration of our nation. Professor Soyinka pointed out to the Congress a fact that is largely undisputed, to wit, that there was massive irregularity during the April elections. President Yar’Adua himself has publicly acknowledged this fact on at least two occasions. He proffered suggestions on how to rectify that anomaly. That is his right to do as a patriotic Nigerian. He has a right to exercise his constitutional, moral and civic responsibilities as he sees fit. Soyinka has never claimed to have all the answers. But you cannot fault him for asking the right questions.

           

Mr. Adujie also accused Wole Soyinka of “denigrating and ridiculing Nigeria before foreign audiences” and of “lobbying furiously against Nigeria”.  How could Mr. Adujie level these preposterously absurd accusations against Professor Soyinka simply because he exercised his God-given rights to address the thieving of our nation’s mandate is hard for anyone to put their arms around. Mr. Adujie to dismiss the measured testimony of a Nobel literary laureate as “gaudy and tasteless” is laughably akin to a fool aping the wise. Is Mr. Adujie suggesting that Nigerians not protest what happened in April simply because the facts will prove embarrassing to some Nigerians? When did potential embarrassment to a nation become a reason to sweep a monumental fraud under the rug? Has the possibility of national embarrassment stopped Americans from criticizing President Bush’s Iraq invasion and the prosecution of the Iraq campaign?

           

Mr. Adujie believes that the only worthwhile contribution expected of Diaspora Nigerians is to funnel foreign investment to our motherland. While one concedes that attracting investment to Nigeria will be a worthy contribution, Diaspora Nigerians owe families back home the obligation to fight to free them from the mess that polticians and the elite have made of our nation. The enthronement of a true democracy and rule of law is more important than attracting foreign investors to further enrich the pool of sources of corrupt practices for the corrupt Nigerian leaders.

           

As a parting comment, Mr. Adujie will do well to remember the source of the famous expression “the man died in the person who will keep quiet in the face of tyranny”.

 

Dozie Ikem Ezeife

Oakland, California

ezeife@yahoo.com