A
prominent Nigerian writer and columnist, has penned an interesting and
thought-provoking piece over the recent happenings in the country. It's a
must read.
Wole Soyinka
Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, is what his Yoruba people of
South-West Nigeria describe as “Akanda.” I do not know an English word
that captures the total import of this word but if we attempt a
translation, it would mean someone specially created by God without
duplication. This is how I have always seen Soyinka and here is why.
Much earlier than he became a significant literary figure in his
late 20s, Soyinka had set himself on the path of eternal influence when
he, alongside six other friends, set up the Pyrates Confraternity at the
University College, Ibadan.
Even if there has been an irredeemable adulteration of the original
idea, this was arguably the first hint at the anti-establishment
disposition that would dot virtually all of Soyinka’s endeavours till
date. Today, what he created at the age of 18 has reared a colony of
loyalists committed to the ideals and willing to go any length for the
first ever “Capo’n.”
You probably have also read about a young man who once hijacked a
radio station at gunpoint in protest against what he believed was the
rape of the people’s will. Such deliberate activism without an iota of
consideration for personal peril marks the life of Soyinka even now in
his 80s.
And then, for his exploits in the literary ecosphere where he
stands out like light in deep darkness, Soyinka has built a cluster of
devotees.
Consider the fluidity with which he swings between the three genres
of literature. Recall the elegance and rhythm of each quatrain in the
poem, Abiku, the anger, humour and sarcasm of Telephone conversation,
the prophetic audacity of A dance in the forest as well as the intense
probe of the psychology and nature of man in A man died. It is
impossible to encounter Soyinka in any area of his life and depart
without the impartation of an inedible impression one way or the other.
If you are not taken in by the brilliance of his art, you will be awed
by his dexterity with the English Language, or the raw courage with
which he digs into things and at the end of it all; you just surrender
to seduction of it all.
In fact, I have always held the opinion that but for education and
the liberation that it brings on the soul of men, we would one day
behold the deification and worship of Soyinka!
I agree that is rather hyperbolic but ponder over this: in the
past couple of years, I have identified some points of disagreement with
Prof Soyinka; so many that I cannot even count. What is curious however
is that I have never garnered the guts to express such disagreement
publicly. Why? The same question I have asked myself.
Here is how I rationalise it, even though I have absolute and
irreversible conviction in a Higher Being, Soyinka has got a subordinate
kind of idolisation from me. What I think the English describes as
“hero-worship” I think so many Nigerians are confined in enclave such
that a lot of public commentators would refuse to see, hear and speak no
evil about this great man!
But truth be told, Soyinka like all men, has limitations. This is
more so about subjects that they do not wholly understand and by the
reason of this exclusion are able to intelligibly interrogate.
This was the sense I got from his recent counsel on the need to
tame religion without which it could kill Nigeria. While we can concede
that Soyinka referred to the death of Nigeria only figuratively, it all
the same presents an opportunity to impeach suggestions that religion is
guilty of any of the troubles that has plagued our country forever.
Indeed, I, on the contrary, propose that religion has indeed done
this country more good than it has been credited with. And I will give a
few examples of that.
Take a start with education. While public education has been
visited by total ruin by successive governments in Nigeria, that we
still have a semblance of quality education today is to the credit of
these religions. At all levels including vocational, religious bodies
have established schools where they nurture children of the faithful and
prepare them for the future from which the indiscretion of the state
would have alienated or deny by extermination, them entirely. You will
be presented with arguments about how these schools are expensive but
they are at least available to save us from the more costly
repercussions of ignorance.
It is however, more than that. Even when these schools may truly
be expensive since quality education does not come cheap to an
irresponsible state, many children are sent to school on the bill of
some of these religious organisations. And here I do not speculate.
Hundreds of Nigerian children have received, from primary through
tertiary education on the bill of churches, mosques and other
faith-based organisations in the country. They save us from the venom
that an angry, uneducated generation would vent on an uncaring country
in future.
This is not to speak about medical interventions and the
stabilising effects that good family units have on a country which has
thrown morality to the dogs.
And speaking about morality, make no mistake about it; those who
have true convictions about the God that they serve retain the fabric of
morality on which this country stands. And there are so many who will
not dip their hands into depravity on account of their adoration for the
Almighty. Without these ones, Nigeria would be a far more sorry state
than our current lamentation.
No doubt, there are multitudes whose faith does not surpass the
impulse of their tongues and the pressures of their pockets, those who
employ religion for the attainment of selfish, ungodly and anti-people
goals, pretty much the same way in which we have people employ
traditional African beliefs for antisocial reasons. But even these take a
cue from the recurring plague that we call leadership. This latter
group and their sponsors are those that we, as a people must tame.
Nigeria needs to tame people of Soyinka’s generation who, having
sucked the best of the milk that the breasts of this country produced
are now too terrified to speak to power.
I wonder for instance, how a country with seven of its former
leaders alive would allow the Boko Haram situation escalate to this
level.
This is considering the fact that five of these leaders hail from
the northern part of the country and that this terrible phenomenon never
started on the plate of religion.
Those we need to tame are politicians who keep their people poor
and ignorant just so to use them as cannon fodders in the execution of
evil plans. Those we need to call out are ethnic lords who imagine that
they own Nigeria and strive to subject everyone to their authority.
Come to think of it, are these violent acts actually always borne
out of religion? The recent unfortunate attacks on Southern Kaduna did
not have their foundation in religion. It is a continuation of the
conquest exploits of a group of people afflicted with a superiority
complex. It just so happens that the marauding army and their victims
happen found themselves on different sides of the religious divide.
You can go further to cross-examine the attempt to tar religion
with this violent brush by asking why those of us who come from other
parts of the country do not turn guns on our cousins and nephews who
adhere to diverse faith.
In the family in which I was born in Kwara State, I lived with
Muslim cousins with whom we went to church and ate Sallah meat. In this
same family, we had a section which celebrated the Orisa-oko festival
every new yam season. We all played a part in it without disagreement
let alone violence. Religion, by itself is therefore not Nigeria’s
problem.
Those we need to watch out for are the misguided ones, overreaching
themselves, drunk on false doctrines, exuberance and pretentions. These
ones and the people who back them up with the powers of state are those
whose wings need to be clipped by Nigerians of goodwill.
About the Author:
Niran Adedokun is a writer and columnist for Punch newspaper. Follow him on Twitter: @niranadedokun
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