We can admit Soyinka's shortcomings without going to the extreme of concluding he is " an overrated ethnic bigot".
He is a complex person who demonstrates significant political inconsistencies and even at times crudities, the latter represented possibly by his fight with Patience Jonathan and her husband the then President.
He is too keen on aligning with political power centres, from his controversial relationship to the military coupist IBB, to his co-opting himself into the Buhari for President camp well after establishing himself as the most prominent anti-Buhari critic, represented by his "The Trouble with Buhari", if I recall the essay title accurately, and his relationship with the APC from the struggle against Jonathan to the present.
As a pre-eminent critic of Buhari, his essay framed the implications of the then head of state's excesses, a position made even more poignant by his years later endorsement of Buhari as President without any logically sustainable explanation, in my view, except his alignment with the APC alliance that removed Jonathan in favour of Buhari, paving the way for Tinubu, an alliance that saw his involvement in the embarrassingly lavish state sponsored celebration of his birthday by Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi, one of the arrowheads of the anti-Jonathan struggle, in which the opposition used Soyinka and other prominent Southern Nigerians to give the APC and its Presidential candidate Buhari a foothold in Southern Nigeria, which he never had in his previous unsuccessful attempts at the Presidency, failing woefully in the South, until the APC, through such tactics as employing the appeal of a known social crusader as Soyinka, laundered his image in the South
At the same time, he has been a great social crusader, pursuing creative social vision at risk to his liberty and life, as in the Nigerian Civil War, on account of which he spent a good time in prison, significantly in solitary confinement, and during the anti-Abacha struggle, during which he had to flee Nigeria for his life during that murderous regime.
He is also a great writer, pre-eminent in the dramatization of the inspirational power of classical African thought, particularly as represented by and refracted through Yoruba thought, as well as an awesome dramatist, a magical poet and essayist, a glorious autobiographer and a striking novelist, operating at the highest levels of human creativity in all these genres, except perhaps in the novel.
Thanks
Toyin
On Sat, Jun 21, 2025, 1:18 AM Okey Iheduru <okeyiheduru@gmail.com> wrote:
In 2014, this man rejected an award from President Goodluck Jonathan citing democratic principles. Today he accepted the same award from Tinubu who is far more undemocratic. You decide if this man lives on his own principles or is he an overrated ethnic bigot...--Okey C. Ihedurue-mail: okeyiheduru@gmail.com
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAGCbkjrvaX-mSbtXadd5RFNqpGAAcXDOZYJC8Gz22zV8d9P9TA%40mail.gmail.com.
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAGBtzfPaDFcZqbcA_U2J2P7qv3o1nYSW96TJUzWG4ws61SMVRg%40mail.gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment