A CULT HERO ALL THE WAY!

Soyinka directing King Babu

As a school boy, my early impression of Prof. Wole Soyinka was that of a man who had had so much learning that even the white man could not match him in spoken English. He was the ultimate educated Nigerian, so vast in his knowledge of the ways of the modern world that even the British were awed by his wisdom.

I learned from snatches of conversation around me, especially during occasional visits to the staff common room, that he had a magical way with words. He was not just gifted with words, my teachers noted; he also manipulated them with as much dexterity as a goldsmith worked rare metals into intricately shaped jewellery.

In those formative years, Soyinka existed in my imagination purely as an icon, more like the pre-colonial and national heroes often celebrated in my history books at the time. Although I had not met him in flesh, he was very visible in his books, some of which I was opportune to read at school.

Indeed, ploughing through secondary school, his works, such as The Trials of Brother Jero and The Lion and Jewel, as well as a couple of exciting poems, includingAbiku and Telephone Conversation’, were the soil in which my passion for literature was fertilised.

Over time, Soyinka’s larger-than-life image soared beyond our immediate literary firmament. He became a cult hero of sorts. At different times, he was the voice of the defenceless and oppressed, the conscience of a nation severely pulverised by decades of military rule, an irrepressible advocate of justice, fairness and equality and much more.

When I learnt through the grapevine that he was the moving spirit behind the existence of the ‘notorious’ Radio Kudirat – the underground broadcast media that mounted a relentless campaign against the Sani Abacha military regime in the late 1990s – I was not surprised. In my mind’s eye, Soyinka’s reputation for positively subversive activities had always preceded him.

I recall listening to the late Chief M.C.K Ajuluchukwu – one-time publicity secretary of Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Unity Party of Nigeria –recount how Soyinka, armed with a toy gun, single-handedly invade a radio station in Ibadan and snatched the tape of a recorded speech by the then Premier of the Western Region, Chief Ladoke Akintola. The old man noted that Soyinka’s action did not only avert much bloodshed in the region, it also portrayed him as a great patriot who believed strongly in the unity of his country.

Before then, I had always found Soyinka’s heroic adventurism, which had to a large extent earned him a place in the hearts of many youths, intriguing. His exploits at the University College, Ibadan – which had resulted in the birth of the Pyrates Confraternity and the Palmwine Drinkards Club (later renamed Kegites Club), two organisations that would shape the tone of social life on Nigerian campuses in the future – formed part of a popular tale that is told consistently from one generation to another.

Without mincing words, he comes across easily as the most popular Nigerian alive. The man’s popularity appears to be perpetually on the rise. It is no surprise that many Nigerians are always eager to grab the slightest opportunity to celebrate him, so much that somebody recently described him as the “only Nigerian who has been immortalised before his death”.

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About Unknown

Deji Sadiq, a.k.a DEJI OF LAGOS is a LASU trained Economist turned freelance journalist, a Blogger, an information strategist, a public affairs analyst and a committed activist with a passion for equal opportunities.