The
inspiration to explore this aspect of the Wole Soyinka legacy was born when I read
the submissions by an author in the internet, precisely in the Sahara
Reporters, that Professor Wole Soyinka should begin to withdraw from public
activism so as to dedicate time to gather his memoirs together for the purpose
of preserving it for posterity. My grouse against such a proposal is that it
has the capacity to render the Wole Soyinka heritage impotent and irrelevant by
confining it to the dusty shelves of history in a country afflicted with the
infectious disease of a culture of contemptuous forgetfulness and getting the
Soyinka enemies – those real enemies of our culture and its tested values and
accredited methods – overrule it through habitual attentiveness to the will of
the godfathers and that of the corrupt officials of the Nigerian state as well
as the continuous fuelling of the habitual criminal disposition that has come
to constantly engage and test the resolve of the remaining few who are
committed to the integrity project in Nigeria, both in words and in actions.
Actually, truth does not decay. But a confession of moral bankruptcy in the
presence of well established paradigms of truth can make one look stupid and
exasperating.
I
think Nigeria and the present crop of her citizenry has lost a lot by not getting
Prof. Wole Soyinka’s socio-cultural enhancement initiatives planted and be
grafted unto the already decayed Nigerian culture and getting him to moderate
it himself now that he is still alive. That this failure to properly
acknowledge him in an official manner has not dampened his spirit and paralyzed
his efforts but instead has served to integrate all intents and purposes of the
Nobel Laureate's activist spirit into a one whole life of service to God and
humanity is a deed that cannot fail to win our attention – one which all who
are schooled in the Soyinka brand of activism must rally round to activate and
preserve.
+++++
I
am not very keen about reggae, pop or jazz. But I am greatly attracted to
poetry. In this parlance, I have always followed Professor Wole Soyinka around
in his intellectual expedition into activism. Inspired by him and others like
late Chinua Achebe, I have been able to learn how to scribble words on a jotter
and then watch, by study, intellectual quietude and by prayerful
experimentations, as these words embrace each other in an awkward show of
disparate apprehensions and get sewn together into paradigms, or
some desiderata of reality. Thus begins the long hazardous trek in the
company of these paradigms out of the doldrums of psychic asylum in an onward
journey to the testing fields erected at the behest of experience (I have
undertaken to publish some of these poems – about twelve or thirteen of them in
this blog site in the next couple of days).
Right
there at the point I rejoined and reconnected with Prof Wole Soyinka, these
lines by Qudus Onikeku, a fellow seeker of the Truth, struck me with a certain
bluntness and impressed themselves on my mind in respect of the contents and
goal of my expedition:
The
task I have placed upon myself as a human being and as a Nigerian, resides
solely in the terrain of the arts, which I believe so strongly might go a long
way in doctoring our moral negligence, ideological barrenness, create a purge
in our heads, and strengthen the cultural fragment of this ‘revolution’ which
signifies that, as a people we cannot begin to build until we have been able to
control the damage by first discovering its sources. This discovery must sink
us down to the roots, to demolish and rehabilitate the foundations of thoughts
and actions responsible for such damage, then begin to re-create.
A
people who can appreciate art are a people of high morality and matured
choices. No wonder It is now a common knowledge that the powerful - clueless
leaders - will always reach for their guns each time they hear the word
‘culture’. I speak here, not of a culture on sales and solely consumable by the
elite class, tourists and expatriates, but that which provides a solid ground
for a sense of dignity and a sense of self, which gives rise to an honest self
appraisal and self renewal. That which constantly worries about the factors
upsetting our ardent need for peace and tranquility, for an authentic identity
and decency. This makes the artist appear to them a perpetual rebel. (Wole Soyinka- This Tree Won’t Make
A Forest by Qudus Onikeku; July, 16 2012)
+++++
Reading
the Professor's piece " And Now, The
Ecumenical City Of Jos?! By Wole Soyinka. Sahara Reporters, May, 23 2014."
<<
http://saharareporters.com/column/and-now-ecumenical-city-jos-wole-soyinka
>> few days back with the Sacred Deed at the background of my
mind, I seem to believe that the gods of the land have spoken to Nigeria in and
through Prof Wole Soyinka. The spirit of this piece spoke to me with such power
and authority that made me think an oracle planted those words in the name of
Prof. Wole Soyinka. Even if Soyinka is not an oracle, he should be
consulted like one in today’s Nigeria. He possesses those qualities that truly
ordains a man or a woman into a mouth piece for the gods. An oracle is talking!
The gods have spoken!!
+++++
Cutting
an edge over power or administration and the myriad of shams and terrors that
follow its misapplication requires that one be formed, informed and equipped
through the hard lessons of life which the necessary whips of the teacher
drives into the egg- head of an intelligent but stubborn child
from infancy, through primary to the post- primary schools respectively.
The tensed-up educational muscles begin to relax when one has had the privilege
of passing through the four walls of a university and the experiences garnered
as one lends oneself out to the service of God and humanity. It is an
experience that is highly exploratory to open and adventurous, not vindictive,
minds and hearts.
And
like Onome Osifor-Whiskey of old Newswatch would say, failure provides a light
in the dark tunnels of self actualization for those who dare. It is first of
all about total withdrawal – if you like “resignation” from hyper activity into
adroit study, through investigations, re-alignments and somber reflection. From
all intents and purposes, it is different from defeat. To be defeated is what
it means is to be completely out - out and stranded in the cold embrace of
life. This is the real tragedy.
+++++
The
cruel abduction of the Chibok School Girls is the tragedy of Boko Haram brand
of Islam if it fails to release those innocent girls after the visit of
prominent citizens of this nation like Chief Mathew Olusegun Obasanjo to them.
But the sit- tight disposition of the key operators of the present
administration, whether the girls are released or not, is Mr. Goodluck Ebele
Jonathan’s tragedy.
Impeachment
is a tragedy no sitting leader anywhere in the world finds palatable. President
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan should resign now or risk impeachment from office.
I
am not initiating any proceedings. Instead, I am voicing out a clear picture
that has caught my attention in prayer for and reflection about our dear
country Nigeria.
A
fighter can choose to hide from the aggressor while bidding his time. In my
case, I have had to hide behind the rags. This is despite the fact of the
dignity and fanfare (often times, misguided) associated with the Catholic
priesthood. And the betrayals and treachery of those around me, both friends
and foes alike, have combined in a paradox of uniformity, to give me a
kind of immunity from the poisonous arsenals of the enemy.
When
threatened and in danger, a leader can decide to pretend to be
asleep with his head hid in-between the thighs of a Delilah, but not his
manhood. However, the snoring that comes as a result of deep slumbering resting
comfortably on the arms of the same woman is one clumsy manner of answering to
a War Cry raised by the gods, most especially the fertility gods. And note
this, in today’s world of
the homosexuals and lesbians, there are many unconscious ways of playing the
Sampson and Delilah game.
In
today’s Nigeria, the gods
have come calling and no true and authentic chief priest or priestess can
afford to stay put with a bottle of dry gin at the appearance of the gods
especially after four uninterrupted years of hunger, famine, diseases, poverty,
terrorism and corruption. If the chief priests/ priestesses and Imams fail to
open the door, then we the masses will open it for the gods to come in. After
all, they own the land.
+++++
The
fate that befell Odewale in Ola Rotiimi’s play “The Gods Are not to Blame” is tragic.
“No! No!! Do not blame the gods”, Odewale cried, “let no one blame the powers.
For the powers would have failed if I did not let them use me. …….when the
wood- insect gathers sticks, it carries it on its own head.”
The
president of a sovereign nation has enormous powers. I have never ceased
worrying about the kind of power that the president can subscribe and submit
to, or one which can hold him captive that can render him
very inactive, inefficient and unproductive except in the fields of scandal,
corruption and terrorism. It now seems very clear that the music to which
Mr.President danced away in Kano during the PDP rally was, beyond the guitar
and band, being played with the trumpets constructed out of piped
branches of the Paw-Paw by the “unseen hands”, “unknown faces” and
“unverified sources”. And hear the lyrics:
Uwa
bu Paw-Paw!
Paw
Paw daa na-ala ya akuwaa!!
Uwa
bu paw paw!!!
+++++
The steadiness and ruggedness of the tall pillars at
Eleme and Owaza upon which shoulders some wild fires sit night and day to
harass the heavens about our environment seems to me to present an anti-climax
to the situation of believers presently in Nigeria and the proximity it shares
with Divine Presence. Regrettably, day in and day out, our wildest orgies sit
comfortably on the shoulders of these twin pillars which our abundant human and
natural resources erected in Aso Rock and in the State Houses respectively to
announce to the whole world and to the heavens that, in time and in history,
“GOD IS DEAD”. The teeming population of worshippers that troop in and out of
Churches, Mosques and Traditional Shrines as well as Religious Festivals
respectively in hourly basis in the name of worshipping and encountering God is
a big embarrassment to God himself.
The faithfulness of those wild fires at Eleme and at
Owaza to the call of duty - come rain, come sunshine - challenges me more than
the ritualistic invocations of Egbesu by the likes of Asari Dokubo and Ateke
Tom to rain down fire upon Nigeria for the simple reason that a certain Alhaji
sunk a borehole right inside their mother’s kitchen. Today, are we not drenched
and left in the cold by the deeds or “misdeeds” of Egbesu. What appears more worrisome
is the inability of Egbesu to arrest those Boko Haram terrorists hiding in the
Sambisa forest and free our innocent maidens.
Admittedly, cultural values and behaviors do vary a
lot, but the omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience of God remain intractably
obtrusive and actively enduring. Since our orgies and appetites are the real
sponsors of insurgency and has consequently, therefore, really proved to be the
Enemy next door, should we not then call a meeting of all the gods and invite
them to Abuja with Egbesu presiding. After all, Egbesu is a very powerful deity
whose omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience made “Heroes” out of Asari
Dokubo and Ateke Tom, and the “Vanquished” out of Charles Soboma and Henry
Orkah.
I am convinced that the gods are more powerful than
Boko Haram and all the corrupt officials of the Nigerian State, and that they
advance the course of justice faster than the President of the Supreme Court
and the Nigerian Army establishment. In my own opinion, the Organization
of National gods (ONg) present a far more effective and functional
combatant against corruption and terrorism than the U.N. run International
Court of Justice at the Hague or the U.N. Allied Forces with countries like
U.S.A., Britain, France, Germany, e.t.c. And since we are in a democratic
dispensation, I submit that a roll call of all the gods in Nigeria be done
during such a meeting of the national gods after which the gods are then
expected to elect the one God among themselves to represent the Organization
of National gods (ONg) permanently in all matters that concern it.
Given the fact of a fractious
Boko-Haram-infested Nigerian Military establishment that lacks everything it
takes to win the war on terror and corruption, and if I am correct about the Organization
of National gods (ONg) as the only effective and functional combatant that
has the capacity to engage these goliathic figures that posit serious threats
to the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and one which can speak
for them at this moment of national crisis, loss of identity and total erosion
of trust on the federal arrangement and the threat of total eclipse that hangs
over our traditional values in the most cruel way, then the Sacred Deed is
still talking.
The Sacred Deed is her Word on behalf of the
national gods and a gift from the One God who alone, and no other, is the Alpha
and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and Last - the Great Architect,
the Sole Maker and Supreme Caretaker of the Storeroom of Providence - to the
poor, oppressed and dehumanized, indeed all God’s children in Nigeria.
The Sacred Deed is both
on idea and an experience. Permit me to live in the neighborhoods of Prof. Wole
Soyinka in an effort to find an explanation. Prof. Wole Soyinka is a strong
idea my spirit-man cherishes so very much to the point of adoration. He is a
down-to-earth, humble and honest man, it seems, whose personality, words, works
or actions have continued, now and always, to affirm, confirm and forcefully
assert, in concrete terms, the very convictions and values I have groomed and
allowed to blossom in the very depths of my being as regards authentic
existence: about life and the challenges it presents; about faith and the
dangers that can be inflicted on it by uncircumcised mindsets; about nationhood
and the demands it makes on citizenship; about freedom and its
relationship to responsibility; about friendship and the limits set against it
by a habitual sense of duty; and about integral human growth and development
as antidote to a just and progressive society.
But as a personality to encounter, Prof Wole Soyinka
presents a contrast to what an ordinary human being is. Or, to put it in an
ironical manner, he is already what many of us aspire to be. Both his speeches and
writings which ride effortlessly and unsolicited on refined oratorical skills
and a ready support of the invocations of the language of classical poetry
confer a character of power and mystery on this person that points to a
presence in him that is greater and far beyond the ordinary or that can be
called human.
To drive home his fears to the world about America’s
involvements in Syria during a meeting with President Barack Obama of the
United States, Vladmire Putin, Russian President had this to say of Obama:
“I am
afraid of this skinny man. Indeed, I wrestle bears.”
In a sharp contrast to this, I have always lived in
the fear of the gods. But, if I am given the opportunity, I crave for an
embrace from this Yoruba Legend who transverses the length and breath of the
global community planting and impacting seeds of wisdom, peace and harmony on
all those who speak the language of the gods in honesty and without
reservations.
After a private midnight mass today and some three
hours of Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, and as I reflected on the
possibility of borrowing a voice that can speak on and present the Sacred Deed
in raw terms, my mind went to the evocative words Prof. Wole Soyinka posted on
the Sahara Reporters Website with the title “And Now, The Ecumenical City Of Jos?” (May 23, 2014). It could be
any city. It could be any person. It could be anywhere. It could be every
where. And from other web pages from foreign countries, it could read: And now,
poor Nigeria!
Let us adopt the Sacred Deed. Let all subscribe to
the Sacred Deed. The Sacred Deed is a deed against terrorism and corruption. It
is about a New Nigeria.
Gazing at, and open-mouthed before those beautiful
words carefully sewn together in those Sahara Reporters web pages about an idea
of legitimate defense and cooperation among religious and ethnic nationalities
in Nigeria, I allowed a certain kind of spirit I am not usually accustomed to
experiencing in my contact with fellow Igbos and the Christian communities
across the country take hold of me completely. And, after prolonged study and
reflection on the Interfaith and Ecumenical perspectives of the Letter to the Romans (8:14), I recognized the voice
of the gods in Prof. Wole Soyinka saying, through the Sacred Deed:
" Indeed, the Spirit has come!"
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