Prof. Wole Soyinka will soon clock 90, we must continue to celebrate his past and throw the present into the forest of infamy. Some of us tend to forget that WS is a dramatist and will continue to write about everything, until his last hour.
As a boy, he ambushed and thoroughly embarrassed his parents, Samuel Ayodele and Grace Eniola Soyinka, before the Ransome Kutis in Abeokuta. The mother was the daughter, of the only daughter of Rev. J. J. Ransome Kuti. Obi has been to Soyinka’s house. You would think that the playwright would shut him out. They regaled themselves with gists. Ever since that August visit, the senior citizen misses the politician so badly. Little wonder he keeps talking about his visitor.
However, Soyinka, born into a Protestant family has adopted protest as a weapon all through his time. This same Soyinka who stormed a radio station in 1965 with a pistol, to protest electoral irregularities has not raised his voice against the confusion created by the Independent National Electoral Commission, in 2023.
Buhari came back in 2015, as president. He further dehumanised the people and nearly destroyed Nigeria. Soyinka was voiceless, choosing when to react and picking his words. The vibrancy turned cold, reminding many of the book, The Man died, authored by WS.