Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka, while responding to criticism directed toward him by former Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo, described the ex-president as “an overgrown child of circumstance”.
The main issue was the criticism of Soyinka in the autobiography of the former president, My Watch. Soyinka described Obasanjo as “an infliction that those of us who share the same era and nation space must learn to endure”.
Obasanjo had said the Nobel Laureate was “a misfit as a political analyst, commentator or critic”, adding that Soyinka “loves taking the lead on all matters”.
“I take him seriously on almost all issues except on the political, particularly Nigerian politics,” Obasanjo wrote in the book.
“For Wole, no one can be good, nor can anything be spot-on politically except that which emanates from him or is ordained by him. His friends and loved ones will always be right and correct no matter what they do or fail to do.
“He is surely a better wine connoisseur and a more successful aparo [guinea fowl]hunter than a political critic, not to talk of what he would do as a politician.”
But in a piece titled ‘Watch And Pray, Watch And Prey’, the scholar lampooned Obasanjo for directing such caustic words at him.
Tracing their relationship to the civil war era, Soyinka described as a liar, the man who goes into history as having occupied the highest office in the country for the longest period.
“Unfortunately, not all acts of defamation or willful misrepresentation are actionable, otherwise, my personal list against this newly revealed fellow-sufferer would have counted for an independent volume of the Nigerian Law Report since our paths first crossed during the Civil War,” Soyinka said.
“My commitment to the belief in the fundamental right of all human beings NOT TO BE LIED AGAINST remains a life obsession, and thus demands, at the very least, an obligation of non-commission among fellow victims.
“I must therefore reserve a full, frontal dissection of Obasanjo’s ‘My Watch’ for later, most especially since the work itself is currently under legal restraint and is not readily accessible to a general readership.
“I despise that species of humanity whose stock-in-trade is to concoct lies simply to score a point, win an argument, puff up his or her own ego, denigrate or attempt to destroy a fellow being.
“I remarked, his fiction remains a prescient and cautionary mirror of the society we inhabit, where beasts of the forest appear to have a greater moral integrity than those who claim to be leading lights of society.”
Apparently referring out to some individuals who tried to reconcile him and Obasanjo in the past, Soyinka ruled out any possibility of reuniting with his contemporary.
“Perhaps I ought to interrupt myself here with an apology to some mutual acquaintances – ‘blessed peacemakers’ and all – especially in this season of ‘peace and goodwill to all men’,” he wrote.
“I had a cordial exchange with Obasanjo over the phone recently – engineered by himself, his ground staff and/or a chance visitor – when I had cause to visit his Presidential Laundromat for the first time ever.
“I promised a follow-up visit to view some mysterious rock script whose existence, he informed me, was uncovered by workers during ground clearing. The exchange was, in short, as good as ‘malice towards none’. Obviously, that visit will not now take place any more.
“It does appear that there is no end to this individual’s capacity for infantile mischief, and for needless, mind-boggling provocations, such as his recent ‘literary’ intrusion on my peace.
“There are individuals who are born incorrigible but, more importantly, that some issues transcend one’s personal preferences for harmonious human relationships even in a season of traditional good will.
“Since we are both acquainted with the Yoruba proverb that goes: ‘the child that swears his mother will not sleep must also prepare for a prolonged, sleepless infancy’. So let it be with Okikiola, the overgrown child of circumstance.”
