Wole Soyinka: What Is Wrong?

By Norbert Chaizor

Professor Wole Soyinka is taking arrows for pointedly shooting at the “menacing utterances of a Vice Presidential Candidate”.

True, Datti’s “ gladiatorial challenge “ is a damper to the suave,more cultured language of his LP principal.

Peter Obi craves retrieval of the “Stolen Mandate” but not do or die.

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Who is aware that Soyinka trenchantly condemned the 2023 Presidential elections as “horrendous narratives” in history? Dismissing February 25, he sighed in irredeemable despair that “his trust has broken down completely” in Nigeria’s democracy.

The totality of Soyinka’s take betrays an African axiom- It is the eye of the child that fears the mask.

Soyinka is not against our Nation.He only awed our notion. But his height and then …our hasty generalisations caused the backlash upon him. Ntor ,English egghead!

Swedish Professor Emeritus of English and African literature
Bernth Lindfors once classified Soyinka’s writings in the realm of
“Obscurantism.The Nobel Laureate’s body of work is opaque brilliant, deeply difficult to understand.Certainly not for “nattering nitwits”.

Literary critic,Chinweizu also summarized Soyinka’s hard thoughts.

Read “Ake:The Years of Childhood “ or “The Interpreters” and you will bite your tongue and brain for days.

Alas,Soyinka’s esoteric world has stirred attacks from pseudo-public opinion moulders,all driving bandwagon of followers especially in free social media.

The public stones ( all feeble ) being thrown at Soyinka reminds one of the SPIRAL OF SILENCE theory.

Propounded by German political scientist,Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann “Spiral of silence” refers to the tendency of people to remain silent or follow the general scene when they feel their views run in opposition to the vocal majority perspective,on a subject matter.

For fear of social isolation and negative profiling we are all nodding and clapping especially with some of the “ Obi-dients “ in their loudness.

No wonder Kongi, ever imperturbable is laughing in his guttural voice