Alake, the paramount ruler of Egba land of Ogun State, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, on Tuesday, called on the Federal Government to declare July 13 Wole Soyinka Day to celebrate the invaluable contributions of the Nobel laureate to humanity both in Nigeria and globally.
Oba Gbadebo added that the renowned playwright and social justice activist deserved the second highest national honour of Grand Commander of Order of Niger.
The revered monarch made the propositions during a press conference at his palace to herald a series of events lined up to mark Soyinka’s 90th birthday.
Oba Gbadebo said already Egba land had designated July 13, which is Soyinka’s birthday, to celebrate the literary icon.
“It will be appropriate for the Federal Government to adopt July 13 as a national day to celebrate Professor Wole Soyinka, given his contributions to literature and humanity globally.
“It will be good to henceforth adopt his birthday, which is July 13, as Wole Soyinka Day. In fact, New Orleans in the United States of America has already adopted a day to celebrate him, so why can’t we do so to honour our own too?
“The Federal Government should also, in addition to this, confer on Wole Soyinka the second highest national honour of Grand Commander of Order of Niger because of his contributions, to register our dear nation on the global map,” the Alake said.
He explained that as part of Soyinka’s 90th birthday celebration, Friday, July 12, and Saturday, July 13, had been fixed for art exhibitions by the pupils of St. Peters Primary School, Ake and Abeokuta Grammer School, which Soyinka attended. The exhibition will also feature the Society of Nigerian Artists, Ogun State Chapter.
Other programmes lined up for the celebration are cultural performances, book exhibitions, documentaries on Soyinka, poetry recitation, as well as a hunting expedition by the hunters in Egbaland, among others.
The convener of Soyinka’s 90th birthday celebration, Dr Paul Bankole, said the essence of the celebration was to acknowledge the great contributions of the Nobel Laureate both academically and to humanity as a whole.
Bankole said he met Soyinka in 1964 in Ibadan as a young boy and that his literary journey started as a result of his encounter with him.
He described the declaration of July 13 as Wole Soyinka Day in Egba land by the Alake as a welcome development, noting that it was in line with the declaration of November 1 as Wole Soyinka Day in New Orleans, USA
Bankole said, “I believe that people like Prof Soyinka should be celebrated while they are alive. We must not wait till they are gone before we begin to pour the accolades on them; let them understand that we value them and acknowledge their unique contribution towards having a better world.”