In this interview with BANKOLE TAIWO, the Alake and Paramount Ruler of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, speaks on the essence of the celebration of the 90th birthday of the Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, among other topical issues. Excerpts:
Why is Egbaland rolling out the drums to celebrate Prof Soyinka at 90?
The question should have been: ‘Why not?’ If you have a son who has done very well and taken your name to the outside world for the good of it, then you must be ready to celebrate him at all times. Here’s someone who has been so consistent and highly productive, he’s always fighting for social justice alongside his unquantifiable contributions to academics all over the world. He is a soldier of humanity and, thankfully, God has decided to grant him longevity in sound health. You will agree with me that this great man deserves to be celebrated every day, not just because he’s clocking 90 years on earth.
Prof Soyinka is rarely seen in public with myths and awe built around him. Can you tell us who Prof Soyinka is?
He is what the Yoruba people called “akanda,” a special being, an enigma and a living legend. He is someone God created so peculiar, someone that you can’t compare with another person. He is a creation of the Almighty God. This is a man who, when he believes in anything, even to the embarrassment of his people, would go for it, as long as such convictions would help uphold justice, good governance and accountability. He will try to convince you that what he is doing is the right thing. Even if nobody is following him, he will forge ahead once he has his convictions and, most of the time, if not 100 per cent, as a matter of fact, Prof Soyinka is always doing the right thing. He thinks so deeply and he is a humanist to the core. He hates injustice, he can’t stand it and this runs in the family. He is just showing what the family is made of. Fela, Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti, and even their father, Rev (Israel Oludotun) Ransome-Kuti, who happened to be the principal of my own late father at Abeokuta Grammar School, taught them to fight for the truth and put their feet down on whatever they believe in and fight injustice wherever they see one. This is what Soyinka has done all his life. We are grateful to God for giving such a priceless gift to the world through Egbaland.
As I said during the press briefing, Soyinka is a global icon, a living legend, a playwright, actor, human rights and political activist, a hunter and a globally respected elder statesman with roots in Ake, Abeokuta. This is the reason Egbaland is rolling out the drums to celebrate the unquantifiable honour and glamour the famous poet has brought to his kith and kin in Ogun State.
And, as a way to further honour the playwright, we have said that July 13, the birthday of Soyinka, will now be celebrated in Egbaland at home and abroad as Wole Soyinka Day.
What is the relationship between Prof Soyinka and the Kutis sir?
They are cousins. Soyinka’s mother, who was also an activist, is from the Kuti family.
Do you have any close relationship with Prof Soyinka sir?
I was born in the same place as Prof Soyinka here in Ake, Abeokuta. I was born in the same hospital and delivered by the same Scottish woman, McArthur, who took the delivery of Prof Soyinka nine years before I was born. We both lived here in Ake. Our houses were about 200 metres apart but I related more with his younger sisters and brothers and we have always known him to be someone who will go far in life
Does Prof contribute to efforts at developing Egbaland?
Yes, he does once he’s told and you get him involved. He may be someone who is very peculiar but he doesn’t shy away from supporting efforts aimed at developing Egbaland and if he does not like it, he will be frank with you and tell you his honest opinion.
Sometimes, in the course of crusading for justice, Prof Soyinka is at loggerheads with former President Olusegun Obasanjo who is also another great son from Egbaland, how do you feel when this happens?
I don’t feel disturbed, because we cannot all sleep and face the same directions as we used to say in Yorubaland. You are free to justify your position to tell the world why you are where you are. If he (Soyinka) has a problem with Obasanjo and he has to go to the United Nations with placards and the rest, it is because he believes in the cause he is fighting, so we have no cause to stop him.
You said Prof Soyinka started schooling at the age of two. Tell us more about this sir
Yes, he took himself to school when he was about two years old, actually, to St Peters Primary School, Ake, where his father was teaching. So, he took his father’s books and when they asked him what he came to do, he said he was going to read. God has shown him right from the time he was very young that he would go far in life and we are grateful that God did not allow the devil to stop him.
What is so special about Egbaland?
We are the first to meet a White man. We are the first to imbibe a different culture to mix with ours and to emulate what is the best in each one. We are the first to have a hospital and Western medicine. The first newspaper in the country was established here by Henry Townsend. We are the first to have a grammar school. That CMS Grammar School now in Lagos started from here. We are the first to properly welcome the White men without fighting. Egbaland is the seat of civilisation and Christianity, so it may not be surprising that we have icons like Prof Soyinka, among others.
You were talking about the Federal Government recognising every July 13 as Wole Soyinka Day. Could you be more explicit on this sir?
Yes, Prof Soyinka is our own here in Nigeria, but he is an African pride to the world. So why should the Federal Government not honour him? If New Orleans, a state in the USA, has declared a day to celebrate him, nothing stops the Federal Government from declaring a national day named after the literary giant to honour him. We must celebrate what we have and not wait till when he is no more and won’t be aware of the honour done to him. I equally added that in addition to declaring his birthday, which is July 13, as Wole Soyinka Day, the Federal Government should also confer the second highest national honour of Grand Commander of the Order of Niger on him as he marks his 90th birthday.
What specifically will you be doing to celebrate the literary giant at 90?
The two-day celebration is fixed for Friday, 12th and Saturday, 13th of July and this will feature a series of events such as art exhibitions by the pupils of the primary school attended by Prof Soyinka, St Peters Primary School, Ake, Abeokuta Grammar School, as well as the Ogun State chapter of Society of Nigerian Artistes.
Other programmes lined up for the celebration are cultural performances, book exhibitions, documentaries on Wole Soyinka, poetry recitals as well as hunting expeditions by the hunters in Egbaland, among others.
From antecedents, Prof Soyinka is not known for ostentatious celebrations, will you practically be dragging him out to be physically present during this celebration?
It does not really matter whether he is present physically or not. We all know that Prof Soyinka is a man of many parts, you may call him and he will say he is in Dubai, the UK or any other part of the world delivering lectures. He is wanted everywhere in the world. What is most important is that we seized this glorious moment to celebrate him and let the whole world know that we value what we have so much.
What should be the takeaway lessons when we look at the life and times of Prof Soyinka?
That we should not suppress any of our children, whatever they want to do legitimately, we should give them the support. Maybe they are writing stories or dismantling and repairing the mechanical and electrical appliances in our homes, we should let them be. We should support them to blossom in what they have found passion doing so that they can go ahead and become the giants that God wants them to be in life.
Is the Ogun State government involved in this celebration?
Definitely, you can hear some of the officials from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism during the press briefing introducing themselves. The celebration of an icon like Wole Soyinka can’t be done without the support of the government.
What is your wish for Kongi at 90?
The Almighty God will further spare his life in good health and he will continue to write and give us a lot more to celebrate, long after he might have gone. We thank God for sparing him to be 90 years old. This is a lot and worth celebrating. My prayer is that Prof Soyinka will continue to get stronger, and he will enjoy sound health for the rest of his life.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities is already threatening another round of industrial strikes, accusing the government of not funding the universities, among other welfare concerns. Prof Soyinka may not have been this great without sound education. What do you have to say about this?
We have to be wary of anything that will disrupt the education of our children. ASUU should take its time to get people behind it so that everyone can know what the whole issue is all about. The union should not suddenly be embarking on strike or else it won’t make any meaning again…
But that’s what the leadership of ASUU claimed to have been doing for about a month now, sensitising the members of the public to the government’s failure. As a royal father closer to President Bola Tinubu, will you use this medium to offer your advice?
The President must be listening, he is a leader with listening ears and I am sure something will be done.
Recently there has been friction between the traditional stool and the government in some parts of the country. Are politicians not becoming a threat to traditional institutions?
Well, you should know that the politicians succeeded in the traditional institutions. The Alake used to be the sole authority in the past. Alake used to hold the key to the prison yards where people who were not to be among the sane human beings were locked up. Since we have opted for the majority rule, naturally, we should have expected that a few traditional institutions would still be there. With time, we shall get to where Britain is, where everything is a constitutional monarchy, where everyone knows where he or she stands and friction will be reduced.
What is your take on state police, given several calls for its establishment to battle the growing insecurity in the country?
Look at America, you have different levels of policing. Why should we now end up with just one in a nation so big and diverse as Nigeria? We had state police before, we had local government police under the Superintendent of Police in the state or whatever they were being called at that time, and they were a lot more effective and useful in curbing crime and keeping people safe at that time. We have to go back to this policy, because but for the military government that erased all of these things and made everything federal, we would still have had them. The idea of the state police ended in 1966. They knew the nook and cranny of their operating environment because that is where they were born and brought up. They can quickly identify new faces and ensure their monitoring or report them to the appropriate authorities. How can all of these be done effectively by someone just posted down across the country? We urgently need to embrace state police to fight the devastating insecurity confronting us as a nation.
What do you tell the government about the harsh economy and high prices of food, among other uncertainties?
As a traditional ruler, I have the ears of the President. I will talk to him one-on-one. I can’t take him to public forums on issues that I can always discuss with him privately.
Are you saying the President feels what Nigerians are feeling and will take decisive steps to address the situation?
The President is an Egba chief and so we must always get together. He is the Are-Ago of Egbaland and I can assure you that by the grace of God, just pretty soon, we are getting out of all our challenges. God is making us go through all of this because the transition we are going through is a must for us to appreciate what God is doing for us. Everything will become normal very, very soon, earlier than anyone expected. Even when you look at the indices, inflation is coming down. God is working it for us and gradually we shall be there.