To commemorate today’s 80th birthday of Professor Akinwale Oluwole “Wole” Soyinka, TEMITOPE DAVID-ADEGBOYE, TERH AGBEDEH and MARY OGEDENGBE elicited a personal recollection from Professor Remi Sonaiya who taught French at the Obafemi Awolowo University for nearly 30 years…
The Kongi, undoubtedly, did not go through the rigours of a doctorate degree. Genius got him to the professorial pedestal. While pursuing his doctorate, unknowingly ‘he’ was recommended for study. And he became a professor. A Nobel prize winner too.
Many students of Literature, especially in Africa, came across Soyinka during their post-primary education. Remi Sonaiya is one.
Professor Sonaiya explained that she came across Wole Soyinka first, of course, through his writings in her secondary school days. She particularly liked his poem, ‘Abiku’.
“Then, we had to study ‘Abiku’ in school. So that is how I first got to know about Wole Soyinka and then I met him at different places,” she told TheNiche.
Sonaiya pointed out that while she was at Cornell University in the United States for the first time as a Masters student, Soyinka was on the staff of the university coming one semester out of two to give writing seminars on education and to equip the young people with skills.
Further, she stated that she was not close to the don while at Cornell. “I did not know him closely, but I saw him from afar and was very proud that there was a Nigerian at a faculty of Cornell. Then, I met him in Ife because he was on the staff of the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) then, Head of Dramatic Arts at some point. I was struck by the fact that he had no head for administration in the sense of, you know, all the rules and regulations and bottlenecks. He wanted things done and done very easily without complication of so many rules. And of course I continued reading his books.”
On the issue of his imprisonment, Prof. Sonaiya paints the true picture of a man who is upright in his ways and stood for what he believed in, knowing the price to be paid.
“This issue of spending time in prison during the Biafran war; they felt that he was supporting the Biafrans. You see, because our leaders tend to be unidirectional, if you are not clearly outwardly supporting them, then that means you are on the side of the adversary,” she said.
“I know some of his children and it could not have been easy having a Wole Soyinka as a father; somebody who at times has to be on the run, somebody who has to travel. You know, such people pay a price personally for the values they hold, for the vision they have. I think Nigeria has been blessed to have him. And I am sure that will go on until, maybe, he is unable to speak again or unable to write again.”
Her thought on Soyinka’s activism and contributions to the Nigerian culture, which spanned over five decades, incites her admiration for the man. “Nigeria should be proud to have a Wole Soyinka; he has done this nation a lot of good internationally. He has always been at the forefront of any issue that needed him.”
She believes also that there are other Soyinkas who will continue his vision and fight when the octogenarian is no more, as it is fundamental for the future of the country.
“I hope that he will have the pleasure of seeing others come after him who will take up the mantle as it were, and I think there are a few people, voices now being heard, people who are writing good things. So I wish him a happy 80th birthday,” Sonaiya added.