By Osa Mbonu-Amadi
Again, it is a continuation of the same ethnic profiling of Igbos which climaxed in the 2023 elections and its aftermath, for some ethnic dog whistlers to say only Igbos despise Soyinka. The fact is, there are many Igbos who still love Professor Wole Soyinka. But it is not everyone that loves him, even among his own people. There is nobody in this world who is loved by everyone. Even God who created the world and all human beings still has people who don’t love Him.
Quite often, people who love you do decide to stop loving you for one reason or the other. Even, sometimes people decide to stop worshipping God or the gods whom they have worshipped for many years, not to speak of a human being, a mortal. Love is not by force. The good news, however, is that while some people may not love you, or may not continue to love you as they once did, they will be balanced by those who still love you. So, go and make do with those who still love you. The sky is wide enough for every bird to fly. That is the beauty of nature.
But to profile Igbos as the only people who don’t, or no longer love Wole Soyinka is wicked. There are people across Nigeria and the world who have axes to grind with Soyinka, and for good reasons. It will run against the grain of human nature for those people to continue to love WS.
Take for instance, Jonathan’s wife, whom Soyinka called “Shepopotamus” in reference to her physical nature. Patience Jonathan will likely not continue to love your Soyinka. Patience’s husband, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, his children and people from Otueke his hometown, who love and worship Jonathan as you love and worship your Soyinka, are not likely going to continue to love your Soyinka after denigrating their mother and body-shaming her because of politics. Those people are not Igbos.
Former President Obasanjo whom Soyinka hates so much, probably more than anyone else in the world, is Yoruba, not Igbo. Except Obasanjo is Jesus who turns the other cheek for those who slap him, I don’t think he will continue to love your Soyinka after all the hatred and humiliation Soyinka has heaped on him for many years.
Don’t forget that Obasanjo also has both Yorubas and non-Yorubas who love and worship him as you love and worship your WS. I would be surprised if those lovers of Obasanjo continue to love and worship your WS.
In one of the lectures delivered last Thursday at UNILAG for Soyinka @ 90, award winning author and University of Abuja lecturer, Dr Razinat Mohammed, confirmed that Soyinka has stepped on many toes in his lifetime. If you are expecting all those people Soyinka has stepped on their toes across the world, not only in Nigeria, to continue to love your WS, you are deceiving yourself.
Soyinka attacked former President Trump of USA. He was said to have torn his US visa (I cannot confirm that) because Trump won the election at that time. As you may be aware, Donald Trump has millions of supporters across the world, not just in the United States. Trump’s supporters love Trump as you love and worship your WS. I don’t think Trump and his teeming supporters will be great lovers of your WS.
So, you can see that your claim that it’s only Igbos who no longer love your WS is born out of ignorance and ethnic frivolities. As I have said at the beginning, and I repeat it here, there are many Igbos who still love Soyinka till today. But unfortunately, I am not one of those Igbos. Or don’t I have right to also “wake up every day, armed with (my own) convictions, not yielding them to the threat of danger and to the power and force of people who might despise me”?
