What Soyinka means to me, By Laolu Akande

Nigeria’s Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka

My editors and superiors in the news room then, such as Mr Jahman Anikulapo, Ambassador Debo Adesina and our overall boss, Mr Emeka Izeze, who then often thought of me as an asset to the newspaper (which is very humbling), will tell me that my closeness to Soyinka is a confirmation of what they had always known. So you see why I am grateful to WS.

Among those who insist that truth-telling is an indispensable form of nation building, Professor Wole Soyinka is the greatest.

And I don’t mean this merely when he is often telling those in government the truth or only when it is done in public. I mean for all times, seasons and for all purposes.

Here is the story of what Soyinka (who is not only to be referred to as Alagba, but also as Baba, not just by his biological children but so many of us), means to me.

In 1992 as a Correspondent of The Guardian newspapers in Ibadan, I had gone to the BCOS to cover a live radio interview with Wole Soyinka on the then widely famous and reputable Radio O-Y-O.  It was an exclusive interview with the Nobel Laureate that afternoon. Governor Kolapo Ishola was in the saddle in Oyo State at the time, while Chief Lamidi Adedibu was the political godfather. The radio station was owned by the State Government but its operators were professional, top notch and knew how to do their jobs.

As the interview went on, WS started waxing in his flamboyant expressions, doling out the truth while unbothered that this was a radio station owned by government. And then suddenly, I noticed right inside the hall where the live interview was going on that Soyinka had actually been unceremoniously cut off the air for some comments he made about Adedibu, which someone felt was uncomplimentary!

But this was unknown to Kongi himself. And he kept speaking. I couldn’t take it, so I got up from my seat among the audience and wrote a note addressed to him that he had been cut off air, and no one knew how to tell him or perhaps just didn’t care to.

I got close enough, as many of the organisers knew me as a journalist in the State, and wasn’t blocked from reaching him. I passed the note to Soyinka. He read it and within minutes got up abruptly and walked out of the make-do studio, after confirming that indeed he had been cut off air!

That was my very first meeting with him and we have remained close since that day.

At my latest meeting with him in Lagos, after serving eight straight years as a presidential spokesperson for the Buhari/Osinbajo administration, we both recalled the incident. And, he told me the other part of the story, which I hadn’t fully figured out before. It was Adedibu who ordered the station to cut him off the air, then later sent him word about it.

Soyinka regaled me about how the strongman of Ibadan politics (Adedibu) told him he was following his footsteps from his younger days, when he (Soyinka) had stood up the entire Western radio station, in the same Ibadan city, in protest against the shenanigans of the politicians of the day! According to Soyinka, he had then sent word back to Adedibu in a humorous mien: “that is fair enough!”

We even got closer in exile in the United States.

Anytime he was in New York, where I lived up till 2015, Soyinka would alert me and we would meet up to have a drink and chat. We also interacted much more regularly via the telephone and email. On a couple of occasions, I had received him at the airport, and once couldn’t quickly figure him out due to his decoy appearance!

I still remember a good friend of mine, a New York based Nigerian lawyer, Remi Oshinkanlu, who we both became RCCG pastors later, and who had eagerly requested that I took him along one of those days to meet WS. Professor Soyinka agreed to the request. Such was his generosity of spirit. But there was one condition – that there won’t be pictures because he would be arriving somewhat incognito! It was a deal for Remi and he got his wishes to meet the first black African to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

When Abacha died and then Abiola too, like on several such developments, we would have long discussions on the phone and at times some of it would end up as a news story, with his permission, of course. At other times, he would send me statements that would become exclusive stories.

Once Abdusalami Abubakar took over power and immediately started releasing political prisoners, Soyinka did a statement announcing the relocation of Radio Kudirat back to Nigeria. As we all know, Soyinka was the major force behind the radio, initially at home and later in exile.

We then had an interview during which he told me that he hoped Radio Kudirat would become a public trust in Nigeria, like the National Public Radio in the US, which is maintained through public subscriptions.

According to him, “I have always admired that particular kind of system in which a voice accessible to all the people and emphasising the more refined aspect of cultural life, not publishing junk and filling space simply for the sake of filling broadcasting hours, which is what you are getting now in many stations in the country, which for me does not deserve to be called radio stations.”

In that chat, Soyinka documented how the station started first as Radio Freedom right there in Lagos.

Let me reproduce a portion of that Q & A:

(Now Soyinka had just told me that Radio Freedom started in Lagos right under the nose of the military dictators of the day. The operators even used local transmitters at some point.)

“Me: this was certainly in Lagos.
Soyinka: In Lagos, o yes! And it moved outside of Lagos to broadcast in Abuja a couple times…
Me: In Abuja too?
Soyinka: Oh yes!
Me: How did you manage to beat all the security network in Abuja?
Soyinka: You have to talk about this band of committed operators, they were the ones who were in charge. By that time, you remember that I had left Nigeria. And I was then convinced that we needed a short wave radio which will cover the whole country and that was what I devoted my energies to.
Me: Would there be a time that you will let us into some of the people who worked with you on this thing?
Soyinka: No doubt at all. I think we are getting very close to disclosing the names including the names of the country if they agree…..it would be a great pleasure for me personally to thank them openly.”

Such was Soyinka’s commitment, public spirit and personal sacrifice!

I must acknowledge that Soyinka, as a news source, was partly responsible for the successes, which by the grace of God, dot my career as a journalist.

My editors and superiors in the news room then, such as Mr Jahman Anikulapo, Ambassador Debo Adesina and our overall boss, Mr Emeka Izeze, who then often thought of me as an asset to the newspaper (which is very humbling), will tell me that my closeness to Soyinka is a confirmation of what they had always known. So you see why I am grateful to WS.

I remember when I landed what was a dream job in New York Newsday in 2000 as a copy editor. It was such a dream world, as the company sent a limousine to receive me at the airport and put me up in the best hotel in Long Island.

They needed a letter of recommendation as part of the employment process. I decided to bring out the big guns and show those oyinbos! I asked Soyinka to please do the honours and he did it so lavishly that I became the envy of many in the newsroom – with a Nobel laureate-penned letter of recommendation!

There is still a lot more to tell about this our Baba and time is approaching when we shall do that by God’s grace. He remains a compelling conscience of the nation, a pride of black people and a global icon whose humanity continues to shape the perspectives of and inspire millions of people everywhere!

When he was doing his memoir, You Must Set Forth At Dawn, WS gave me the rare opportunity to be one of his research assistants and I was honoured that he actually put my name in the Acknowledgement page of the book, in appreciation of the assignment delivered. Such is the generosity of spirit of WS.

And by the way, Baba Soyinka is not infallible and he has no need to apologise for that, for all of us are like that, after all. I mean that we are all fallible, being human beings.

If many of Soyinka’s critics today can come close to just a marginal measure of what he has sacrificed, especially for this nation at several stages of Nigeria’s history, then they can begin to understand that khaki no be leather!

Happy birthday to Baba, Alagba Oluwole Akinwande Soyinka who turns 90 today 13 July! As your days so shall your strength, wisdom and favour be with God and people! Many happy returns of the day!

Laolu Akande was a senior special assistant to former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.