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Fall
1996
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Catherine
Zastrow Onyemelukwe, Editor
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Vol.
1, No. 2
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SOYINKA AND THE STATE OF NIGERIA
How safe it seemed, then, to see Wole again 29 years later, just this past spring, in my hometown of Bethlehem, PA. He looked, though now grey-bearded, befitting a Nobel Prize winner, still as trim as the young buck playwright I knew at the University of Ife, Ibadan Branch, back in 1962. But, now he spoke without the twinkle, the wordplay that had so characterized his presentations.
His message at Lehigh University was quite somber: the prospect for democracy in Nigeria is dim, indeed, under the tyranny of Colonel Sani Abacha. Black American leaders courted by Abacha should not be swayed by his assurances that all will be well, nor by his claim that any critical response to his regime is racist-inspired. To the assertion that Nigeria may not possess the forces of cohesion necessary for nationhood, Soyinka cites the democratic election of Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola on June 12, 1993. To those who write Nigeria off as another casualty of democracy, Soyinka suggests the possibility of international pressure, not unlike that of the world community to South African apartheid, which mobilized public opinion and the financial resources of influential institutions, not least the universities across the Unites States of America.
For many of us, Nigeria is a fond memory. Nostalgia has its place and its pleasures, but in the face of what has been happening in Nigeria today, as Friends of Nigeria don't we need to listen and learn, bring ourselves up to date, and decide what we might do once again to make a difference?
Wole Soyinka's just published book, The Open Sore of a Continent: A Personal Narrative of the Nigerian Crisis, Oxford University Press, is available to Friends of Nigeria members for $12.95 (includes shipping), a 40% discount.