Spring 1997

Catherine Zastrow Onyemelukwe, Editor

Vol. 1, No. 4

SLICES OF SADNESS FOR NIGERIA

The Hausa proverb "life is an onion which one peels crying" seems to apply to Nigeria more and more these days, and each successive slice brings a new sadness, at least for me.  Since 1994, President-elect Chief Moshood Abiola has languished in prison.  As many of you know, Kudirat Abiola, senior wife of the President, was murdered in Lagos last June in what some commentators regard as an execution style slaying.  The most recent U.S. State Department Human Rights report runs to eighteen pages, this for arguably the most promising democracy in Africa at independence.  I take no pleasure in reciting these facts . But, the Hausa have it right.

These past few weeks I've been teaching a wonderful little book by Chinua Achebe, No Longer At Ease, which some of you may have used in Nigerian classrooms. The book engages a number of themes, among them the difficulty of retaining what is good in traditional African culture in the face of assault by western values, commerce and technology. Achebe provided the reader with a timely warning about how easily a bit of "dash" could escalate to graft and corruption, and bring down even the most well meaning Nigerian civil servant. The stakes are much higher than even Achebe may have realized.

When Shell struck oil in the Rivers State in 1958, Nigeria came into some serious money.  Yet, not only has the profit from this huge asset evaporated over the years but, many international groups express concern over the environmental degradation caused by the pollution and contamination of this industry.  Nigerian author Ken Saro-Wiwa led attempts to protect the rights of the Ogoni in the area beginning in 1992, founding the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP).  You guessed it.  Another slice of onion fell when Saro Wiwa was arrested in October 1995 and, shortly thereafter, hanged at Port Harcourt for involvement in the murder of four Ogoni leaders.  He does not appear to have been in Ogoniland when the crime for which he was charged occurred.

And then, last month, I received a message on the H-NET for African history that treason charges had been lodged by the Abacha regime against Nobel Prize author Wole Soyinka, Chief Anthony Enahoro, and ten others. Some of you may, as in the case of Achebe, have taught or at least read Soyinka's works while in Nigeria. It is somewhat difficult to understand how this prize winning dramatist, who has been in self-imposed exile in the west since 1994, could be responsible for bomb explosions which destroyed military vehicles in Lagos.  I suppose it's not important to wonder about such things.  The treason charges have been lodged, and Soyinka will not be returning to his beloved country soon.

Nigeria Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) have the highest regard for the Nigerian people, for their traditions, for their arts and letters, for their culture and for their history.  And, I dare say, RPCV's likewise wish for Nigeria's long term economic prosperity and political stability.   But when Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Chief Akintola and Sir Ahmadu Bello were gunned down on a single January night in 1966, the military dramatically changed the course of Nigerian democracy to this very day.  I'm sure there is an appropriate Yoruba proverb to conclude this brief article, but I've been away too long to remember.

Editor's Note:   The author taught at the Federal Advanced Teachers College in Yaba and currently teaches history at Choate School in Wallingford, CT.

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