Who is Soyinka?

On Feb. 12, 1997 The Jakarta Post reported on Wole Soyinka's trip to Sydney, Australia. About a month later, another report on him appeared in the Post on March 13. The following day another report was published by the Post in the "Features/Entertainment" section.

The question which millions of readers might be asking is "Who is Soyinka?" He is a playwright whose literary writings earned a lot of respect, particularly in the English speaking world. He wrote a number of books such as The interpreters, which is popular in the UK. As a matter of fact, he is the first African to win the prestigious international literary award that earned him "Nobel laureate" status. Soyinka is an ethnic Yoruba-man from the western part of Nigeria.

Today, the respected writer is widely known as a political activist who has been in political opposition with almost all of the Nigerian civilian or military leaders since independence from Britain in 1960. Ethnic, geographical, and in some cases, religious differences between most of those leaders on one hand and Soyinka on the other, are said to be responsible for the stern opposition.

For example, most of the Nigerian leaders are Moslems from Hausa-fulani ethnicities from the north. Soyinka, on the other hand, is Christian of Yoruba ethnicity of western Nigeria. That is why a substantial number of Nigerians believe Soyinka's opposition is far from constructive.

Instead, they believe Soyinka's political opposition is no more than a feeling of superiority over Nigerian leaders due to their lower Western educational background, though they're much more experienced in political leadership than Soyinka. I personally do not believe that Soyinka is a frustrated academic who failed to accomplish his political ambition of leadership in the Republic of Nigeria.

Though his international passport was seized by Nigerian authorities, he used a UN passport to surreptitiously escape to exile in the UK for the last three years. This was at a time he was sure of being arrested for secret antigovernment activities that could affect national security.

BUHARI ABDU

Jakarta