Achebe/Awolowo Face-off: My Take
It's no longer news that Achebe's There Was A Country, has generated
myriad reactions from Nigerians. Some of the comments range from the
sensible to the ridiculous. One of such senseless, irrational comments
said Achebe is jealous of Soyinka (a Yoruba) for the later's Nobel
Prize for Literature. As such, Achebe used his memoir to vent his
anger against Yorubas!
And I ask, did Soyinka get a Nobel cause he is Yoruba?
Has Achebe not received a Nobel because he is Igbo?
There's only one rational answer to both questions: NO!
It's mainly in Nigeria that inconsequential things become
consequential and vice versa. Most of us haven't read Achebe's book
and a good number of those speaking grammar on the subject in the
media were not active participants in the war. All they know: Achebe
has declared war of words on Yorubas and it is the duty of any
responsible Yoruba to defend. On the other side, Achebe has said the
truth about what Awo did to the Igbo and every responsible Igbo son
and daughter must draw their armoury against the Yoruba race.
And what am I reminded about: the mad man that is pursuing rats as his
house is engulfed by fire!
The days of Achebe and Awolowo, before the war and shortly after, were
days people had jobs waiting for them as soon as they graduate from
the university. It was then that public works ensured roads were good,
water was running, electricity was constant. Also, the
economy was booming, food was available and cheap,
Naira was stronger than the US Dollar, we had
more exports than imports. It was when visas were delivered to
people's homes and foreign embassies were begging Nigerians to visit
their own countries. It was the period students stayed in hostels
where porters cleaned their rooms and lecturers did their bidding.
What do we have today? Just get the opposite of all I listed above.
And as if they aren't enough, add plane crashes, armed robbery,
kidnapping, bombing, and inexplicable mass murders by atheists acting
in God's name (apologies to my friends who are honest, hard working,
compassionate and yet they don't believe in God), as if God is one being
that is incapable of taking care of Himself!
For all ye in support and against, I think we have more
challenges now than to indulge in the divisive preoccupations of
ethnic acrimony fanned by Nigeria's older generation. I say it all the
time, those who gained the best of Nigeria (our fathers) gave over the
worst of Nigeria to the succeeding generation! The problem of Nigeria is
due to the actions and inactions of the older generation; gerontocrats
with outdated selfish ideas of how a nation should be run!
Awolowo is dead. And in our characteristic manner, dead people can do
no wrong. They are eulogised, magnified and extolled. Besides, I am
not qualified to talk about Awo, but I am aware that his policies in
the West benefitted a lot of his people.
My dear Achebe, you are still alive. You were not a politician but a
writer. I have a question for you: how many Igbo writers who grew under
your tutelage are now successful writers like you? I am still shocked
that Adichie's Purple Hibiscus was introduced by Femi Osofisan (a Yoruba); a man who incidentally is my own benefactor; a prolific writer and a detribalised Nigerian. Where
were you, sir when Adichie made her first outing? I could see your
hand on her second novel; but why the second? Why not the first?
Life's achievements are measured by lives you affected positively. My
own experience with you, dear sir, left a permanent sour taste in my
mouth. And I think that if that is the experience of my fellow Igbo
youths, then ...
My take, we have more cleaning work on the rot perpetrated by the older
generation than bickering over what they say or do not say!
myriad reactions from Nigerians. Some of the comments range from the
sensible to the ridiculous. One of such senseless, irrational comments
said Achebe is jealous of Soyinka (a Yoruba) for the later's Nobel
Prize for Literature. As such, Achebe used his memoir to vent his
anger against Yorubas!
And I ask, did Soyinka get a Nobel cause he is Yoruba?
Has Achebe not received a Nobel because he is Igbo?
There's only one rational answer to both questions: NO!
It's mainly in Nigeria that inconsequential things become
consequential and vice versa. Most of us haven't read Achebe's book
and a good number of those speaking grammar on the subject in the
media were not active participants in the war. All they know: Achebe
has declared war of words on Yorubas and it is the duty of any
responsible Yoruba to defend. On the other side, Achebe has said the
truth about what Awo did to the Igbo and every responsible Igbo son
and daughter must draw their armoury against the Yoruba race.
And what am I reminded about: the mad man that is pursuing rats as his
house is engulfed by fire!
The days of Achebe and Awolowo, before the war and shortly after, were
days people had jobs waiting for them as soon as they graduate from
the university. It was then that public works ensured roads were good,
water was running, electricity was constant. Also, the
economy was booming, food was available and cheap,
Naira was stronger than the US Dollar, we had
more exports than imports. It was when visas were delivered to
people's homes and foreign embassies were begging Nigerians to visit
their own countries. It was the period students stayed in hostels
where porters cleaned their rooms and lecturers did their bidding.
What do we have today? Just get the opposite of all I listed above.
And as if they aren't enough, add plane crashes, armed robbery,
kidnapping, bombing, and inexplicable mass murders by atheists acting
in God's name (apologies to my friends who are honest, hard working,
compassionate and yet they don't believe in God), as if God is one being
that is incapable of taking care of Himself!
For all ye in support and against, I think we have more
challenges now than to indulge in the divisive preoccupations of
ethnic acrimony fanned by Nigeria's older generation. I say it all the
time, those who gained the best of Nigeria (our fathers) gave over the
worst of Nigeria to the succeeding generation! The problem of Nigeria is
due to the actions and inactions of the older generation; gerontocrats
with outdated selfish ideas of how a nation should be run!
Awolowo is dead. And in our characteristic manner, dead people can do
no wrong. They are eulogised, magnified and extolled. Besides, I am
not qualified to talk about Awo, but I am aware that his policies in
the West benefitted a lot of his people.
My dear Achebe, you are still alive. You were not a politician but a
writer. I have a question for you: how many Igbo writers who grew under
your tutelage are now successful writers like you? I am still shocked
that Adichie's Purple Hibiscus was introduced by Femi Osofisan (a Yoruba); a man who incidentally is my own benefactor; a prolific writer and a detribalised Nigerian. Where
were you, sir when Adichie made her first outing? I could see your
hand on her second novel; but why the second? Why not the first?
Life's achievements are measured by lives you affected positively. My
own experience with you, dear sir, left a permanent sour taste in my
mouth. And I think that if that is the experience of my fellow Igbo
youths, then ...
My take, we have more cleaning work on the rot perpetrated by the older
generation than bickering over what they say or do not say!
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