Obasanjo, An Overgrown Child Of Circumstance

Obasanjo, An Overgrown Child Of Circumstance
– Soyinka



The Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has
described former President Olusegun Obasanjo
as an overgrown child of circumstance.
Soyinka sharply criticised Obasanjo in his (Nobel
laureate’s) new book, titled InterInterventions:
Between Defective Memory and the Public Lie –
A Personal Odyssey in the Republic of Liars,
presented in Abeokuta, Ogun State on Saturday.
Although Soyinka conceded that he used to be
friendly with Obasanjo and admitted in the book
that some stakeholders were making efforts to
reconcile them, he said he owed it a
responsibility to fundamentally respond to lies
that Obasanjo allegedly told against him in his
latest biography, titled, My Watch, described in
InterInterventions as Three-Carat Watch.
Soyinka, who in the book also critically takes on
the likes of former Osun State Governor,
Olagunsoye Oyinlola; and veteran critic, Prof.
Chinweizu, wrote, quoting a Yoruba proverb, “The
child that swears his mother will not sleep must
also prepare for a prolonged, sleepless infancy.
So, let it be with Okikiola, the overgrown child of
circumstance.
”I brainstormed with him over meals both when
he was military Head of State – in Dodan
Barracks and in his home, Ota – for some time
after he left office and early in Aso Rock at his
‘second coming.’ Today, it is a different
situation. If he offered to host me, I would wait
until he had first swallowed a morsel from the
same dish.
“I had fully attuned myself to the fact that our
Owu retiree soldier and prolific author is an
infliction that those of us who share the same
era and nation space must learn to endure.
However, it does appear to me that there is no
end to this individual’s capacity for infantile
mischief, and for needless, mind-boggling
provocations, such as his recent ‘literary’
intrusion on my peace.
He added that part of the intervention the elders
made was a ‘cordial’ conversation he had with
Obasanjo recently.
According to the Nobel laureate, he, during the
conversation, commended Obasanjo for the
creative way he had developed the Olusegun
Obasanjo Presidential Library, which Soyinka,
however, described as a Presidential Laundromat
and a product of executive extortion.
He added that he discussed the possibility of a
collaboration with the facility.
But Soyinka, who chronicled the various places
his path had met with that of Obasanjo since
childhood, insisted that the lies in which the
former President allegedly thrived were so
unthinkable that he and some other people had
started working on another book solely focusing
on Obasanjo.
He questioned the godliness to which Obasanjo
professed and claimed that the former President
indulged in identity theft.
“Our author invokes God tirelessly, without
provocation, without necessity and without
justification, perhaps preemptively, but does he
really believe in such an entity? Does our home-
bred Double-O-Seven believe in anything outside
his own Omnipotence? Could he possibly have
mistaken the Christian exhortation – ‘Watch and
Pray’ – for his own private inclination to ‘Watch
and Prey? This is a seasoned predator on others’
achievements. He preys on their names, their
characters, their motivations, their true lives;
preys on gossip and preys on contributions to
collective undertakings – even preys on their
identities, substituting his own where possible.”
In the book, Soyinka also commented on the
controversy over the ownership and leadership of
the board of the Centre for Culture and
International Understanding, over which he and
Oyinlola recently exchanged words.
He and a former Corpa Marshal and Chief
Executive of the Federal Road Safety
Commission, Dr. Olu Agunloye, also challenged
Major Rasaki Salawu (retd.), who recently
claimed that it was he – and not Soyinka – that
formed the commission.
At the public presentation of the book, Soyinka
said that he was poised to draw blood with it.
The inauguration of the Soyinka Foundation, held
at the MKO Abiola Cultural Centre, Kuto,
attracted dignitaries that included the Ogun State
Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun; his Edo
State counterpart, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, who
came in company with his wife, Lara; former
governors of Ekiti, Rivers and Cross River states,
Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi and Mr.
Donald Duke
While the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun
Gbadebo, also graced the occasion, at the the
programme that featured readings and
performances were scholars/writers such Profs
JP Clark, Biodun Jeyifo and Remi Raji; Odia
Ofeimun and Kunle Ajibade.
Amosun commended Soyinka and the organisers
of the event for the initiative and promised to
support it.
Efforts to get Obasanjo’s reaction failed as one
of his aides said the former President had
travelled to Ivory Coast to monitor elections.
Copyright PUNCH.