Wole Soyinka: A Sojourner Among Liars,

Wole Soyinka: A Sojourner Among Liars, By
Reuben Abati



The rise of the internet has even made lying so
easy and convenient, the anonymity that the
social media offers allows a lie to grow until its
continued affirmation imposes it on public
memory as received wisdom. Lies pollute the
public mind; they damage relationships and
destroy a sense of community. Soyinka insists on
the inviolability of the truth and decent conduct,
but the rot is widespread, the phenomenon is a
new normal reality.
Professor Wole Soyinka was quoted saying his
latest book is the “nastiest” that he has written
so far. InterInventions: Between Defective
Memory and the Public Lie – A Personal
Odyssey in The Republic of Liars (Ibadan:
Bookcraft, 2015, 136pp) is quite close to being
just that. But who knows if an even nastier book
may follow as Soyinka embarks on the task of
exposing lies in our Republic as he has promised
that InterInventions, a follow up to Interventions
series (I-IV) will be dedicated solely to the
dismantling of lies in the public space: malicious
and non-malicious lies, lies told, lies magnified,
lies fraudulent, murderous lies, accidental lies,
uttered from depraved minds whose sole
intention is to create burdens for their victims,
malign, impugn and lower the other so they can
be raised or their stomachs can be nourished at
other’s expense.
This is nevertheless, a publication in which
Professor Soyinka settles strictly personal
scores, but this is no pamphleteering that he
modestly alludes to, but a fine, extended essay in
the distinguished tradition of that form. He is
polemical, punchy and critical – without mercy or
measure! There is no deceit, no pulling of
punches, not much of deliberate concealment; it
is Soyinka wielding a Bazooka in one hand, and a
gilt-edged knife in the other, shooting down the
hypocrisy and pretensions of representative
figures in a Republic of Liars, where defective
memory, an affliction worse than amnesia, but
much closer to dementia, and psychosis, is
standard fare. He deploys language dramatically
and draws blood even if his mood remains
charismatic and entertaining as he laughs at
human folly, and the verminous antics of his
named and shamed traducers.
The writer focuses on his personal experiences
as a victim of the burden of being lied to, being
lied against and being pushed to defend his right
not to be lied against, but his theme is probably
far more important than his content and mood.
He ends up inviting us to think further about a
social malaise, a missing, distorted, disjointed
ethical link, and so his subjects – including
Obasanjo, Chinweizu, Adewale Maja-Pearce,
Peter Enahoro, Major Salawu, Gbenga Daniel,
Abiola Ogundokun, Olagunsoye Oyinlola – rise off
the pages, as illustrative archetypes of a hydra-
headed crisis at the heart of society, namely
how self-delusion, ego, power and an obsessive,
compulsive, alimentary propensity turns adults
into liars. Other associated themes along this
line of moral exhortation will include the sheer
uncertainty of life, the unpredictability of human
character, and the near-helplessness of victims
in a nation of fabulists.
Thus, the entire narrative is organic, with the
humanistic import of the content, imbued with a
personal orientation as it were, taking us closer
to larger questions of ethics, humanity, the
inviolability of truth. Man and his foibles is the
central subject of inquiry invariably; there is a
certain universality in the tendency of man,
including those who quote the Bible with
practised ease, to be nasty and brutish. I
recommend this book for everyone’s reading
pleasure and instruction. It is quite affordable,
only N1,000 per copy, and certainly, a temptingly
quotable book – more so as the reader is
reassured by the author’s statement of
indemnity. Here goes: “My publishers are hereby
fully indemnified by me against court processes,
as well as the consequences of any libel suits
that may arise from this maiden number of the
InterInventions series” (p.93). The stoutly
flagellated figures in the book, who are described
as “the greatest public liars I have ever known”,
thus ridiculed have every reason to be angry but
obviously, Soyinka in taking his pound of flesh
cannot be bothered.
There can be no greater denigration to be sought
beyond his depiction of former President
Olusegun Obasanjo, as the philosopher-king who
is “an overgrown child of circumstance;” “Double-
O-Seven”, “an infliction”, “a hypocrite”, and
“irredeemable egomaniac” or Chinweizu as
“Chichidodo”, a bird that feeds on shit, or
Adewale Maja-Peace as “the area-boy of letters”;
or Peter Pan as “lying, opportunistic,
contemptible”; Olagunsoye Oyinlola as “the
Prince of Darkness”; Gbenga Daniel as
“DaaniElebo”. Professor, ki lo de? Or when of
Maja-Pearce, whom he calls “Ade-Boy!”, the
writer says: “It is a time to remind him that the
stern rod of Ogun awaits all lying
tongues.” (p.38). Professor, ewo ni t’epe!
Of Abiola Ogundokun, Soyinka thunders: “Of all
the loathsome lumps of slime that ever oozed
from the sump of human depravity to aspire to
human form, none comes close to the two-
legged parasite that goes by the name of Abiola
Ogundokun”. Whaa-a-t? And in taking on Major
Rasaki Salawu, he says “Howu Salawu” – a
vocalic alliteration which cryptically summarises
the subject-matter; a considerable part of the
book is devoted to a profiling of the self-same
Salawu in a manner that evokes shame or the
equivalent of a mortal decapitation. Soyinka’s
anti-heroes owe themselves a duty to say
something in self-defence, for the naming and
shaming tends to stick, with all the stamp and
authoritativeness of the inimitable WS. Audi
alteram partem.
Which is why I was surprised that President
Olusegun Obasanjo in a reported interview with
The Punch, made light of it:
Reporter: While you were away from the country,
your friend Prof. Wole Soyinka inaugurated (sic)
a book in which he called you a child of
circumstance.
OBJ: (Talking in Yoruba: Se o so be?) Meaning:
Did he say so?
Reporter: He even said he won’t eat any food
you give him without you eating from the food
first.
OBJ: (Continues in Yoruba: Mi o mo o)
Ehnhenhn? I don’t know.
Obasanjo irritated by the Soyinka questions, gets
up and walks out of his study during the
interview…but the reporter keeps throwing
questions at him.
Reporter: Why are the two of you always
quarrelling?
OBJ: Kini wahala yin? (What is your problem?)
Indeed, what is our problem? But just in case
President Obasanjo has not read the book, I
recommend that he should especially as Soyinka
has promised a follow-up shake down edition: “a
collective effort, a corroborative-or self-
cancelling-anthology by many long-suffering
victims…dedicated solely to the Otta
phenomenon.” (p. 53). Our Republic of Liars is a
temporary space for Soyinka; his reputation in
the world of letters places him historically, in the
long run, beyond local dog-fights; but as for this
book, emotional responses to the vengeful
biographical dimensions cannot be unexpected.
Take-away, though: our problem – we do have a
problem as a collective – is the sobering
realisation that Nigerians enjoy telling lies, much
more than any other community that we know,
and that we are indeed, a Republic of Liars. We
are a nation of fabulists, richly imaginative, when
that asset is well-conditioned, it produces
excellence, but misapplied, the tale bearer
becomes a professional aproko, as they say, a
self-made radio station, transmitter, booster,
conditioned to promote untruths, and as the tale
travels from one mouth to another, new layers
are invented and added, often so viciously that
the original source often finds it unrecognisable.
But much damage is done, and it is this
wickedness of man to man – as theme and
principle- that Soyinka deplores.
The rise of the internet has even made lying so
easy and convenient, the anonymity that the
social media offers allows a lie to grow until its
continued affirmation imposes it on public
memory as received wisdom. Lies pollute the
public mind; they damage relationships and
destroy a sense of community. Soyinka insists on
the inviolability of the truth and decent conduct,
but the rot is widespread, the phenomenon is a
new normal reality. Politicians lie to the
electorate, win the votes and turn around
shamefacedly to say they never said whatever
even in the face of concrete evidence made
possible by electronic reproduce-ability. This
culture of deception remains unchecked because
the institutions for seeking redress remain
inchoate: libel cases can go on forever, or they
may run into a technical hitch concocted by
lawyers, requiring that they be started de novo.
And to worsen it all, the followership enjoys the
lies and the lying, compelling an assessment of
our Republic in real and fictive representations
as the biggest lie in search of truth.
Soyinka does not recommend a resort to self-
help; but he inflicts punishment with his pen, and
laments in a memorable instance: “Chei! There is
Death o!” Let’s add: “Chei! There is God o!…”–
the ultimate judge.