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 InterInventions: 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 InterInventions 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.

Obj is a big kid