Personality of the Month of March: THE LITERARY LION.

Naijapremiumgist presents the personality of the month of March:

Wole Soyinka was born Akinwande Oluwole “Wole” Babatunde Soyinka on July 13, 1934, in Abeokuta, near Ibadan in western Nigeria. His father, Samuel Ayodele Soyinka, was a prominent Anglican minister and headmaster. His mother, Grace Eniola Soyinka, who was called “Wild Christian,” was a shopkeeper and local activist. His father, Samuel Ayodele Soyinka, was headmaster of the parsonage primary school, St. Peter’s. Known as “S.A.,” Wole Soyinka calls him “Essay” in his memoirs.

“Essay”Father, “Wild Christian” Mother and Children


Although the Soyinka family had deep ties to the Anglican Church, they enjoyed close relations with Muslim neighbors, and through his extended family — particularly his father’s relations — Wole Soyinka gained an early acquaintance with the indigenous spiritual traditions of the Yorùbá people. Even among practicing Christians, belief in ghosts and spirits was common. The young Wole Soyinka enjoyed participating in Anglican services and singing in the church choir, but he also formed an early identification with Ogun, the Yorùbá deity associated with war, iron, roads and poetry.
A precocious and inquisitive child, Wole prompted the adults in his life to warn one another: “He will kill you with his questions.”

Wole Soyinka as a ten-year-old choir boy in 1946 (Courtesy of Wole Soyinka)


EDUCATION
Thanks to his father, young Wole Soyinka enjoyed access to books, not only the Bible and English literature but to classical Greek tragedies such as the Medea of Euripides, which had a profound effect on his imagination. A precocious reader, he soon sensed a link between the Yorùbá folklore of his neighbors and the Greek mythology underlying so much of western literature.


He had his elementary schooling at St. Peter’s School, Ake, Abeokuta, 1938-43; Abeokuta Grammar School, 1944-45 and then proceeded to Government College, Ibadan, 1946-50. His university studies was at University College, Ibadan (now University of Ibadan), 1952-54. After finishing preparatory university studies in 1954, Soyinka moved to England and continued his education at the University of Leeds, Yorkshire. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English literature in 1958. (In 1972 the university awarded him an honorary doctorate).


After graduating from the University of Leeds, Wole Soyinka continued to study for a master’s degree while writing plays drawing on his Yorùbá heritage. His first major works, The Swamp Dwellers and The Lion and the Jewel, date from this period. In 1958, The Lion and the Jewel was accepted for production by the Royal Court Theatre in London.
Beginning in the late 1950s, the Royal Court was the major venue for serious new drama in Britain. Soyinka interrupted his graduate studies to join the theater’s literary staff. From this post, he was able to watch the rehearsal and development process of new plays at a time when the British theater was entering a period of renewed vitality. His own next major work was The Trials of Brother Jero, expressing his skepticism about the self-styled elite of black Nigerians who were preparing to take power from the British colonial regime.

Wole Soyinka and Sister


AWARDS
His numerous awards include: Dakar Festival award, 1966; John Whiting award, 1967; Jock Campbell award (New Statesman), for fiction, 1968; Nobel Prize for Literature, 1986; Benson Medal, 1990; Premio Letterario Internazionalle Mondello, 1990. D. Litt: University of Leeds, 1973, Yale University, University of Montpellier, France, University of Lagos, and University of Bayreuth, 1989. Fellow, Royal Society of Literature (U.K.); member, American Academy. Named Commander, Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1986, Order of La Legion d’Honneur, France, 1989, and Order of the Republic of Italy, 1990; Akogun of Isara, 1989; Akinlatun of Egba

Soyinka and Gordimer


CIVIL ROLE
Soyinka also played a prominent role in Nigerian civil society. As a faculty member at the University of Ife, he led a campaign for road safety, organizing a civilian traffic authority to reduce the shocking rate of traffic fatalities on the public highways. His program became a model of traffic safety for other states in Nigeria.

POLITICAL ACTIVISM
Soyinka is also a political activist, and during the civil war in Nigeria he appealed in an article for a cease-fire. He was arrested for this in 1967, and held as a political prisoner for 22 months until 1969.

Meanwhile, Soyinka continued his criticism of the military dictatorship in Nigeria. In 1994, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) named Wole Soyinka a Goodwill Ambassador for the promotion of African culture, human rights and freedom of expression. Less than a month later, a new military dictator, General Sani Abacha, suspended nearly all civil liberties. Soyinka escaped through Benin and fled to the United States. Soyinka judged Abacha to be the worst of the dictators who had imposed themselves on Nigeria since independence. He was particularly outraged at Abacha’s execution of the author Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was hanged in 1995 after a trial condemned by the outside world. In 1996, Soyinka published The Open Sore of a Continent: A Personal Memoir of the Nigerian Crisis. Predictably, the work was banned in Nigeria, and in 1997, the Abacha government formally charged Wole Soyinka with treason. General Abacha died the following year, and the treason charges were dropped by his successors.

Now considered Nigeria’s foremost man of letters, Soyinka is still politically active and spent the 2015 election day in Africa’s biggest democracy working the phones to monitor reports of voting irregularities, technical issues and violence, according to The Guardian. After the election on March 28, 2015, he said that Nigerians must show a Nelson Mandela–like ability to forgive president-elect Muhammadu Buhari’s past as an iron-fisted military ruler.


When asked What advice or encouragement would you give to your grandchildren? What would you like to leave behind as a verbal footprint, the literary icon echoed
That question comes up again and again, and I say that I don’t really know. I think it’s up to people to decide what they want to extract from what I’ve done, or left undone. But the advice I always give to my young children, or to young writers, or those who want to be activists in some way, who come to me and say, “What shall we do about this situation? How can we contribute?” I just say, “Follow your instincts.” Don’t feel you have to follow the paths of others, because you may not be temperamentally fitted for it. And so you’ll just harm yourself and your cause and others. But just follow your instinct, and don’t ever pretend to be what you’re not.”

West Ham is really preparing for the next Champion’s League


Midfielder Declan Rice said West Ham is a “special place to be” as they maintained their unlikely push for a place in next season’s Champions League with a deserved victory over Leeds United.

David Moyes’ side climbed to fifth in the Premier League – two points behind Chelsea, who beat Everton 2-0 earlier on Monday – and have a game in hand on their London rivals.

Jesse Lingard sparked West Ham into life at London Stadium when his menacing run into the penalty area drew a foul from Luke Ayling. Lingard, on loan from Manchester United, converted the rebound after his spot-kick was saved by Illan Meslier.

Leeds had found the net twice in a blistering opening spell, but Tyler Roberts’ finish was ruled out for a marginal offside against Helder Costa, and Raphinha ran the ball out of play before crossing to Patrick Bamford.

But they were two goals down before half-time when the unmarked Craig Dawson headed in Aaron Cresswell’s corner.

Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds went close to a response five minutes after the restart when Raphinha’s sensational overhead attempt was tipped over by Lukasz Fabianski, while Bamford blazed over from Raphinha’s cut-back and Dawson cleared off the line as Leeds chased a late lifeline.

Pablo Fornals struck the crossbar for the hosts with a dipping second-half shot, but the Hammers ultimately held firm at the back to see out the three points.

“I’m disappointed with the performance,” England international Rice told Sky Sports. “We won but Leeds caused us a problems. Now we are starting to learn how to win ugly.

“This is the best squad I have been a part of. You look forward to training and seeing the lads and that shows on the pitch. We are fighting for each other. It is real special place to be at the moment. The place has a real buzz about it.

“It is hard to say we are going to be [in the] Champions League – there are so many games left. It will be a real tough test, but look where we are now and it is a massive upgrade. It is in our hands. If we want to believe we can be a European team we need to win the big games”.

‘Arsenal are learning how to suffer’ – Bellerin taking positives from testing time

The Gunners continue to struggle for consistency, but they battled bravely to take a point at Leeds with 10 men and are showing fighting spirit

Hector Bellerin says Arsenal are “learning to suffer”, with that considered to be a positive as Mikel Arteta’s side seek to play their way through a testing run and establish much-needed consistency.

The Gunners remain something of a work in progress during the 2020-21 campaign.

Encouragement has been offered during Arteta’s tenure, but there are still a number of issues to be addressed.

Those at Emirates Stadium are in the process of working through that list, with the north London giants aware that fighting spirit will be required in order to pull them through.

There was plenty of that on display during a 0-0 draw at Leeds last time out, with the Gunners battling their way to a point with 10 men after Nicolas Pepe’s reckless sending off.

Bellerin believes that performance could act as a springboard for Arsenal, with the club taking important lessons from problems that are often of their own making.

“I am happy with the character the team has shown,” Bellerin told reporters when reflecting on a goalless stalemate at Elland Road.

“We have solidified our defence throughout this season and that’s something we have proved in many games.

“We are learning how to suffer and that is really important nowadays when we don’t have control of the ball and it becomes vital that we don’t concede.

“But I can’t say that I feel happy with the draw because even when we were down to 10 men on Sunday we still had chances to score and that’s what makes the difference in the long run.”

Bellerin is refusing to condemn Pepe for the moment of madness that saw Arsenal left a player light against Leeds, with Arteta and Co waiting for the dust to settle before a needless headbutt is addressed.

“Everyone has a hot head straight after the game and there is a lot of adrenaline flowing,” added the Gunners full-back.

“So these things probably need to wait for later in the week.

“It’s something that must stay in the dressing-room but I am sure we will manage it just fine.” 

For now, Bellerin is looking for the Gunners to kick on into a week that will see them face Molde in the Europa League on Thursday and Wolves in the Premier League on Sunday.

The Spaniard said: “We are showing signs of improvement in every game but we need to start winning again.

“Against Leeds, everyone would say that the roughness we showed in the second-half is something that this team didn’t have in the past.

“So there are many good things happening for us, but at the end of the day you win by scoring goals and this is something we need to start building on.

“We need to put our chances to bed and once we do that the results will come and we can start getting more confident.”

‘Maybe he’s cleverer than me!’ – Guardiola struggles to answer Bielsa’s post-match question after Leeds draw

The Spaniard was filmed in a respectful embrace with the Argentine at full-time and battled to find the words to describe the contest

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed he struggled to answer a question posed to him by Leeds United coach Marcelo Bielsa after their 1-1 draw in the Premier League on Saturday. 

Despite Raheem Sterling’s 17th-minute opener, Guardiola’s side were unable to close out the contest with Rodrigo scoring a second-half equaliser for Leeds. 

City were made to pay for being wasteful in the final third as they got just two of their 23 shots on target. Leeds also edged out Guardiola’s team for possession and passes as they continue to show they can compete in the top-flight this season. 

Guardiola and Bielsa exchanged a hug after the full-time whistle blew with the latter eager to get his counterpart’s thoughts on the game – something the City manager struggled to produce so quickly.

“He said to me ‘What is your opinion of the game?’ And I said ‘After one second I am not able to analyse the game!” Guardiola told Sky Sports post-match.

“Maybe he’s cleverer than me! I’m not. I need time to process how was the game, but you know I said that I thought it was a good game, it was fair and that’s why the result was the result.”

Speaking later on, Guardiola would pay respect to Bielsa’s side for not shying away from the contest. 

“The approach was incredible and it’s nice to face a team like Leeds because they want to win, like they did with Liverpool. It’s incredibly entertaining football and it’s interesting for the fans,” Guardiola told BBC’s Match of the Day

“It was an entertaining game for everyone. I’m incredibly proud of these players who enjoy football and come to this country and play many years at a high level. This is their first pre-season together, we couldn’t do it more because the opponent was so good like all Marcelo Bielsa sides.”

Bielsa himself conceded that his side were second best for much of the game but managed to engineer moments of dominance that was ultimately rewarded. 

“The start and the end were with City and the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half were a bit better for us,” Bielsa said. 

“For them to be superior to us is pretty easy for them, it doesn’t require much effort, whereas for us it requires us to go to the limit to be on their level.

“We couldn’t take the ball off them and they were taking the ball off us very easily. We did it with a lot of effort, a lot of aggression to win the ball back and the confidence in our game grew.

“It wouldn’t have been fair if we had won the match, it would’ve been possible, but not fair.”