Soyinka and the ‘evils’ that religion does

Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, is what his Yoruba people of South-West Nigeria describe as “Akanda.” I do not know an English word that captures the total import of this word but if we attempt a translation, it would mean someone specially created by God without duplication. This is how I have always seen Soyinka and here is why.

Much earlier than he became a significant literary figure in his late 20s, Soyinka had set himself on the path of eternal influence when he, alongside six other friends, set up the Pyrates Confraternity at the University College, Ibadan.

Even if there has been an irredeemable adulteration of the original idea, this was arguably the first hint at the anti-establishment disposition that would dot virtually all of Soyinka’s endeavours till date. Today, what he created at the age of 18 has reared a colony of loyalists committed to the ideals and willing to go any length for the first ever “Capo’n.”

You probably have also read about a young man who once hijacked a radio station at gunpoint in protest against what he believed was the rape of the people’s will. Such deliberate activism without an iota of consideration for personal peril marks the life of Soyinka even now in his 80s.

And then, for his exploits in the literary ecosphere where he stands out like light in deep darkness, Soyinka has built a cluster of devotees.

Consider the fluidity with which he swings between the three genres of literature. Recall the elegance and rhythm of each quatrain in the poem, Abiku, the anger, humour and sarcasm of Telephone conversation, the prophetic audacity of A dance in the forest as well as the intense probe of the psychology and nature of man in A man died. It is impossible to encounter Soyinka in any area of his life and depart without the impartation of an inedible impression one way or the other. If you are not taken in by the brilliance of his art, you will be awed by his dexterity with the English Language, or the raw courage with which he digs into things and at the end of it all; you just surrender to seduction of it all.

In fact, I have always held the opinion that but for education and the liberation that it brings on the soul of men, we would one day behold the deification and worship of Soyinka!

I agree that is rather hyperbolic but ponder over this: in the past couple of years, I have identified some points of disagreement with Prof Soyinka; so many that I cannot even count. What is curious however is that I have never garnered the guts to express such disagreement publicly. Why? The same question I have asked myself.

Here is how I rationalise it, even though I have absolute and irreversible conviction in a Higher Being, Soyinka has got a subordinate kind of idolisation from me. What I think the English describes as “hero-worship” I think so many Nigerians are confined in enclave such that a lot of public commentators would refuse to see, hear and speak no evil about this great man!

But truth be told, Soyinka like all men, has limitations. This is more so about subjects that they do not wholly understand and by the reason of this exclusion are able to intelligibly interrogate.

This was the sense I got from his recent counsel on the need to tame religion without which it could kill Nigeria. While we can concede that Soyinka referred to the death of Nigeria only figuratively, it all the same presents an opportunity to impeach suggestions that religion is guilty of any of the troubles that has plagued our country forever.

Indeed, I, on the contrary, propose that religion has indeed done this country more good than it has been credited with. And I will give a few examples of that.

Take a start with education. While public education has been visited by total ruin by successive governments in Nigeria, that we still have a semblance of quality education today is to the credit of these religions. At all levels including vocational, religious bodies have established schools where they nurture children of the faithful and prepare them for the future from which the indiscretion of the state would have alienated or deny by extermination, them entirely. You will be presented with arguments about how these schools are expensive but they are at least available to save us from the more costly repercussions of ignorance.

It is however, more than that. Even when these schools may truly be expensive since quality education does not come cheap to an irresponsible state, many children are sent to school on the bill of some of these religious organisations. And here I do not speculate. Hundreds of Nigerian children have received, from primary through tertiary education on the bill of churches, mosques and other faith-based organisations in the country. They save us from the venom that an angry, uneducated generation would vent on an uncaring country in future.

This is not to speak about medical interventions and the stabilising effects that good family units have on a country which has thrown morality to the dogs.

And speaking about morality, make no mistake about it; those who have true convictions about the God that they serve retain the fabric of morality on which this country stands. And there are so many who will not dip their hands into depravity on account of their adoration for the Almighty. Without these ones, Nigeria would be a far more sorry state than our current lamentation.

No doubt, there are multitudes whose faith does not surpass the impulse of their tongues and the pressures of their pockets, those who employ religion for the attainment of selfish, ungodly and anti-people goals, pretty much the same way in which we have people employ traditional African beliefs for antisocial reasons. But even these take a cue from the recurring plague that we call leadership. This latter group and their sponsors are those that we, as a people must tame.

Nigeria needs to tame people of Soyinka’s generation who, having sucked the best of the milk that the breasts of this country produced are now too terrified to speak to power.

I wonder for instance, how a country with seven of its former leaders alive would allow the Boko Haram situation escalate to this level.

This is considering the fact that five of these leaders hail from the northern part of the country and that this terrible phenomenon never started on the slate of religion.

Those we need to tame are politicians who keep their people poor and ignorant just so to use them as cannon fodders in the execution of evil plans. Those we need to call out are ethnic lords who imagine that they own Nigeria and strive to subject everyone to their authority.

Come to think of it, are these violent acts actually always borne out of religion? The recent unfortunate attacks on Southern Kaduna did not have their foundation in religion. It is a continuation of the conquest exploits of a group of people afflicted with a superiority complex. It just so happens that the marauding army and their victims happen found themselves on different sides of the religious divide.

You can go further to cross-examine the attempt to tar religion with this violent brush by asking why those of us who come from other parts of the country do not turn guns on our cousins and nephews who adhere to diverse faith.

In the family in which I was born in Kwara State, I lived with Muslim cousins with whom we went to church and ate Sallah meat. In this same family, we had a section which celebrated the Orisa-oko festival every new yam season. We all played a part in it without disagreement let alone violence. Religion, by itself is therefore not Nigeria’s problem.

Those we need to watch out for are the misguided ones, overreaching themselves, drunk on false doctrines, exuberance and pretentions. These ones and the people who back them up with the powers of state are those whose wings need to be clipped by Nigerians of goodwill.

•Follow me on Twitter @niranadedokun