Lanre Idris Mustapha
Nobel Laureate winner, Prof. Wole Soyinka, said winning the Nobel Prize in Literature has exposed his life to danger.
Soyinka, who became the first sub-Saharan African to win the prestigious award in 1986 for his “wide cultural perspective” and “poetic overtones fashioning the drama of existence,” spoke about his experience during an interview with CNN’s Larry Madowo, shared on Thursday.
The renowned playwright noted that his foray into the Nigerian politics put him on a collision with influential personalities.
He noted that winning the Nobel Prize further isolated him and made him more vulnerable.
“ I felt isolated when I won the Nobel Prize and much relieved when another African won it,” Soyinka said. “It was as though my constituency expanded overnight simply because I was from Africa. In our society, that kind of exposure can bring great danger. I refused to back down from my beliefs and activities just because I became a Nobel Laureate.”
The nonagenarian also recalled the threat he faced from Nigeria’s late military ruler, General Sani Abacha.
He explained that Abacha, who was Nigeria’s head of state between 1993 and 1998, would have taken pride in executing him.
“I often remind people that Abacha, our most brutal dictator, would have gone to his grave a happy man if he had hanged a Nobel Laureate. He wanted that on his record. But he had to settle for hanging an activist and writer, Ken Saro-Wiwa,” Soyinka added.
During Abacha’s junta, Soyinka escaped Nigeria via motorcycle across the Benin border. Abacha later sentenced him to death in absentia. Soyinka returned to Nigeria in 1999 after the restoration of democracy.
Speaking on his 90th birthday, which he celebrated on July 13, 2024, Soyinka said he doesn’t enjoy celebrating birthdays. “I don’t feel 90. I’ve always taken birthdays for granted. What I usually do is disappear into the forest—that’s my way of spending birthdays,” he said.
