By LANRE AROGUNDADE
That day you walked into Oduduwa Hall in the company of Prof. Wole Soyinka, both of you donning simple shirt and trouser. It was one of those campus symposiums or lectures on the state of the Nation, and both of you were there to share your thoughts.
When you spoke,, you said the sorry State of Nigeria should not come as a surprise because of what transpired when Nations of the world went to God to ask for independence. My recollection of your parable:
“America, went first and God told America you would have independence in ten years time. America thought it was too far off – America burst into tears. India was next. India asked God, when will I have independence. God said 30 years. India felt it was too far and burst into tears. After a while Nigeria appeared before God and asked: when will I have independence? God looked at Nigeria and didn’t know what to say. God himself burst into tears”. There was applause.
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That was you Prof. Kole Omotoso – a witty radical icon who deployed literary work for the struggle for a better Nigeria.
You took your bow in South-Africa yesterday Prof. Omotoso, and we can only thank you for your contributions to the struggle for a better Nigeria.
In a sense, you were also a prophet who saw the tomorrow of the danger that uncalled for religion war could pose to the unity of purpose of the people. It was going to happen on Ife campus in that period of the mid-80s. Just by the junction of the same Oduduwa Hall, a Christian group had mounted a big banner on which was boldly inscribed something like this: ‘Jesus is the only way’. A day or so after, a Muslim group responded with their own banner with an inscription that read something like this: ‘Allah is the only God’. Lying side by side, both banners naturally attracted attention and comments from passers-by. Sensing a brewing tension, you approached comrades of the Alliance of Progressive Students (ALPS) and suggested that we should come up with a third banner. You advised on the content, the possible positioning and paid for the banner. We went to work about the fourth night. We moved the Christian and Muslim banners apart and mounted our own in the middle with a message that read something like this: ‘Don’t suffocate the campus with religion war’. We were happy to see nods of approval to our own message.
You took your bow in South-Africa yesterday Prof. Omotoso, and we can only thank you for your contributions to the struggle for a better Nigeria.
Unfortunately, God is still in tears for the country. Religion was a divisive weapon in the last general elections as you were certainly aware. Amidst abundant resources we continue to wallow in poverty as the rich continue to insist that the poor must pay for their corruption and excesses. With the latest round of fuel price increases life has become so unbearable. One day however the goat that is chased up to an impassable wall would spin around to pursue his pursuers.
Rest in peace.
