by Kuby Uyanga
On Wednesday October 21st, 2015, I was the last to sleep at about 3am.
Onyeka was the first to wake up shortly after at about 4.30am.
Conrad was the first team member (who did not sleep in the hotel) to arrive at about 6am.
We were up, charged and ready. We were going to Abeokuta. We were visiting the god. The only person who mentioned his name was Onyeka (he kept on rattling off Soyinka Facts) but the excitement was palpable across our small group. A flurry of preparatory activity, equipment check, crew count and our convoy was smoking away on the highway – journey to literary heaven.
Our destination was Abeokuta. Our mission was to arrive at Professor Wole Soyinka’s home in one piece, so Onyeka Nwelue could chat with the Nobel Laureate about his knowledge and experience of the late Flora Nwapa, Africa’s first published female novelist. Flora was Onyeka’s aunt and he is making a film about her life which he believes would not be complete without Wole Soyinka’s insight. In the vehicle I travelled also sat Onyeka Nwelue (don’t you know him?), Conrad Whitaker (an American SME advisor visiting Nigeria for the first time), Gerald Konwea (a passionate IT entrepreneur).
Gerald drove. And talked. He generally moderated the conversation from Soyinka to business to politics and back to Soyinka; before you could spell Obasanjo backwards we were in Abeokuta. It was some minutes past eleven am, we had been told to arrive before one pm. Since we had not had breakfast and we still had a wealth of time, we decided to stop over for some amala. It turned out to be the best amala and ewedu I had ever eaten, even Conrad cleaned out his plate and it was only his first time!
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Meal finished, we piled into the cars and proceeded. Turns out the guide that was hired was not sure of the directions to Kongi’s house so we paid a motor cyclist five hundred naira to take us there. The man took us to an intersection with a signage that declared “Wole Soyinka Drive”, waved and rode off. Our relief was short-lived because it turned out that Wole Soyinka did not live on Wole Soyinka Drive. We paid a taxi again for the same services, this time with our man in the cab’s front seat. We finally arrived. The lion’s lair had an impressive entrance. A curved driveway lined with tall trees, thick foliage and warning signs. One of the signs declared that, “Trespassing vehicles will be shot and eaten”.
We drove in anyway. Better to die in an attempt to see the god than grow timid at heaven’s gate. You can imagine how we felt when we got in and were told that Prof. had gone out not so long before we arrived. We tried to place a call to him but his number was not reachable. Onyeka kicked off his sandals and sat on the floor. Gerald dusted a bench and sat down. Conrad whipped out his Canon and drifted leisurely across the grounds. I joined Gerald on the bench. Onyeka’s assistant, Fellowship, brought out drinks from the car. We made it clear we were not going anywhere till Prof. came back. And we had a party while we waited.
After some time, Prof.’s phone number connected and he apologized for the situation and promised to be down within thirty minutes. Soon enough he arrived and told us he’d forgot he had re-scheduled from the previous venue and had actually been on his way there before he realized and turned back. We quickly set up equipment and Onyeka got to work on the god. The jovial Prof. answered questions and talked about Flora Nwapa. Little did he know that Onyeka had done his research and had a plethora of other questions. Questions about Wole Soyinka’s supposed rivalry with and crippling of Chinua Achebe, spending two years in solitary confinement because of his affiliation with Biafra and working in Hollywood as an actor. Light was shed on issues, discoveries were made and fresh issues were unearthed. I’m sure Onyeka will let out the cat as he deems fit.
Soon the interview was over but the Prof. would not let us leave without showing us Olumo Falls, a one meter high waterfall on his grounds which he is so proud of. As we turned to go, Onyeka asked him if he’d shot and eaten any vehicle recently.
Professor Wole Soyinka replied, “They don’t make very tasty vehicles these days!”
Kuby Uyanga is the Head of Content Writing at TedX and Director of Letters at Kuboid Communication. He writes form Lagos
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
