Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka has once again challenged Nigeria’s political class with a stark reminder about the country’s post-independence trajectory, warning that many leaders seemed too eager to simply take over from colonial masters rather than break away from the mindset and systems left behind.
Speaking at the “A Conversation with the Nobel Laureate” event held at the Yoruba Tennis Club in Onikan, Lagos, as part of the club’s centenary celebrations, the 91-year-old playwright and thinker reflected on both Nigeria’s struggle for independence and the reality that followed.
Don’t Miss This: Tinubu Orders States To Pay Electricity Subsidy
Soyinka took the audience which included club members, students and invited guests back to the excitement of 1960, when Nigerians studied abroad and at home were filled with hope and a sense of triumph at the end of colonial rule.
Yet, he said, the jubilation was soon tempered by disappointment as those who took over governance after independence began to adopt the same mannerisms, attitudes, and habits of the departing colonial authorities.
According to him, the leaders who were meant to steer the nation into a new era instead too often slipped “into the shoes of our colonisers,” mirroring their behavior, habits of governance, and detachment from the people they were meant to serve.
Naija News The Nobel Prize-winning author recalled that one of his earliest plays, A Dance of the Forests, was inspired by this very tension.
Written for Nigeria’s independence celebrations, the work was meant to warn against romanticising liberation without confronting the deep structural and psychological legacies of colonialism. Soyinka said that if he were to revisit the play now, he would emphasize the warning even more sharply.
The message, he stressed, was not simply that colonial rule ended, but that the mentality of colonialism needed to be actively rejected a lesson he believes was not fully learned.
Don’t Miss This: Tinubu Orders States To Pay Electricity Subsidy
Extending his critique beyond Nigeria’s borders, Soyinka also voiced concerns about contemporary global politics. He cautioned against the dangerous cycles of intervention by powerful nations under the guise of rescue missions, pointing specifically to recent international actions in places like Venezuela and Ukraine.
While he was careful to clarify that criticism of foreign intervention does not equate to support for oppressive local leaders, he underscored the need for people to decide their own futures without undue interference.
Throughout his speech, Soyinka’s reflections were rooted in history but aimed clearly at the present. He urged younger generations to harness democratised technologies and communications to organise, engage and, ultimately, shape governance in ways that reflect accountability, justice and true liberation rather than mimicry of past oppressors.
His remarks serve as a reminder that the struggle for genuine independence is ongoing, and that understanding and confronting the past is essential to forging a more equitable future.
Image Credit: NaijaNews
Source: NaijaNews
