“It’s Too Late To Act Now!” Soyinka Slams African Leaders

• Recall that African leaders recently visited Russia to discuss their peace plan with Putin

• Talks on how to end fighting planned with Putin, Zelenskiy

• However, at the unveiling of “Putin’s Files” Soyinka took a swipe at African leaders

EkoHotBlog reports that Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka has slammed African leaders over their long-delayed intervention in the Russian-Ukraine war.

Soyinka said their current mediatory intervention in the Russian-Ukraine war is a little too late and tantamount to taking medicine after death, maintained that the move is belated, adding that African leaders should have made it long before now.

Soyinka made this assertion at the unveiling of “Putin’s Files”, the latest in his intervention series which was held at Freedom Park in Lagos on Friday 16 June, 2023.

He was in conversation with Professor Anthony Kila, a well-known public affairs analyst, newspaper columnist, and currently international director of studies at the European Centre of Advanced and Professional Studies, CAPS.

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He was in conversation with Professor Anthony Kila, a well-known public affairs analyst, newspaper columnist and currently international director of studies at the European Centre of Advanced and Professional Studies, CAPS.

Soyinka’s intervention was indeed timely. As he was expressing his views, African leaders were in Russia to mediate in the ongoing war between the two countries in order to find a solution to it, even as Russia was at the time unleashing a barrage of missiles at Kiev, the Ukrainian capital.

“If we have not compromised ourselves, what is happening now would have taken place even two years ago. If we established from the beginning a position of integrity. I’m talking about the assemblage of African leaders who are now in the zone to talk to both parties. I’m not talking about neutrality. I am talking about making the right noises, saying that this is how we handle our own problems successfully or unsuccessfully; we would like to propose this.

“In other words, this kind of delegation which is taking place now should have taken place in the early stages. They would have been welcomed, they would have been courted from the very beginning, if we had not shown that we were scared even to intervene in any way. And this was evident.”

Soyinka also lambasted not just African leaders but also Africans in general for playing the ostrich in the face of a conflict that threatens the survival of mankind and also for pandering to historical sentiments and taking sides with one or the other end of the seeming ideological divide.

“Yes it concerns us. Putin in this book is both a metaphor and a reality. It is important for us also to understand and accept the fact that we are part of the globe. We are part of the world. And we cannot hope to be shielded from what is happening elsewhere.

“Even because they want to be lazy in thinking or they believe that the ideological axis of the world has been set and set forever. And it is either you are at one end or the other. And therefore you don’t even have to think of the grey areas between the two partial ends of the ideological divide.

“But it is even convenient to demonize the other and say ‘Oh, yes I know what you think’. It is because you belong to that other end of the ideological divide, forgetting to go back to history, forgetting that the history which we are witnessing taking place in other lands, that history has been enacted within our own society and that we are also candidate for a repeat of that history which maybe begin with us.”

Soyinka was unequivocal in stating that African leaders seemed to have developed cold feet in condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine because of their lack of integrity, inability to see things from a holistic point and the scandalous dependence of the continent on others for survival. He maintained that African leaders should take a principled stand against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and condemn it outrightly.

“And then, we use excuses like these ones helped us during the liberation struggle. And then we owe them. For how long are going to be paying dividends on what was in any case not a disinterested kind of assistance? Yes, we appreciate the help which was given us, especially the liberation struggle. We mustn’t be ingrates. But wait a minute, just for how long are we going to be denied even the authority of our own moral conviction?

“If we say it is wrong on the African continent for one nation to start bombarding the next simply because that nation doesn’t want to continue its association. If we say it is wrong for what is happening in Central Africa, that it is unacceptable. If we say the things which led to the civil wars across West Africa, if we say that those issues should be thrashed out in ways other than warfare, how can we say that it’s alright for one nation somewhere else just to invade a neighbour and start annexing the people?

“If we say it is wrong for Boko Haram to annex land here, to drive out families, put villages to the torch, kidnap the women, sell them into slavery, resurrect the era of the slave trade in this country. If we say that is unacceptable, how can we say that it is accepted elsewhere to annex other people and force nationality on any of them? These are universal issues and I think we have reached a level where we can take a stand instead of pleading allegiance, where such allegiance is not in our interest.”

Soyinka also wondered why Africans should depend on others for survival – citing as a veritable example the panic caused by the scarcity of grains coming from the war zone or the threat of it, which necessitated the current peace move of African leaders.

“It is common sense and it is about time we tackle the very fundamental state of our society, self-sufficiency, sustainable self-sufficiency. 60 years after independence, it is unacceptable that we all have to rely on others for our own existence.

“Just two days ago I tried to make understandable the rationale of the Chairman of the African Union heading to Soviet Union because grain was about to be stopped.

“As I stated there, it was a sad thing for me personally, considering my various involvements in many efforts to ensure that this continent doesn’t have to stay at the apron strings of anyone, and can be self-sufficient.

“A country dependent on a staple commodity for feeding its own people? One, how did that nation come to be so dependent on something which it does not grow? Again, this is part and parcel of history,” Soyinka averred.

“What then is the solution? What lessons can Africans learn from this?

The highly respected literary icon said it was high time Africans leaders knew when the rains started beating them and go back to the drawing board.

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“We can learn from this, what I said in the beginning, the necessity of going back to the drawing board.

“Until, I’m sorry to say, we recognize the fact that we are back a little bit behind where we were when we gained independence, we are not going to move anywhere forward. We are not going to be able to stand up proudly in the comity of nations and say we also have contributed this. You can’t take it away from us. We can build on it and we would steal from you, even your technology when we need it in order to catch up and then leap over you.

“In other words, what I am saying is if there is anything to be gained by what is happening in the Soviet Union today for us on the continent, it is to go back to the drawing board, reconsider even the articles of association especially when productivity is concerned. I don’t mean food, but that is basic.

“There are other forms of productivity. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We can leapfrog, for instance to the most modern, the most sophisticated kind of technology which is going on. We have people working in NASA. We have Africans who are selling experiments to be performed in space. And yet we say we don’t have enough intellectual power to feed this continent and to maintain a principled position when others have conflict, I find it unacceptable,” Soyinka maintained.

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