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Arts and Reviews

Soyinka in Ebedi: Of hunters and storytellers

Wale Okediran
May 11, 2022
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Ebedi soyinka
Professor Wole Soyinka (fourth from left), Dr Wale Okediran (third from left). Professor Remi Raji (right), and others during Professor Soyinka’s visit to the Ebedi International Writers’ Residency in Iseyin, Oyo State, in 2016.
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“Wale, No formal programme please. I was alarmed when I read, in one of your earlier mails, something   like “the programme will begin at something o’clock and should be over by etc. etc.” but chose to let it go. I shall interact with your Centre most informally, no structured programme please!’’

With the above mail from the Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, it became very obvious that receiving our august visitor at the Ebedi International Writers Residency in Iseyin, Oyo State, Nigeria would not be as simple as I had earlier thought.

It was at the inauguration of Wole Soyinka Foundation’s ‘’Ijegba Retreat’’ for writers in Abeokuta a few years ago that I casually intimated WS about the Ebedi Writers Residency. I was pleasantly surprised when the Nobel Laureate said he was hearing of the Residency for the first time.

As he put it; ‘’How come I didn’t know about this? Hearing about it for the first time – that’s a great pity! Five years operational – Congratulations! Maybe we should start a kind of internal newsletter and also run a kind of Fellowship Exchange network.  I don’t know what’s happened to Bode Osayin’s initiative – which I mentioned at the launching. Then Flora Nwapa’s son is also starting something in honour of her memory. Femi Osofisan mentioned something about a building he’s dedicating to writers’ use – and maybe others.

Something to work on. Again, very well done.WS’’.

A few weeks later, precisely in January 2016, I got a mail from WS which threw myself, staff and Board of the Ebedi Writers Residency into ecstasy; the Nobel Laureate would be visiting Ebedi!!

Quickly, I had called members of Soyinka’s well known inner circle of friends on what to do to make the visit a memorable one.

Apart from asking for details of his culinary inclinations, I also asked for the list of those to be invited to welcome our distinguished visitor to Iseyin. I was advised to inform the Oyo State Governor, the State’s Commissioner of Police, the Director of the SSS and of course, the Kabiyesi, Aseyin of Iseyin about the great man’s visit.

When I called my good friend, Yomi Layinka,  the then Senior Special Adviser to Governor Ajimobi on Media on what to do, he asked me to decide which we wanted; a courtesy visit to the Governor by WS, or a visit to WS in Iseyin by the Governor. I suggested the former and sent a proposed programme to WS just to gauge his mood.

That was when the Nobel Laureate responded by affirming that the visit would be an informal one only to the Writers in the Residency.

In that mail, WS had also indicated his desire to combine the literary trip with one of his favourite pastimes; hunting.

As the Literary icon put it; ‘’Have I indicated the following? Planning a visit to your Ebedi Retreat during the last week of February, depending on scouting reports in some major non-literary pursuit. Re:Ebedi, will like to explore possibilities of interaction between my Ijegba Retreat programme and yours. What do you suggest would be a good time? Normally this is the season I should be foraging around Upper Ogun, so I thought of killing two birds with one stone….hopefully more than two, quite frankly. The guinea-fowl clans would have migrated to the scattered green belts still surviving the Harmattan drought.”

Although I had previously read of WS’s hunting skills, I never knew it was a near professional one until I read the concluding part of his mail;

‘’Maybe you could also discreetly check for me on any traditional hunting groups. If you hear the name Asimotu in that zone, let me know. He was my night hunt companion of many years. I just hope he hasn’t preceded me to the hunting grounds yonder. Let me know of your findings, if any, and if you’re likely to be around that period. Thanks. WS.”

Unknown to me, some of the community leaders in Iseyin and environs were hunters who had previously gone on hunting expeditions with WS.

According to one of them; ‘’Prof is an ‘Ogboju Ode’ (master hunter).

“I have been following him hunting ‘aparos’ (Guinea Fowls) and other animals since the 60’s.”

My source also told me to get prepared to join my guest on the hunt.

When I protested that I didn’t know anything about hunting, I was assured that Baba, the ‘Ogboju Ode’ will quickly put me through. And just to reassure me of my safety in the bush, the man added: ‘’Prof is not an ordinary person. He will protect you.”

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