By Denrele Animasaun

“We cannot trample upon the humanity of others without devaluing our own. The Igbo, always practical, put it concretely in their proverb, Onye ji onye n’ani ji onwe ya: “He who will hold another down in the mud must stay in the mud to keep him down.”– Chinua Achebe

This week,  there was a story doing the  rounds that Wole Soyinka had made derogatory remarks about Igbo people, that he said: that they “tend to put their votes where their stomachs take them” and suffer “from incurable money-mindedness” during his lecture at Harvard. All hell broke loose and the poor man was pilloried by readers of the story, a few people were cautious of the source and the content of the story but many threw insults and such language used, it would not be polite to repeat it in polite company.

It seems some people are quick to condemn and take the tribal high road at the drop of a hat but this was particularly puerile and malicious.  Soyinka has since released a statement strenuously refuting the story: “I have just read a statement attributed to me on a news outlet, evidently one of the Internet infestations. My lecture at the Hutchins Centre, Harvard University, was video recorded. Anyone who believes what I am alleged to have said must be a moron – repeat, a moron. It is demeaning, sickening and boring to have to deal with these cowards who cannot fight their own battles but must fasten their imbecilic pronouncements on others. Only the mentally retarded will credit this comment attributed to me regarding the Ndigbo voting pattern in the last elections”.

Of course, as it transpired, Soyinka said no such things. He refuted the claim and he dismissed the report adding that anyone who dared to believe it was a moron. So right, he was too, there are some moronic individuals who would fall, hook, line and sinker for anything told without reflecting on the motive. There is no cure for stupidity or ignorance and we have to be better than that. There is certainly some resentment that gives way to such distasteful and sensationalized story like this, and that all it needs is to get the dim, not so bright and gullible out in all their moronic glory.

Some people have selective memory, if not they would have been told or have remembered that the same Soyinka was imprisoned by previous Nigerian government for protesting against the unfair treatment of Igbos during the Biafra war. The gutter press that whipped the gullible into hate-filled frenzy, The Cable, publicly apologized to the professor over “misinterpreting” his views.

So the culprit of the piece have come  forward with the their statement: “The management of Cable Newspaper Ltd, publishers of The Cable, would like to make the following statement concerning our report on the lecture by Professor Wole Soyinka at the Harvard University Hutchins Centre for African and African American Research.

“Soyinka was quoted to have made derogatory remarks about the Igbo over their voting pattern in the March 28 presidential election. He has since denied the offensive quotes attributed to him.

“After an in-house investigation, we have come to the conclusion that the story misrepresented the views expressed by Soyinka in the question-and-answer session after his lecture.

“We take full responsibility for the inaccuracy and promise that we will continue to strive to improve our standards. Also, we wish to reiterate that we take our professional responsibilities very seriously, as our readers can attest to. We hereby offer an unreserved apology to Soyinka, Ndigbo and our readers.”

Like my mother would say, medicine after death!  You sully a man’s reputation and you put out a statement that you retract and that the story was not misleading and not true.  Shame on the Cable.

We have lost our moral compass as a people and with it a fundamental custom of valuing our elders and respecting their life experience and opinions.  We are lucky to have such illustrious and brilliant minds in our midst and we reward them by hurling insults at them when we do not like what we are made to believe they say or do. I remember when the late Achebe There was a Country generated such heat.

I refuse to be either nor, I am a Nigerian and we should revel in our diversity. The fact we are blessed with some many tribes and out of many, we remain one or should remain united. Yet, some of us are hell bent on stirring and whipping the tribal hatred and intolerance at any given opportunity. It is time to reflect on how we are with one another. Hatred is so corrosive and yet it seems in the hands of some, has become a work of art and fantasy.

We are standing on the shoulders of giants, people who fought and contributed tirelessly for independence and they did so not because of one tribe supremacy over the other, but, for us to have a place to call home and self-rule.  Is this the way we reward them? They did so for us to have a country called Nigeria. We will always be better together in spite of some of us, shouting at any sight of trouble or disagreement, they call for separation.  We need to reflect on the way we behave, we often react first and think later. It has not served us well and it definitely would not serve us now. We cannot continue to do the same thing and expect different results. It is just not going to happen.  It is time for conversation and reconciliation.  Let’s start the conversation at homes, in schools, workplaces, in politics and at gatherings.

It is disgraceful that, people who stand for nothing and achieved nothing are quick to dismiss the great act of selflessness of these amazing Nigerians. Yes, I did say amazing Nigerians, and not tribe, but Nigerians. I am passionate about this, as time and time again, it seems we are no better off than when we started. Well, at least some of us. We go back to this and distort history and sometime altogether dismiss it. What are we teaching our children; that it is all right to hate our neighbours. That it is fine that we don’t get along and that we should not trust the “others”.  About time we grew up. We are better than that, and our children deserve better.

Let   me share with you a piece I wrote in 2012:

“Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter”- Chinua Achebe

“I have not bought my copy of the book, so I cannot make any comment on its contents. What I however, find disconcerting is: some people’s attitude to the fact, that Chinua Achebe had the gall to have an opinion and write it in a book! If people disagree, by all means say so. What I do find disconcerting is going as far as insulting his character, his literary integrity and his tribe in one quick swoop. This is disrespectful and dismissive, the way we react to people who have a different view to  ourselves.

This is not the first book written and no means, the last; some not so good, some good and a few   written by non – Nigerians! So, by condemning a view because we disagree with it, will ultimately close doors to the growth of a cohesive society and it seems we want to create a place where only Yes people can exist.