Nobel Laureate award exposed me to danger — Wole Soyinka

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has disclosed that becoming the first sub-Saharan African to win the Nobel Prize in literature exposed him to danger.

The literary icon was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature for his “wide cultural perspective and… poetic overtones fashioning the drama of existence”.

But speaking in an interview with CNN’s Larry Madowo which was shared on Thursday, the playwright explained that taking an active role in Nigeria’s political scene pitched him against the powers that be and that endangered.

He said winning the coveted price also exposed him more as he felt isolated.

“I felt isolated when I won the Nobel Laureate and I felt much relieved when another African won it. I felt isolated because so much was demanded of me overnight. It was like your constituency was expanded simply because you’re from Africa. At the same time, especially in a society like ours, it exposes you more.

“So it exposes me also to very great danger because I refuse to back down on my beliefs and activities simply because I became a Nobel Laureate,” Soyinka said.

Giving insight into such danger, he explained that the late military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, would have died a happy man if he (Abacha) had been able to hang him.

He said, “I always remind people that the most brutal dictator we ever had here, Sani Abacha, would have gone to his grave a happy man if he hanged a Nobel laureate. If he had been able to put on his CV that he hanged a Nobel laureate. As it was, he had to be content with hanging an activist and writer, Ken Saro Wiwa.”

During the despotic regime of Abacha between 1993 and 1998, Soyinka escaped from Nigeria on a motorcycle via the Benin border.

Abacha later proclaimed a death sentence against him ‘in absentia’. Soyinka returned to the country in 1999 when democracy was restored.

Reflecting on how he celebrates his birthdays, the literary icon said he doesn’t fancy birthdays.

“Well, that’s the annoying thing. I don’t feel 90. I feel I just have taken birthdays for granted. “Usually, what I do on my birthdays is disappear into the forest. That is my normal way of spending birthdays,” Soyinka, who turned 90 on July 13, 2024, said.