FG under pressure to declare July 13 as Wole Soyinka Day

Prominent Yoruba traditional ruler, the Alake of Egba Land, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, has urged President Bola Tinubu to declare July 13 a national day dedicated to celebrating the contributions of Noble Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, to humanity.

Gbadebo stated this at a press conference in Abeokuta on Tuesday to kickstart a series of events lined up to mark the 90th birthday of the first African Nobel Prize winner in Literature.

The Alake further advised the Bola TInubu-led federal government to honour Soyinka with the second highest national honour of Grand Commander of Order of Niger as the Nobel laureate marks his 90th birthday.

The traditional ruler said that Egba land has already decided that July 13, Soyinka’s birthday, would henceforth be celebrated as Wole Soyinka Day.

This, according to Oba Gbadebo, was to further promote Soyinka’s ideals and contribution to humanity, both nationally and globally.

The monarch said Soyinka, being the first African Nobel Prize winner in Literature and an international playwright who is wanted in every part of the world, deserves to be so honoured back home.

He described Soyinka as a global icon, a living legend, a playwright, actor, human rights and political activist, a hunter and a globally respected elder statesman with roots in Ake, Abeokuta.

This, he said was why the Egba land is rolling out the drums to celebrate the honour and glamour the famous poet has brought to his kith and kins in Ogun State.

He said that the theme for the 90th celebration of the Nobel Laureate fondly called, Kongi is “Defiance and Creativity: A Celebration of Soyinka’s Artistic Ingenuity and Impact on Nigeria, Africa and The Entire World”.

“It will be appropriate for the Federal Government to adopt July 13 as a national day to celebrate Prof Wole Soyinka given his contribution to literature and humanity globally,” Gbadebo said.

“It will be good to henceforth adopt his birthday which is July 13 as Wole Soyinka Day. In fact, New Orleans in the United States of America has already adopted a day to celebrate him, so why can’t we do so to honour our own too?

“The Federal Government should also in addition to this confer on Wole Soyinka the second highest national honour of Grand Commander of Order of Niger because of his contribution to register our dear nation on the global map.”

The convener of Soyinka’s 90th birthday, Paul Bankole, said the essence of the celebration was to acknowledge Soyinka’s contributions both academically and to humanity as a whole.