[Opinion] The Achebe Question And Where He Got It Wrong!

No week passes by without an issue of national concern and importance popping up out of the blue to on the one hand, adding to the labouring and gains of the media and on the other hand, giving interested Nigerians what to sit out their evenings to talk about; thanks to the fleet of beer parlours and pubs that now litter the average Nigerian society as though drinking has become religion and beer parlours, churches.
Immediately after the sad events of the #ALUU4, Nigerians were still in grief and sorrow when they were swept off their feet by the tantrums of Africa’s most renowned literary maverick,critique and novelist in the person of professor Chinua Achebe. The man best known for his display of literary sagacity in his first work of fiction- Things Fall Apart. All these, he was able to achieve through the outburst in his new book titled ‘There Was A Country: A Personal History Of Biafra’. Ever since, the singular issue for determination in the thematic preoccupation in the most recent work of this literary sage came to the foray, that is, whether the late premiere of the then western region and the commissioner of finance, chief Obafemi Awolowo, was personally driven by an over riding ambition for power for himself and for the yoruba people when he resorted to the weapon of starvation during the dark years of Nigeria’s history? (Biafran War). Or more so, whether the Nigerian government engage in genocide of its igbo citizens- who set up the Biafran Republic in 1967 through punitive policies, the most notorious being the instrument of starvation as a legitimate weapon of war?
Now, just like every other national issue in my country that involves the big regions, it has long become game as usual with each side playing the ‘regional card’ an act which forever leave me dazed as to where is this unity amidst diversity we profess. The average Yoruba man, would never stand and watch while Awo’s name is dragged into the mud of shame and controversy even those who never saw his portrait save on the face of the 100 naira currency note little wonder, the likes of Femi Fani Kayode and a certain Ebenezar Babatope to mention but a few have basked into the defense of their unsung hero. On the other side of the coin, the common Igbo man has taken sides with his kinsmen who suffered the onslaught masterminded by who ever it was and also because CHinua Achebe has become a household name in the south eastern part of this comatose behamose. You know what? I am still quipped as to why not even a single prominent northernern have commented on the protracted issue. It has been a matter to be decided between the Igbo’s and the Yoruba’s another reason why this country will never cease to amaze me.
For the purpose of this literature, i have choosen not to wobble in their regional squabble neither do i want to wallow in this pool of sentiment of theirs but on the contrary, i blame it all on my renowned literary genius and the man in the middle of the morass, none other but the corporate prof. You know why? I will tell you why.
Chinua Achebe no doubt may be my role model as a writer. The simple sweet literature with which he puts his ideas across was all he needed to nail me me to the cross of his followership a more reason why the copy of his works will never leave my little library. His divorce of Nigerian politics and focus to what he knows how best to do reading, teaching and writing has forever endeared me to him. But this time around, i am surprised that i am against his bidding albeit, for the first time and i hope its for the last time.
Now lets get down to the crux of this piece. Who does Achebe intend to get the answer to his multi-billion naira question from? And if he ever gets them, how will it have solved the problems we find ourselves grappling with today as a nation? Has old age began to tell on him that his memory have denied him of how inciteful such question could be vis-a-vis the kind of people we are as Nigerians? 42 years after the war, a question of such magnitude is not and cannot be what is best for a nation sitting at the edge of a precipice. Had Awolowo been alive, then the grounds for such question may suffice at least they will engage in a war of words and who knows Awolowo may even end up writing his own book in reply but then, the man who preferred education to religion, has died many years ago. From whom then, does he hope to get his answers from? Me? You? Certainly none hence the more reason why the idea of the book shouldnt have been born in the first place. Apologies to him anyways. How many more problem can a nation condone with? Insecurity, terrorism, corruption, flooding and yet one labours to open the cancer worms of a rotten history that has the prospects of overwhelming an entire nation. On this note, i say unequivically, that Achebe irrespective of what he means to African literature, got it wrong. His intentions may be fair than i/we suppose, but that will never suffice to ammeliorate the ills of the book both textually and contextually.
As a writer, we do know that the palms are every now and then itching to write but passion must always be guided by wisdom least it degenerates into coercion and in the process rob one of their repute. We do know there was a war that lasted some 30 months, we do know even before Achebe’s book that there was a genocide of which the principal actor acknowledged whereof before his death but we have allowed all these get behind us as a nation that has come a long way and still having a long way to go. Therefore, lets allow our ugly days to get behind us, else they get the best of us and wear us down.
If there is one thing Nigeria and Nigerians do not want to be reminded of now, then it is the 30 months of carnage that almost robbed us of our common existence as a people. Literary icons like Chinua Achebe, should at least get other interesting and important subjects to vent their literary venom on, and not on issues as delicate as the one in question. God bless Nigeria.

Yungsilky is a law student in one of Nigeria’s federal Universities. He blogs for information Nigeria and runs his own blog. Follow him on twitter @yung_silky. A follow back is guaranteed.