Toyin Falola

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Dec 16, 2018, 1:50:16 PM12/16/18

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http://thenationonlineng.net/acceptance-speech-d-lit-honoris-causa-oau-ife-2018/

Acceptance Speech: D. Lit (Honoris Causa), OAU-Ife, 2018

Posted By: Biodun Jeyifo On: December 16, 2018 In: Biodun Jeyifo

The Visitor, the President of the Republic ably represented by the Acting Executive Secretary of the NUC; the Chairman of the Governing Council of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi, my friend, my brother; the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Eyitayo Ogunbodede; other members of the governing council here present; distinguished professors and lecturers of the University; invited guests from all walks of life; great students of great Ife; ladies and gentlemen; and the talakawa of the land to whom restitution and justice will come one day in our country; I shall make this acceptance speech brief, but hopefully, not empty. The theme of my speech is truth; expressed a little more expansively, it is the tension, the contradiction between truth and facts, especially with regard to present and future prospects for higher education in our country and our world. In order to frame this theme with suggestive metaphor and parable, permit me to start with two short narratives, one factual and the other mythic.

The first narrative, the factual one, can be found in The Punch newspaper of November 16, 2013. That issue of the newspaper contained an interview of the late Akinwumi Isola conducted by one Olufemi Atoyebi. In the interview, Akin Isola made the following remark in response to a question asking him why he had left the University of Lagos for the University of Ife:

“I had to leave UNILAG in 1974 because I was given an appointment at the University of Ife. The major reason I was tempted to move to Ife was because all my friends like Professor Wole Soyinka, Yemi Ogunbiyi, Biodun Jeyifo, Kole Omotoso and so on, were teaching there. It was at the University that I spent all the rest of my academic career”.

Unfortunately, I read this interview – that had been published in 2013 – only this year, 2018, a few weeks after the death of Professor Isola. If I had read the interview before his death, I would have had some very interesting questions, some conundrums, for him. This is because contrary to the “facts” stated in this segment from the interview, Isola could not have come to Ife because we, the friends mentioned as one important cause for his moving to Ife from Unilag, were not yet in Ife in 974 when Honestman moved here! Wole Soyinka, Yemi Ogunbiyi, Biodun Jeyifo, Kole Omotoso – not a single one of us moved to Ife before Akin Isola. Soyinka came in 1975; Omotoso came in 1976; I came in 1977; and Yemi Ogunbiyi came also, I believe, in 1977. If the other friends Isola collectively called, “and so on” in the interview were already here before his arrival in 1974, I do not know. But we whose names were specifically mentioned were not yet here at the stated date.

Obviously, the facts do not match the truth in this account by Isola himself of why he came to Ife in 1974 and stayed there for the rest of his career before his retirement in 1994. Now, we know the facts; but what is the truth? The truth is that in the course of the twenty years that he taught here, Isola apparently experienced great and sustaining community with many friends, colleagues and students. And as a result of this experience, he thrived here as a teacher, a scholar, a writer, a fabulist. That is the truth against which the mistaken facts are merely accidental and rather factitious to the essential truth-content of the statement in his 2013 interview in The Punch. In other words, in this particular instance, in this particular story, as erroneous and inapplicable as the facts are, they do not in any way contradict the truth. I shall come back to this point later in this speech but for now, I wish to move to the other story, the one that is all myth and contains no facts at all and yet contains profound truths about human existence, in particular, knowledge or knowledges. It is an Afro-Cuban myth and it goes as follows:

“In the beginning of Time, Olofi created the world and all the elemental things in it. He created the earth and the sky, light and darkness, beauty and ugliness. And he created Truth and Falsehood. Deliberately, he made Truth very big and powerful, while making Falsehood skinny and weak. However, to make up for the weakness of Falsehood, Olofi made him very cunning. From his cunning, Falsehood made a cutlass with which to protect himself if the need for it ever arose. One fateful day, Truth and Falsehood met and in the heat of an argument, a bitter and ferocious fight broke out between them. Being very big and strong, Truth felt completely on top of the combat, not knowing that Falsehood had fashioned a machete for his defense. And so, it was with this machete that Falsehood cunningly managed to cut off the head of Truth. This act so enraged Truth that with a terrifying cry, he seized Falsehood and with a single pull yanked off his head that he then placed on his own headless neck. And from that day, what we have had is that grotesque mismatch: the body of Truth and the head of Falsehood.

Needless to say, this myth is open to many interpretations. The body of Truth and the head of Falsehood: in my profession of critical theory and literary studies, this is the kind of ambiguity, conundrum or enigma that we love to work on, that we can indeed write an entire monograph or even a book on. Obviously, I cannot write a monograph, let alone an entire essay on it in the present context. That being impossible, in this speech, I will therefore limit myself to only two interpretations of the myth. Here is the first one: if the head is the seat of falsehood, then all the things that we most associate with the head – reason, thought, intelligence – must be full of lies, deceit, manipulativeness. In contrast to this, the body that is the site of Truth suggests that the things that we feel in our bodies, that we feel in the skin of physical existence will never deceive us but always render to us the truth of what we are feeling and experiencing. That is one possible interpretation of the myth.

But there is our second interpretation which suggests that since Truth and Falsehood are lodged in the same body, since in fact the head and the body work together in an interrelationship of parts within a system, we can never succeed in completely separating the two, Truth and Falsehood. And if this is the case, we must see Truth and Falsehood not as mere opposites but as inevitable contradictions that we must do our utmost best to decipher in order to make the contradiction work for us and not against us. Indeed, it is in the light of this view of contradiction that Bertolt Brecht, one of the greatest dramatists of the 20th century, famously declared that “contradictions are our only hope”. How do these two narrative parables or metaphors connect to the theme of this acceptance speech? Well, let us take first the story that deals with facts in relation or non-relation to truth.

Here are two facts from the past of this University concerning the honorary degree that I am being given today. In 1984, Chinua Achebe was given this same degree, the first writer and public intellectual to be given the degree by OAU-Ife. It was a totally unprecedented move by any Nigerian university and Achebe demonstrated the wisdom of the decision by delivering a Convocation Lecture titled “The Truth of Fiction” that is simply one of his best essays and certainly a tour de force of insight and eloquence. A year or two later, the name of Wole Soyinka was brought forward for consideration by the Senate and the Council and everyone thought it was a foregone probability that he would be given the award. However, Soyinka’s nomination got so embroiled in extremely petty political shenanigans that the Nobel laureate had to ask that his name be withdrawn from consideration and many Senate and Council members said good riddance! But then, a year later, in 1986, Soyinka won the Nobel Prize for Literature and both the Senate and the Council completely reversed themselves, going so far as to send emissaries to the new Noble laureate to please lift his ban on his name being considered for this degree. Your guess is as good as the next person’s on Soyinka’s response to this plea from the University.

I could add many other facts to these concerning Achebe and Soyinka and the D. Lit degree of OAU-Ife. Some facts are impeccably benevolent, progressive and community sustaining; others are the complete opposite of the values that should sustain an academic community, the national community and our world. But none of these facts can erase the truth which is that at the very same time when contradictory acts about giving the award to Achebe and Soyinka were being executed, the Obafemi Awolowo University was in a sort of Golden Age of brilliance, progressiveness and innovation. And Ife was almost exceptional among all Nigerian universities. For instance, I have said that Achebe’s Convocation Lecture of 1984, “The Truth of Fiction” stands as one of the best of his dozens of essays. Well, let me recall what Achebe himself said when he delivered the lecture here: he said that when he got communication that he was being given the award and had to give a lecture, he knew the sort of colleagues, the sort of academic audience waiting for him at Ife and therefore he knew that he had to be at his very best.

That is the kind of place that Akin Isola was reminiscing about in the interview in The Punch that I cited as the source of the first of the two framing stories for my reflections in this speech. A university community that had the likes of H.E.O. Oluwasanmi and Ojetunji Aboyade as Vice Chancellors, that had both Wole Soyinka and Ola Rotimi, two of the greatest among African playwrights, drama professors and theatre directors on its staff, that had pioneers in indigenous African cultural and linguistic studies, that had social and natural scientists of the highest training and productivity and, in my own professional field, that actually drew up and began the first systematic graduate courses in critical theory literary and cultural studies on the African continent – that was the truth of OAU-Ife then. I have said many times that that Ife was the place where I finally became the sort of teacher I had always wanted to be; and it remains one of the most fertile in my production of scholars of the next generation. Indeed, I am deeply gratified that many of my colleagues and students from the era are present here today. That is why I solemnly declare this honour is not just for me but for all of us.

In bringing this speech to its conclusion, I now return briefly to our second framing story, the Afro-Cuban myth on the body of Truth and the head of Falsehood. Chairman, Governing Council; the Vice Chancellor; great students of great Ife; ladies and gentlemen, like almost all Nigerian universities without exception, this University is facing crises of such a serial manner that one can say that we are in what one philosopher has called a state of (permanent) exception. For instance, Ife is the birthplace of ASUU; today, ASUU is in a state of profound and crippling crisis at the University. Ife has always been at the forefront of progressive and mature students’ unionism in this country; today, student unionism in the University is in great turmoil badly in need of self-renewal and institutional re-legitimation. Vice Chancellorships are fought bitterly and self-destructively. All in all, a perfect replication of the body of Truth and the head of Falsehood. Definitely, this University, all Nigerian universities face this profound serial crisis, this more or less permanent state of exception. But remember, I said earlier that contradictions are there not to crush us if we study them carefully. Truth has not vanished; it is only entwined with Falsehood.

I thank the University for this great honour which, as I have said, is not only for me but for all of us. Especially, I thank the Chairman of the Governing Council and the Vice Chancellor. May theirs be the wisdom and the grace to always be able to separate truth from falsehood and may their time in office usher in another era of brilliant, progressive and humanizing education for present and future generations of our youths.

Biodun Jeyifo

D. Lit (Honoris Causa), Obafemi Awolowo University.

Toyin Falola

Department of History

The University of Texas at Austin

104 Inner Campus Drive

Austin, TX 78712-0220

USA

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Biko Agozino

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Dec 16, 2018, 9:38:14 PM12/16/18

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Jeyifo's Truthful Lie

By Biko Agozino Many congratulations to Comnrade Biodun Jeyifo on his very well-deserved Honorary D.Lit awar...

Biko

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Emeagwali, Gloria (History)

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Dec 17, 2018, 2:01:08 AM12/17/18

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Thanks for this Biko. It clarifies a lot. I wondered about what seemed like an accusation

thrown at the honorable Prof. Isola and could not make sense of it.

Professor Gloria Emeagwali

From: 'Biko Agozino' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2018 7:28 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Biodun Jeyifo: The Fusion of Falsehood and Truth

Segun Ogungbemi

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Dec 17, 2018, 3:22:40 AM12/17/18

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An interesting speech. The truth and falsehood in Yoruba behavior, contradiction, conundrum and enigma.

Segun Ogungbemi.

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Biko Agozino

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Dec 17, 2018, 9:33:00 AM12/17/18

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That is righr, Gloria. Honest Man no dey lie.

Biko

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Toyin Falola

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Dec 17, 2018, 2:35:55 PM12/17/18

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From: "Jeyifo, Biodun" <bje...@fas.harvard.edu>
Date: December 17, 2018 at 12:40:11 PM CST
To: Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu>
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Biodun Jeyifo: The Fusion of Falsehood and Truth

Silence, leavened by compassion, is the best response to a fool and a madman.

BJ

Toyin,

Please post the above single sentence in your dialogue series as my response to Agozino.

From: Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu>
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2018 3:44 AM
To: Jeyifo, Biodun <bje...@fas.harvard.edu>
Subject: FW: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Biodun Jeyifo: The Fusion of Falsehood and Truth

Toyin Falola

Department of History

The University of Texas at Austin

104 Inner Campus Drive

Austin, TX 78712-0220

USA

512 475 7224

512 475 7222 (fax)

http://sites.utexas.edu/yoruba-studies-review/

http://www.toyinfalola.com

http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa

http://groups.google.com/group/yorubaaffairs

http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue

From: dialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Reply-To: dialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Sunday, December 16, 2018 at 8:38 PM
To: dialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Biodun Jeyifo: The Fusion of Falsehood and Truth

Jeyifo's Truthful Lie

OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Dec 17, 2018, 8:08:17 PM12/17/18

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GE.

What is contained in this acceptance speech can only be adequately deciphered by a specialised trained critic. I can well understand that not all intellectuals trained in other disciplines can come to terms with the nuances evoked.

The piece is not a criticism of Akinwumi Isola whom Biodun Jeyifo described as an ally, but an exposition of 'Truth and 'Falsehood' as contained in the title of the piece as well as the contexts which determine the relationship between the two. The relationship is not always oppositional the piece contends but sometimes contentious and paradoxical. This is what the Akinwunmi Isola anecdote demonstrates.

The whole piece as the writer contends is an allegory for the state of university education in Nigeria. Biko's rejoinder seems to have totally missed the point in the pointless comparison with Achebes essay and (as usual )unwarranted digression to Awo and the first Nigerian Civil War.

The piece is a mourning of the past glories of university standards of yore.

OAA

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

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From: "Emeagwali, Gloria (History)" <emea...@ccsu.edu>

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Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Biodun Jeyifo: The Fusion ofFalsehood and Truth

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Thanks for this Biko. It clarifies a lot. I wondered about what seemed like an accusation

thrown at the honorable Prof. Isola and could not make sense of it.

Professor Gloria Emeagwali

From: 'Biko Agozino' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2018 7:28 PM

To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Biodun Jeyifo: The Fusion of Falsehood and Truth

OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Dec 17, 2018, 8:08:32 PM12/17/18

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We felicitate with Professor Biodun Jeyifo a literati extraordinaire on this long overdue recognition of a life devoted to letters. A worthy mentor, dogged critic and unparalled perceptive scholar.

OAA

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

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Date: 16/12/2018 19:05 (GMT+00:00)

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Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Biodun Jeyifo: The Fusion of Falsehoodand Truth

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Biko Agozino

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Dec 17, 2018, 8:09:19 PM12/17/18

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A fool and a mad man

May be two different people and they may reply to the specialist by thanking him for the compassion and for breaking the silence with a sentence to prove that neither of them deserved the best answer reserved for a fool.

Biko

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Michael Afolayan

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Dec 18, 2018, 12:48:22 AM12/18/18

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OAA -

I disagree with Biko's characterization of BJ's acceptance speech.

I love BJ - one of the most brilliant scholars of my lifetime! I witnessed and often recall with nostalgia the golden age of Great Ife in the '70s that he so eloquently described. Ife was truly a renaissance site. It was a time when the Humanity had the DNA of "humans" in its blood. Intellection was not forced; it was organic and pure, unalloyed with the desire to be the "giraffe among goats" as we witness in our nation's academia today. As a young student, I could not wait to take a front roll seat at the Monday afternoon seminars in the African Studies building just to witness and listen intensely to the serious intellectual rapports among respected scholars like BJ, Kole Omotosho, Akin Euba, Ola Rotimi, Chidi Amuta, WS, Akin Isola, OB Yai, Sope Oyelaran, Barry Hallen, Bade Ajuwon, Yemi Ogunbiyi, Babatunde Lawal, Karin Barber, Olatunde Olatunji (briefly), Apena Eluyemi, PF Verger, Segun Osoba, Oyin Ogunba, Wande Abimbola, and the list goes on. A room filled with those names was a riot in itself but it was the most civil intellectual riot of the time, arguably, anywhere in Nigeria! I was not privy to what entailed at UI, UNILAG, ABU, UNN, or any of the first generation universities, but what was happening at Ife was something spectacular. I applaud BJ for taking us on the memory lane of a good history.

I have a problem with the Isola story. Honestly, I do. I know BJ and Isola were good friends - buddies of the highest fraternal order. In fact, the former wrote a brilliant foreword to Pamela Smith's translation of the latter's memoir. What BJ said in the story might be true - intellectually and even ethically. My great teacher, Akinwumi Isola, was the father of honesty and would not mind being called out for a memory lapse, which I believe was all that it was; and when you are having the best time of your life, as Prof. Jeyifo himself alluded to, who cares about the details of who came in when, how and why? The question, for me, though, would be "Is the Isola example necessary, especially knowing full well that he was no longer with us to explain why he said what he said?" Culturally, no. There are a million and one other examples that would have snugly fit the paradigm of BJ's thesis. He could even conjure his own story and spare us of the pain of re-examining our knowledge of Isola. He did not. Brilliant minds have a mind of their own. BJ must have a good reason for doing this; I just don't know what it is.

Michael O. Afoláyan

From the State of the Living Spring

On Monday, December 17, 2018, 1:38:11 PM CST, Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

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From: "Jeyifo, Biodun" <bje...@fas.harvard.edu>
Date: December 17, 2018 at 12:40:11 PM CST
To: Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu>
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Biodun Jeyifo: The Fusion of Falsehood and Truth

Silence, leavened by compassion, is the best response to a fool and a madman.

BJ

Toyin,

Please post the above single sentence in your dialogue series as my response to Agozino.

From: Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu>
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2018 3:44 AM
To: Jeyifo, Biodun <bje...@fas.harvard.edu>
Subject: FW: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Biodun Jeyifo: The Fusion of Falsehood and Truth

Toyin Falola

Department of History

The University of Texas at Austin

104 Inner Campus Drive

Austin, TX 78712-0220

USA

512 475 7224

512 475 7222 (fax)

http://sites.utexas.edu/yoruba-studies-review/

http://www.toyinfalola.com

http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa

http://groups.google.com/group/yorubaaffairs

http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue

From: dialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Reply-To: dialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Sunday, December 16, 2018 at 8:38 PM
To: dialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Biodun Jeyifo: The Fusion of Falsehood and Truth

Jeyifo's Truthful Lie

Harrow, Kenneth

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Dec 18, 2018, 12:48:22 AM12/18/18

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i second this! bj, a great intellect i've admired from the start, oh so many years ago

k

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagb...@hotmail.com>
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2018 7:20:51 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com; dialogue; Yoruba Affairs
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Biodun Jeyifo: The Fusion of Falsehoodand Truth

Toyin Falola

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Dec 18, 2018, 2:32:10 AM12/18/18

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BJ’s response on Isola

From: "Jeyifo, Biodun" <bje...@fas.harvard.edu>
Date: Tuesday, December 18, 2018 at 1:18 AM
To: Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu>
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Biodun Jeyifo: The Fusion ofFalsehood and Truth

“Oro po ninu iwe kobo” [There is an uncountable number of words in a pennyworth newspaper]. The Akin Isola story was actually a way of remembering my friend whose demise still leaves me inconsolable. If I had read the story of his account of how and why he moved from Unilag to Ife before his death and had asked him about the erroneous facts, he would have responded with his characteristic wit and wisdom – which I miss a lot. The simple and uncomplicated reason for the “mistaken facts” is – memory loss or lapses, an affliction that I have myself begun to experience in the last few years, that most of us will, at one time another, experience if we live long enough. But beyond the simple explanation, I actually see the story as an act of great affirmation of friendship – we weren’t there yet in 1974, but for Honestman, it was as if we had always been there. Since I came across the interview only a few weeks after his death, I found it deeply consoling at a time when it was still impossible for me to accept that he was gone.

BJ

From: Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2018 6:52 AM
To: Jeyifo, Biodun <bje...@fas.harvard.edu>

Subject: Fwd: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Biodun Jeyifo: The Fusion ofFalsehood and Truth

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: "'Michael Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Date: December 17, 2018 at 8:34:17 PM CST
To: dialogue <USAAfric...@googlegroups.com>, <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Biodun Jeyifo: The Fusion ofFalsehood and Truth
Reply-To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

OAA -

I disagree with Biko's characterization of BJ's acceptance speech.

I love BJ - one of the most brilliant scholars of my lifetime! I witnessed and often recall with nostalgia the golden age of Great Ife in the '70s that he so eloquently described. Ife was truly a renaissance site. It was a time when the Humanity had the DNA of "humans" in its blood. Intellection was not forced; it was organic and pure, unalloyed with the desire to be the "giraffe among goats" as we witness in our nation's academia today. As a young student, I could not wait to take a front roll seat at the Monday afternoon seminars in the African Studies building just to witness and listen intensely to the serious intellectual rapports among respected scholars like BJ, Kole Omotosho, Akin Euba, Ola Rotimi, Chidi Amuta, WS, Akin Isola, OB Yai, Sope Oyelaran, Barry Hallen, Bade Ajuwon, Yemi Ogunbiyi, Babatunde Lawal, Karin Barber, Olatunde Olatunji (briefly), Apena Eluyemi, PF Verger, Segun Osoba, Oyin Ogunba, Wande Abimbola, and the list goes on. A room filled with those names was a riot in itself but it was the most civil intellectual riot of the time, arguably, anywhere in Nigeria! I was not privy to what entailed at UI, UNILAG, ABU, UNN, or any of the first generation universities, but what was happening at Ife was something spectacular. I applaud BJ for taking us on the memory lane of a good history.

I have a problem with the Isola story. Honestly, I do. I know BJ and Isola were good friends - buddies of the highest fraternal order. In fact, the former wrote a brilliant foreword to Pamela Smith's translation of the latter's memoir. What BJ said in the story might be true - intellectually and even ethically. My great teacher, Akinwumi Isola, was the father of honesty and would not mind being called out for a memory lapse, which I believe was all that it was; and when you are having the best time of your life, as Prof. Jeyifo himself alluded to, who cares about the details of who came in when, how and why? The question, for me, though, would be "Is the Isola example necessary, especially knowing full well that he was no longer with us to explain why he said what he said?" Culturally, no. There are a million and one other examples that would have snugly fit the paradigm of BJ's thesis. He could even conjure his own story and spare us of the pain of re-examining our knowledge of Isola. He did not. Brilliant minds have a mind of their own. BJ must have a good reason for doing this; I just don't know what it is.

Michael O. Afoláyan

From the State of the Living Spring

On Monday, December 17, 2018, 1:38:11 PM CST, Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

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Emeagwali, Gloria (History)

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Dec 18, 2018, 2:46:20 AM12/18/18

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Ok .... but not necessarily a mourning, since the contradictions would generate resolutions and solutions to the problems. At least that is what I picked up.
One day BJ will elaborate on Isola ‘s lapse of memory or the enigmatic falsehood metaphor. Thanks for the clarification, OA.

GE

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagb...@hotmail.com>

Sent: Monday, December 17, 2018 7:45:20 PM

Salimonu Kadiri

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Dec 18, 2018, 4:53:17 PM12/18/18

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Since the music of Nigeria/Biafra war stopped on January 15, 1970, but some dumb and deaf are still dancing to the music of war, I hereby substitute Jeyifo's Truthful Lie by Biko with Agozino's Mythical Lie.

In his acceptance speech of honorary degree by OAU-Ife, Biodun Jeyifo made mention of late Chinua Achebe in this manner, "In 1984, Chinua Achebe was given this same degree, the first and public intellectual to be given the degree by OAU-Ife. …//… Achebe demonstrated the wisdom of the decision by delivering a Convocational Lecture titled 'The Truth of Fiction' that is simply one of his best essays and certainly a tour de force of insight and eloquence." For mentioning Achebe's name, even in a positive way, Biko Agozino saw Biodun Jeyifo firing rockets against Biafra. Biko Agozino said, "... Achebe was not really talking about Truth and Falsehood but about 'good and evil.' He spoke in a University named after a genocidist intellectual (three years after Achebe's lecture there) who, the year before Achebe gave his lecture, publicly defended his wartime assertion that starvation is a legitimate weapon of war." Whereas Biodun Jeyifo who was present when Chinua Achebe delivered his Lecture at OAU-Ife in 1984 said it was titled "The Truth and Fiction" mythical liar, Biko Agozino is making readers to believe that Biodun Jeyifo said that Achebe's Lecture was about Truth and Falsehood. Biko Agozino who was not present when Chinua Achebe delivered the Convocational Lecture at OAU-Ife in 1984 is now telling us that Achebe's lectured about 'good and evil.' Biko Agozino invented his own topic and credited it to Achebe in order to arrive at his mythical genocide committed against the Igbo during the civil war. It is remarkable that when Achebe lectured at Ife in 1984, the name of the institution of learning was University of Ife and not Obafemi Awolowo University-Ife, a change of name that was effected after Awolowo's death. Therefore, Achebe had no reason to protest against the renaming of the University after 'a genocidist intellectual,' Awolowo, a change of name that was not even contemplated at the time of Achebe's lecture in 1984 because Awolowo was still alive, as Biko Agozino would want us to believe.

Biko Agozino tacitly accused Awolowo as having "publicly defended his wartime assertion that starvation is a legitimate weapon of war." What was the source of Biko's information that Awolowo publicly defended his wartime assertion that starvation is a legitimate weapon of war? That question was answered by Biko Agozino thus, "A journalist, Mr. Oparadike, had asked Awolowo during his 1983 Presidential campaign town hall press conference if he was prepared to address the concerns of those who felt aggrieved by the policy statement 13 years after the end of the war when the gruesomeness of the genocide was no longer in doubt? Awo said that he still stood by his statement and that he was indifferent to those who disagreed with him." Unconscious of his malicious and dishonest distortion of Mr. Oparadike's question to Awolowo, Biko Agozino gave the link to the interview published in the Nigeria Village Square of 7 October 2012 as follows : www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/obafemi-awolowo-archives/exclusive-chief-obafemi-awolowo-on-biafra-in-his-own-words.html

Since the interview was not an audio/video transcript, one can easily dismiss it as not being genuine, but that would be like falling as a prey into the trap of the mythical liar, Biko Agozino. Contrary to Agozino's distortion of the question Oparadike asked Awolowo here follows what the village square link revealed under the subtitle, Civil War, "Question: Chief Awolowo, your stand on the civil war, however unpopular it may have been to the Biafran people … Your stand on the civil war, however unpopular it may have been to the Biafrans or Ibo people, helped to shorten the war. Today, you're being cast as the sole enemy of the Ibo people because of that stand, by among others, some of the people who as members of the federal military government at that time, were party to that decision and are today, in some cases, inheritors of power in one Nigeria which that decision of yours helped to save. How do you feel being cast in this role, and what steps are you taking to endear yourself once again to that large chunk of Nigerians who feel embittered?" I have quoted Oparadike's question as written by the village square without adding or subtracting anything and as everyone can see, Oparadike did not ask Awolowo if he initiated a policy of genocide against the Igbo which, as at the time of the interview, was still known as Ibo. Awolowo's reply to Oparadike's question was lengthy but I will try to bring out relevant excerpts from his reply.

Under Starvation Policy as NVS titled it, Awolowo said, "Then, but above all, the ending of the war itself that I'm accused of starving Ibos, I did nothing of sort. You know, shortly after the liberation of these places, Calabar, Enugu and Port Harcourt, I decided to pay a visit. …//… But when I went what did I see? I saw the kwashiorkor victims. If you see a kwashiorkor victim you'll never like war to be waged. Terrible sight, in Enugu, in Port Harcourt, not many in Calabar but many in Enugu and Port Harcourt. Then I enquired what happened to the food we are sending to the civilians. WE WERE SENDING FOOD THROUGH THE RED-CROSS AND CARITAS TO THEM, but what happened was that THE VEHICLES CARRYING THE FOOD WERE ALWAYS AMBUSHED BY THE SOLDIERS. That's what I discovered, and the food would then be taken to the soldiers to feed them, and so they were able to continue to fight. And I said, that was a dangerous policy, WE DIDN'T INTEND THE FOOD FOR SOLDIERS. But who will go behind the line to stop the soldiers from ambushing the vehicles that were carrying food? And as long as soldiers were fed, the war will continue, and who 'll continue to suffer? And those who didn't go to the place to see things as I did, you remember that all the big guns, all the soldiers in the Biafran Army looked all well-fed after the war, it's only the mass of the people that suffered kwashiorkor." From his reply to the question, Awolowo denied ever starving the Igbo and he had never asserted during the war that starvation is a legitimate weapon of war as attributed to him by Biko Agozino. Not even Chinua Achebe directly accused Awolowo of genocide against the Igbo since he wrote, "A statement credited to Chief Obafemi Awolowo and echoed by his cohorts is the most callous and unfortunate : All is fair in war, and starvation is one of the legitimate weapons of war. I don't see why we should feed our enemies fat in order for them to fight harder (p.233, There Was a Country)." There is a big difference between A statement credited to Chief Obafemi Awolowo and A statement made by Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Chinua Achebe was conscious of the fact that Awolowo might have been quoted out of context which was why he was very careful to write that the statement was credited to him. That Awolowo was quoted out of context was glaringly exposed in his reply to Oparadike's question in which he stated that, on his visit to the war front he discovered that food sent by the federal government through the Nigerian Red Cross and CARITAS to civilians in Biafra were being hijacked by Biafran soldiers who were not supposed to be fed by the Nigerian government they were fighting. Awolowo's reaction to the kwashiorkor afflicted he saw was not a policy statement directed at civilians in Biafra but against the Biafran soldiers commandeering food reliefs to civilians for themselves. Only a literate oaf will fail to see the logic in the reasoning of Awolowo and interpret it to mean a direct call to starve civilian Igbo to death.

When two opposing Armed Forces, like Nigeria and Biafra soldiers, are at war, there is no international law that compels an opposing combatant to feed the other. A war is not an exchange of bread and butter between the combatants but exchange of fire. Awolowo was not the head of the federal government during the war and because he was not a military man, his influence on the military operation at the war front was zero. In fact he was not the only civilian in the government of Yakubu Gowon since it contained, Joseph Tarka, Okoi Arikpo, Anthony Enahoro, Samuel G. Ikoku and the Administrator of the Liberated part of East Central State, Anthony Ukpabi Asika. I am very curious to know from Biko Agozino if the civilian Igbo in Gowon's government were also guilty of genocide against the Igbo people.

Concluding, Biko Agozino should know that many Nigerians were opposed to the Biafra/Nigeria war. Those who joined the Biafran Army with the hope to use it to fight a liberation war against the reactionaries in Nigeria, like Victor Banjo, Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Philip Alale and Sam Agbmamuche paid dearly with their lives. After the end of the war the reactionaries re-united and Dr. Alex Ekwueme of the Jewish tribe of Nigeria served as the vice President under a descendant of Usman Dan Fodio, President Shehu Shagari. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was pardoned by Shagari and on returning to Nigeria he joined Shagari led party, the NPN. While the soldiers he recruited to fight his Katangese war of secession laid under the bridge to beg for alms to survive, Ojukwu applied and received pension from the Nigerian Army as Lieutenant Colonel, the rank the bearded Tshombe held in the Nigerian Army before his rebellion. Today Nigerian masses regardless of religion and ethnicity are suffering from impoverishments imposed by the same leaders who claim to represent them in their various offices on ethnic and religious basis. It is, therefore, time for Nigerian intellectuals to move from the lazy rhetoric of religion and ethnicity to the rhetoric of competence and service delivering stewardships to all Nigerian citizens.

S. Kadiri

Från: 'Biko Agozino' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Skickat: den 17 december 2018 15:06
Till: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Ämne: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Biodun Jeyifo: The Fusion of Falsehood and Truth

Biko Agozino

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Dec 18, 2018, 5:31:14 PM12/18/18

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Al Kadir

The book is not haram. There is a link to a print copy of Achebe's lecture that you will find in my blog post. Read it now before inventing what you think that Achebe said. Have you read it? Also if you fail to understand what Achebe wrote in that lecture, search for his interview on that essay. It is a disservice to deny the eminent Jeyifo the privilege of internal criticism. No one is above criticism.

Biko

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

Salimonu Kadiri

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Dec 19, 2018, 2:12:39 PM12/19/18

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Agozino the chief priest of Okija shrine!

If the book is not haram as suggested by you, I wonder : why has the book hitherto failed to make electricity bring light to Nigeria (abi darkness no be haram?)?; why has the book hitherto failed to produce iron and steel in Ajaokuta?; why has the book failed to produce fuel at the four oil refineries situated in Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Warri?; why has the book failed to pump potable water for Nigerians to drink?; why has the book made some Nigerian officials, who neither own factories nor manufacture goods for sales, dollar millionaires?; and if the book is not haram in Nigeria, how can it be possible for any educated Nigerian to define genocide as when someone says food shall not be sent to feed opposing soldiers so as not to enable them fight harder? The onus of proof that Awolowo committed genocide against the Igbo, during Nigeria/Biafra war and how he executed it, is on you.

S. Kadiri

Från: 'Biko Agozino' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Skickat: den 18 december 2018 23:18
Till: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Ämne: Re: SV: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Biodun Jeyifo: The Fusion of Falsehood and Truth

Assensoh, Akwasi B.

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Dec 19, 2018, 2:12:47 PM12/19/18

to dialogue, Toyin Falola, Akwasi Osei, and...@southernct.edu, Dawn, Amoah-Ramey, Nana Abena Dansowaa, ovau...@bowdoin.edu, Afoaku, Osita, Godwin Ohiwerei, afaug...@yahoo.com, noahk...@gmail.com

Congrats, BJ!

Congratulations to our Venerable BJ on the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) honor! Of what I have heard from many, he deserved the honor!!

Of course, the brief but biting sentence below, from our big Brother and Comrade BJ, did remind me of the time (in the mid-1980s) that he "attacked" our panel

at an Ohio State University (OSU) conference. Professor (Nana) Ali A. Mazrui, of blessed memory, chaired our panel; we thought that we did our level best in our

contributions. In the end, BJ, sitting very quietly in the audience, said he had a contribution to make from his seat: He told us that our discussions (or contributions)

were OK, but that they lacked traction, adding that they had no "coherent ideology"! Professor Mazrui's witty response helped us, the younger scholars on the panel,

as the Mwalimu said to BJ: "As panelists, we were not speaking as ideologues"

When we ended our panel discussions, I went to three astute scholars to find out more about BJ: Professor Abiola Irele, of blessed memory, in his usual Pan-French

directness told me that BJ meant well, and that he was a wonderful scholar as well as human being. He added: "In fact, BJ was the best man at my wedding back in Nigeria."

Next, I went to my own Ghanaian compatriot, Professor Akwasi Osei of Delaware State University, who echoed the words of Professor Irele: That BJ, as one of his intellectual mentors,

was a great scholar and a wonderful human being! Finally, I went to then Dean Isaac Mowoe of OSU: He also said, similarly, that BJ was a wonderful scholar and a wonderful human being!

Therefore, I thought hard and, as a budding scholar, said to myself: "Maybe, I should add some ideology to my scholarship!" It seems, from the words below, that the older dear Comrade BJ

gets, the tougher he gets with his words. Of course, when I met him at Indiana University, on his official visit, he was such a nice person. "I told you so!" Professor Irele

reiterated.

And, in the words of VC Alukjo: There you have it!

A.B. Assensoh.

---------------

Silence, leavened by compassion, is the best response to a fool and a madman.

BJ

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2018 2:31 AM
To: dialogue

OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

unread,

Dec 19, 2018, 2:51:55 PM12/19/18

to usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Thanks again Alagba Kadiri for this painstaking trawling through the facts.

We have been here before. I wish Biko Agozino would not continue to drag his intellectual credentials through the mud by revisiting this better forgotten issue and let Igbo everywhere in Nigeria continue to be Nigerians and not failed Biafrans. No genocide reparations will come because Igbo were never Jews and the Jews don't recognize them as their brethren.

I wish a well placed Jewish national will make a definite statement on some Igbo trivializing the Hlocaust by debasing it with a comparison with the first Nigerian Civil War and categorize it as antisemitism. If not Boko Harams will sometime in the future declare their semitic credentials and ask for reparations from the Nigerian federal government for genocide against them when the facts are that they are the killers.

OAA

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------

From: Salimonu Kadiri <ogunl...@hotmail.com>

Date: 18/12/2018 22:03 (GMT+00:00)

To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Subject: SV: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Biodun Jeyifo: The Fusion ofFalsehood and Truth

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Since the music of Nigeria/Biafra war stopped on January 15, 1970, but some dumb and deaf are still dancing to the music of war, I hereby substitute Jeyifo's Truthful Lie by Biko with Agozino's Mythical Lie.

In his acceptance speech of honorary degree by OAU-Ife, Biodun Jeyifo made mention of late Chinua Achebe in this manner, "In 1984, Chinua Achebe was given this same degree, the first and public intellectual to be given the degree by OAU-Ife. …//… Achebe demonstrated the wisdom of the decision by delivering a Convocational Lecture titled 'The Truth of Fiction' that is simply one of his best essays and certainly a tour de force of insight and eloquence." For mentioning Achebe's name, even in a positive way, Biko Agozino saw Biodun Jeyifo firing rockets against Biafra. Biko Agozino said, "... Achebe was not really talking about Truth and Falsehood but about 'good and evil.' He spoke in a University named after a genocidist intellectual (three years after Achebe's lecture there) who, the year before Achebe gave his lecture, publicly defended his wartime assertion that starvation is a legitimate weapon of war." Whereas Biodun Jeyifo who was present when Chinua Achebe delivered his Lecture at OAU-Ife in 1984 said it was titled "The Truth and Fiction" mythical liar, Biko Agozino is making readers to believe that Biodun Jeyifo said that Achebe's Lecture was about Truth and Falsehood. Biko Agozino who was not present when Chinua Achebe delivered the Convocational Lecture at OAU-Ife in 1984 is now telling us that Achebe's lectured about 'good and evil.' Biko Agozino invented his own topic and credited it to Achebe in order to arrive at his mythical genocide committed against the Igbo during the civil war. It is remarkable that when Achebe lectured at Ife in 1984, the name of the institution of learning was University of Ife and not Obafemi Awolowo University-Ife, a change of name that was effected after Awolowo's death. Therefore, Achebe had no reason to protest against the renaming of the University after 'a genocidist intellectual,' Awolowo, a change of name that was not even contemplated at the time of Achebe's lecture in 1984 because Awolowo was still alive, as Biko Agozino would want us to believe.

Biko Agozino tacitly accused Awolowo as having "publicly defended his wartime assertion that starvation is a legitimate weapon of war." What was the source of Biko's information that Awolowo publicly defended his wartime assertion that starvation is a legitimate weapon of war? That question was answered by Biko Agozino thus, "A journalist, Mr. Oparadike, had asked Awolowo during his 1983 Presidential campaign town hall press conference if he was prepared to address the concerns of those who felt aggrieved by the policy statement 13 years after the end of the war when the gruesomeness of the genocide was no longer in doubt? Awo said that he still stood by his statement and that he was indifferent to those who disagreed with him." Unconscious of his malicious and dishonest distortion of Mr. Oparadike's question to Awolowo, Biko Agozino gave the link to the interview published in the Nigeria Village Square of 7 October 2012 as follows : www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/obafemi-awolowo-archives/exclusive-chief-obafemi-awolowo-on-biafra-in-his-own-words.html

Since the interview was not an audio/video transcript, one can easily dismiss it as not being genuine, but that would be like falling as a prey into the trap of the mythical liar, Biko Agozino. Contrary to Agozino's distortion of the question Oparadike asked Awolowo here follows what the village square link revealed under the subtitle, Civil War, "Question: Chief Awolowo, your stand on the civil war, however unpopular it may have been to the Biafran people … Your stand on the civil war, however unpopular it may have been to the Biafrans or Ibo people, helped to shorten the war. Today, you're being cast as the sole enemy of the Ibo people because of that stand, by among others, some of the people who as members of the federal military government at that time, were party to that decision and are today, in some cases, inheritors of power in one Nigeria which that decision of yours helped to save. How do you feel being cast in this role, and what steps are you taking to endear yourself once again to that large chunk of Nigerians who feel embittered?" I have quoted Oparadike's question as written by the village square without adding or subtracting anything and as everyone can see, Oparadike did not ask Awolowo if he initiated a policy of genocide against the Igbo which, as at the time of the interview, was still known as Ibo. Awolowo's reply to Oparadike's question was lengthy but I will try to bring out relevant excerpts from his reply.

Under Starvation Policy as NVS titled it, Awolowo said, "Then, but above all, the ending of the war itself that I'm accused of starving Ibos, I did nothing of sort. You know, shortly after the liberation of these places, Calabar, Enugu and Port Harcourt, I decided to pay a visit. …//… But when I went what did I see? I saw the kwashiorkor victims. If you see a kwashiorkor victim you'll never like war to be waged. Terrible sight, in Enugu, in Port Harcourt, not many in Calabar but many in Enugu and Port Harcourt. Then I enquired what happened to the food we are sending to the civilians. WE WERE SENDING FOOD THROUGH THE RED-CROSS AND CARITAS TO THEM, but what happened was that THE VEHICLES CARRYING THE FOOD WERE ALWAYS AMBUSHED BY THE SOLDIERS. That's what I discovered, and the food would then be taken to the soldiers to feed them, and so they were able to continue to fight. And I said, that was a dangerous policy, WE DIDN'T INTEND THE FOOD FOR SOLDIERS. But who will go behind the line to stop the soldiers from ambushing the vehicles that were carrying food? And as long as soldiers were fed, the war will continue, and who 'll continue to suffer? And those who didn't go to the place to see things as I did, you remember that all the big guns, all the soldiers in the Biafran Army looked all well-fed after the war, it's only the mass of the people that suffered kwashiorkor." From his reply to the question, Awolowo denied ever starving the Igbo and he had never asserted during the war that starvation is a legitimate weapon of war as attributed to him by Biko Agozino. Not even Chinua Achebe directly accused Awolowo of genocide against the Igbo since he wrote, "A statement credited to Chief Obafemi Awolowo and echoed by his cohorts is the most callous and unfortunate : All is fair in war, and starvation is one of the legitimate weapons of war. I don't see why we should feed our enemies fat in order for them to fight harder (p.233, There Was a Country)." There is a big difference between A statement credited to Chief Obafemi Awolowo and A statement made by Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Chinua Achebe was conscious of the fact that Awolowo might have been quoted out of context which was why he was very careful to write that the statement was credited to him. That Awolowo was quoted out of context was glaringly exposed in his reply to Oparadike's question in which he stated that, on his visit to the war front he discovered that food sent by the federal government through the Nigerian Red Cross and CARITAS to civilians in Biafra were being hijacked by Biafran soldiers who were not supposed to be fed by the Nigerian government they were fighting. Awolowo's reaction to the kwashiorkor afflicted he saw was not a policy statement directed at civilians in Biafra but against the Biafran soldiers commandeering food reliefs to civilians for themselves. Only a literate oaf will fail to see the logic in the reasoning of Awolowo and interpret it to mean a direct call to starve civilian Igbo to death.

When two opposing Armed Forces, like Nigeria and Biafra soldiers, are at war, there is no international law that compels an opposing combatant to feed the other. A war is not an exchange of bread and butter between the combatants but exchange of fire. Awolowo was not the head of the federal government during the war and because he was not a military man, his influence on the military operation at the war front was zero. In fact he was not the only civilian in the government of Yakubu Gowon since it contained, Joseph Tarka, Okoi Arikpo, Anthony Enahoro, Samuel G. Ikoku and the Administrator of the Liberated part of East Central State, Anthony Ukpabi Asika. I am very curious to know from Biko Agozino if the civilian Igbo in Gowon's government were also guilty of genocide against the Igbo people.

Concluding, Biko Agozino should know that many Nigerians were opposed to the Biafra/Nigeria war. Those who joined the Biafran Army with the hope to use it to fight a liberation war against the reactionaries in Nigeria, like Victor Banjo, Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Philip Alale and Sam Agbmamuche paid dearly with their lives. After the end of the war the reactionaries re-united and Dr. Alex Ekwueme of the Jewish tribe of Nigeria served as the vice President under a descendant of Usman Dan Fodio, President Shehu Shagari. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was pardoned by Shagari and on returning to Nigeria he joined Shagari led party, the NPN. While the soldiers he recruited to fight his Katangese war of secession laid under the bridge to beg for alms to survive, Ojukwu applied and received pension from the Nigerian Army as Lieutenant Colonel, the rank the bearded Tshombe held in the Nigerian Army before his rebellion. Today Nigerian masses regardless of religion and ethnicity are suffering from impoverishments imposed by the same leaders who claim to represent them in their various offices on ethnic and religious basis. It is, therefore, time for Nigerian intellectuals to move from the lazy rhetoric of religion and ethnicity to the rhetoric of competence and service delivering stewardships to all Nigerian citizens.

S. Kadiri

Från: 'Biko Agozino' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Skickat: den 17 december 2018 15:06
Till: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Ämne: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Biodun Jeyifo: The Fusion of Falsehood and Truth

Michael Afolayan

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Dec 19, 2018, 4:44:37 PM12/19/18

to dialogue, Toyin Falola, Akwasi Osei, and...@southernct.edu, Dawn, Amoah-Ramey, Nana AbenaDansowaa, ovau...@bowdoin.edu, Afoaku, Osita, Godwin Ohiwerei, afaug...@yahoo.com, noahk...@gmail.com

Folks -

I think Prof. Jeyifo's rebuttal put a nail on the coffin of the dispute and I hope it is buried forever. Congratulations are in order on a long overdue confinement of the honorary doctorate degree.

And BTW, I took a front row seat (not "a front roll"*).

Michael

===

On Wednesday, December 19, 2018, 1:16:41 PM CST, Assensoh, Akwasi B. <aass...@indiana.edu> wrote:

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