The Nation newspaper’s well-known columnist, Sam Omatseye, has drawn criticisms after he wrote an article considered by some as belittling the amazing literary works of foremost novelist, Chinua Achebe.

Some have also faulted the columnist for delivering a verdict suggesting Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka is greater than Mr. Achebe.
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In his Monday column, Mr. Omatseye, who heads the paper’s Editorial Board, did what seems a scathing review of Mr. Achebe’s literary legacy, saying Things Fall Apart, the writer’s most famous novel, is big in ideology but lacking in literary essence.

He faulted arguments by Mr. Achebe’s fans that he was more deserving of the Nobel Prize than Mr. Soyinka, saying the Nobel Laureate churned out a deeper and more elegant body of work.

“Achebe was a good story teller, so was my grandmother,” Mr. Omatseye said of the novelist who passed away barely a week ago in Boston, Massachusetts. “Turning from a raconteur to an art of sublimity and depth belongs to the masters. He was described as a great writer but not a great artist.”

“So he wrote good works, not great works, not textured by deeper insights that you would see in better accomplished works,” he continued. “Those who read TFA (Things Fall Apart) like clockwork may be put off by some of Soyinka’s opus. So they should not obsess out of ignorance. They should read first. If you knock Soyinka on obscurity, you have a right. But high art is not always easy to understand. Those who claim to enjoy TFA cannot write a literate essay on the book and why it is high art.”

Expectedly, Mr. Omatseye’s remarks have sparked debates among writers and drawn immediate fury from Mr. Achebe’s fans.
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Popular literary critic, IkhideIkheloa, who posted the controversial article on his Facebook page, was first to launch an attack on Mr. Omatseye. “You read semi-literate crap like this by this Sam Omatseye guy, you endure the grammatical challenges and the awful logic and your heart stops with shame and embarrassment – for the author,” Mr. Ikheloa commented below the post.

“I mean, this man wrote this stuff, read it to himself, patted himself on the back and hit “SEND.” What is wrong with this man? Where do you begin to correct the glaring inaccuracies in this drivel? Why should you? I mean, where in the name of serious scholarship do you begin to compare Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe? Who does that? And to what purpose? They are two different spirits on many levels.”

Literature professor, and renowned columnist, Okey Ndibe, who also commented on Facebook, called Mr. Omatseye’s remarks a “simplistic binary notion that Soyinka’s greatness is conditional on the (attempted) miniaturizing of Achebe–or vice versa”.

“Yet, intelligent people–and especially aesthetes–ought to know that many extraordinary writers can (and do) coexist within the same nation-space. They also know how futile it is, in the end, to attempt a ranking of amazing literary talents whose primary genres are so different–to say nothing of their temper, reach, focus, and linguistic styles. Sam is not a new comer to this inelegant game of Achebe-bashing.”

Mr. Achebe’s death, which came after what the family said was a brief illness, unlocked an outpouring of reverence and emotions from around the world- almost unprecedented for any Nigerian literary export. His book, Things Fall Apart, more than any other indigenous African work, is reputed for opening the eyes of the world to the real fabric of a continent that struggled with colonialism and remained haunted by it.

But at home, Mr. Achebe’s death again proved a fresh opportunity for his critics to take another haunting look at his work. Criticism of the late writer’s work was initially sparked last year after the release of his last book, There Was Country, which captured his civil war experience.

In the memoir published in 2012, Mr. Achebe claimed the Igbos were victims of genocide and blamed the late Yoruba leader, Obafemi Awolowo, for masterminding the civil war policy that starved several thousands to death.

That comment, among others, stirred bitter altercations between many Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani intellectuals on one hand and their Igbo counterparts on the other.
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Since his death however, only a few critics have publicly criticized Mr. Achebe. While a Bayero University, Kano, English and French professor, Ibrahim Bello-Kano, lambasted Mr. Achebe for all his works including “There Was a Country” which he referred to as “Achebe’s most inferior work“, Mr. Omatseye limited his concern to his most popular book, Things Fall Apart.

Mr. Omatseye said the book proved its little literary worth by repeatedly failing to win the Nobel.

“How come the father of African literature did not win the preeminent prize? First, TFA was a great book not because of its literary properties but because of its ideological potency,” he said. “The Nobel Prize does not go to a novelist whose work is signposted by sociological fixations supplanting narratives with long pages of how Igbo villages are organized.”

“Did he succeed by using the language as a tool of subversion? Hardly. He wrote about the assertion of local pride, which was hardly original. But it was a counter-narrative, and it was done with gusto and minimal dexterity, and that was enough for them. They (The West) were amazed at the manipulation of proverbs and other manifestations of local colour. But the proverbs were never original, just like many of the proverbs in Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not To Blame.[/b]

Mr. Globe:
what do you expect from someone who works for Tinubu and one who is the editor for the most rretarded and disorganized newspaper in Nigeria. This was the same person that wrote against mama HIV awolowo for calling Tinubu a fraudster he is.
For the fact that this fool called the Nobel prize the preeminent prize in literature shows that he lacks any basic knowledge and information in the field and may well be another certificate forger like his master Tinubu
Well Mr. Sam your grandmother may be a good storyteller but while she died in obscurity and irrelevancy like you will, Achebe sold multi million copies of his stories, more than any African. Dined with world leaders with his stories, had his stories told in major languages in the world, had his stories become part of school curricula world over. Stay here and be feeding crumbs from Tinubu your pay master.

Eko Ile:



Damn!!! Why is Tinubu always you clowns first line of defense? You clowns are so pathetic it's unbelievable? We are talking about Sam and this clown went on a rampage blowing Tinubu's name non stop?


I bet you see Tinubu in your dreams? I bet you'd love to make love to Tinubu. I bet Tinubu's love is shacking you like crazy, I bet you can't get him out of your mind.


This is so gayish I swear. lmao

Mr. Globe:

haha, make love to Tinubu. If he appears in any of my dreams, am booking an early morning appointment with my pastor the day. wait until I upload his dirty face. Don't worry, nobody is sharing Tinubu with you. go on with what you do best, feasting on his balls. [b]Tinubu [/b]gave us a retard like Sam, gave him the opportunity to write thrash like this to please him so he has to answer for that.

Eko Ile:


Who are you fooling? If I say good morning to you, na Tinubu's name you go shout back like robot. Obviously, the man's name means a lot to you Even in unrelated topics, it's still Tinubu's name you shout like hallelujah. You are not even talking about the writer gan sef, instead it's the same obsession with Tinubu. Is the article about Tinubu?


It's even sad and pathetic that you keep and look at his pictures for your pleasure....SMH.


Your undying love and affection for the man is just too obvious..

Mr. Globe:
what do you expect from someone who works for Tinubu and one who is the editor for the most rretarded and disorganized newspaper in Nigeria. This was the same person that wrote against mama HIV awolowo for calling Tinubu a fraudster he is.
For the fact that this fool called the Nobel prize the preeminent prize in literature shows that he lacks any basic knowledge and information in the field and may well be another certificate forger like his master Tinubu.
Well Mr. Sam your grandmother may be a good storyteller but while she died in obscurity and irrelevancy like you will, Achebe sold multi million copies of his stories, more than any African. Dined with world leaders with his stories, had his stories told in major languages in the world, had his stories become part of school curricula world over. Stay here and be feeding crumbs from Tinubu your pay master.

Emperor_007: Why is it always a Yoruba person, what would want to deceive people by trying to rubbish the achievement of someone, who's a million times better than him/her?


If not that, they would pull up fake information and data just to make a deceitful point, why always them?




.

yuzedo: Fucktardity instigated by primordial jealousy!

Achebe's Things Fall Apart is in the 100 Greatest Books of all Times.

Beat that... OF ALL TIMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You must be mad not to respect that feat ma nuqqa!

yuzedo: Fucktardity instigated by primordial jealousy!

Achebe's Things Fall Apart is in the 100 Greatest Books of all Times.

Beat that... OF ALL TIMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You must be mad not to respect that feat ma nuqqa!

Mr. Globe:

its a case of hand of Esau voice of Jacob. Who is Sam working for? Tinubu. Whose interest is Sam protecting? Tinubu. Who was the reason Sam came under heat for insulting awo's wife? Tinubu. Who owns the mind of Sam? Tinubu. Who takes the blame for his bullshhit? Tinubu