“You Must Set Forth At Dawn”
(A book of MEMOIRS of Prof. Wole Soyinka)
An indispensable compelling snippets of Nigerian History for any politician who wishes to understand the behind-the-scene maneuvers of the major events that have struck the nation from independence struggles to the western regional crises, civil war, coups, and counter coups and the major personae- Ironsi, Gowon, Buhari, Babangida, Abacha and Obasanjo, etc.
Sample Excerpts
Pg 19-  On the assassination of M.K.O Abiola, Wole Soyinka received early information from “Longa Throat” an insider informer that the “Important report sent to me today: a notorious gang in the Nigerian army has completed their plan to assassinate Chief M.K.O. Abiola as a final settlement of the ABACHA/ABIOLA WAR in a no victor no vanquished way.
Pg 61- How colonial Britain falsified the Nigerian Census and then rigged elections in favour of the Northern region
Pg 95- How Wole Soyinka defiantly removed the tape of the message the Premier of Western Region Chief Ladoke Akintola and replaced it with his own counter message and then fled to the eastern region for protection.
Pg 128- How Wole Soyinka hid and slept under Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s table to protect the eastern radio transmitter they used for illegal broadcast of election results in the Western region
Pg 129- Chief Awolowo’s life in danger if he refused appointment from General Gowon. Wole Soyinka had asked Awolowo …”Sir I think you’ll agree that Gowon is bound to offer you a cabinet position. Suppose you decide to decline the offer, you realize that your life may be in danger?”
Pg 131- How Ojukwu came to Awolowo in the night “Odumegwu Ojukwu’s mission was unambiguous, Awolowo had said to me “the young man had come to inform me that the East had decided on secession, and that there was no going back”. All that was left was the announcement of a date. He said, “Sir, I have not come to argue, but to inform you, It has been decided”.
Pg 140- Wole Soyinka travelled to the East to persuade Ojukwu to call off the secessionist war. Ojukwu’s Refusal
Pg 141- Wole Soyinka meeting with Victor Banjo, who dislodged the federal forces and forcefully took over administration of the mid west region. Victor Banjo’s real intention was to lead a “liberation army” to “take over Lagos”. He then sent Wole Soyinka a message to Obasanjo who was then the Commanding Officer of the western command to allow him (Banjo and his troops) a free passage through the western region to Lagos. Did Obasanjo agree?
Pg 257- Why did Obasanjo tell Wole Soyinka … “Look Wole, if I wanted to get rid of you, I would put you against a wall and shoot you. But I could never send you to a strange country to be killed or injured…”
Pg 499- Wole Soyinka on the hanging of Ken Saro Wiwa and his colleagues (the Ogoni eight). His desperate overtures to the common wealth conference in Auckland, Australia to appeal to Abacha to stop the hanging had failed. “After the deed, Mandela would give vent to his outrage in those unforgettable words General Sani Abacha is sitting on a volcano and I’m going to make sure that it blows up under him”. 

A Wole Soyinka book is always charged with political dynamite…. Ken SARO-WIWA JNR

Wole Soyinka…,  Opens our eyes to history where it matters most, where the untellable becomes plain. From presentation awarding Soyinka the Nobel Prize for literature in 1986.

Read more in this very interesting historical narrative.
The book is “Powerful and Arresting… should be required reading everywhere”

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