President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has renamed the National Theatre in Iganmu, Surulere, to the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and the Creative Arts.
Tinubu’s media aide Bayo Onanuga made the announcement in a statement on Friday which coincides with the celebration of Professor Wole Soyinka’s 90th birthday.
He said, Professor Soyinka, the first African to win the Nobel Literature Prize in 1986, deserves all the accolades as he marks the milestone of 90 years on earth.
Tinubu emphasised that Soyinka’s influence extends far beyond literature, touching on his roles as a playwright, actor, poet, human rights and political activist, composer, and singer.
“We do not only celebrate Soyinka’s remarkable literary achievements but also his unwavering dedication to the values of human dignity and justice,” Tinubu said.
“When he turned 80, I struggled to find words to encapsulate his achievements because they were simply too vast. Since then, he has added to his corpus with his series of Interventions, which have been published in many volumes.”
Tinubu highlighted Soyinka’s unwavering commitment to speaking truth to power and fighting for the marginalised, recalling his risks and sacrifices for Nigeria, such as his peace efforts at the start of the civil war in 1967, which led to his detention and subsequent memoir, “The Man Died.”
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