Soyinka announces forthcoming tract in open letter on Nigeria’s moral crisis

Writer Wole Soyinka has published an open letter responding to a priest who urged him to speak amid what he described as a storm of public commentary about Nigeria. Soyinka said he had already spoken on the issues at the centre of the appeal but chose the open-letter format to make a further intervention ahead of the country’s Independence celebrations. He criticised what he called sectarian and emotionally charged commentary, saying public reactions had distracted from the urgent work of addressing the plight of Nigerian and other migrants in the priest’s current place of residence.

The writer said he regarded truth-telling as a difficult but necessary form of civic responsibility. He rejected the expectation that public figures should respond on demand, stressing his right to decide what, when, how and where he disseminates his ideas. Soyinka also said the pace and form of public intervention should depend on circumstances, including whether a country was at peace or in conflict.

He criticised what he described as “sounding off”, ego-driven commentary and efforts to play to an audience. Addressing the priest, Soyinka said the country was approaching its birthday celebrations and that he would contribute a “birthday present”. He urged the religious ministry to devote attention to what he described as a widespread disorder of moral deficiency.

He called this condition a threat to turning Nigeria into what he termed a “Republic of Liars”. The source material does not identify the specific controversy that prompted the priest’s appeal, but Soyinka referred to defamatory material and public demands for a response. Soyinka said the open letter served as a preface to a longer work, which he promised would appear within weeks.

He described the forthcoming work as connected to a memoir framed as an account of repentance and redemption.