Latjorr Ndow: You can have this last word on this one!! Actually, I could
have suppressed/witheld the clarification Professor Karin Barber made the
other day, but, in the name of fairness or fair play, I had to send it to
the L.
My brother, you can elevate Wole Soyinka up to the sky, that's you
prerogative. But for me, he is not fit to be my role model, and honestly, I
do not also rate him at all intellectually vis-a-vis the social sciences I
mean.
In fact, that was an issue in Nigeria itself, some time ago. One of his
professor colleagues had in fact written an interesting scholarly piece,
reminding people, among other things, that Wole Soyinka is/was a literature
person, and not a social scientist!
Anyway, having said that, I must in fact say that Ali Mazrui, in many
people's view, has actually come out clean on this latest dispute, but
knowing how narrow minded some people can be, I had to deliberately
criticise Ali Mazrui as well, because I did not want to be seen to be a
partial journalist - siding, as it were, with Ali Mazrui who coincidently is
a Muslim like myself. I hope people will not misunderstand the point I am
trying to make on this one.
To tell you the truth, I did get a few private e-mails from concerned people
- Christians and Muslims alike - who felt that I had been too harsh on Ali
Mazrui because, despite all the fuss, he has not done anything wrong or
unethical this time around, in their views; that it is in fact Wole Soyinka
who keeps on castigating Ali Mazrui since 1987.
But I told these e-mail writers that I didn't want to be accused of taking
side, hence I had to criticise Ali Mazrui in unequivocal terms as well. And
besides, in reality, his (Ali's) behaviour, or the tone of some of his
(Ali's) letters to Wole, in my honest view, was distasteful as well.
Emmanuel Ndow: Read the piece I wrote again, and you'll see for yourself
that it did say that "Wole Soyinka is a mentor and a good friend of Henry
Louis Gates Jr." I already knew about this and mentioned it in my piece.
Really, the piece I did was based on their own letters to each other, over
the period; and I know, for a fact, that I did do a fine job with those
letters.
I hate to say this openly, but the truth of the matter is that both Soyinka
and Mazrui are religious fanatics, if you will, and whether people want to
hear it or not, religious differences (or religious intolerance) have been
one of the root causes of the dispute between the two. My friend, as Matarr
Njie would often call people, you could see this religious factor very
clearly, if you read their letters to each other, from the early 90s to now.
Madiba Saidy: Thanks for the reply. Your efforts are always appreciated, and
may God bless you! I was able to lay hands on most of the articles written
by the two, but I have in fact decided to drop the intended article which I
was going to submit to the L next week. I believe there are more important
issues than this.
Frankly, I do not, any more, have to try and convince anyone about the
childish and personal nature of the debate between the two scholars, because
it is there for anyone who is not blind, to see for himself or herself.
Ebrima Ceesay
PS: I am just reminding some of you that, in actual fact, Wole Soyinka is a
Professor of Literature, not politics, or economics, or sociology or
history. Henry Louis Gates Jr too, despite all the bluff, his educational
background or specialisation is actually English literature.
Yes, he does hold a first degree in history, but he is neither a political
scientist nor a historian. In fact he himself admitted that. I just thought
I should make this observation on the L, and people can then read between
the lines for themselves to try and understand the point I am trying to
make.
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