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Proffesor wole soyinka,the nigerian,literary nobel
lauret ,playwright,novelist ,social critic and humanist
whose carrer spans more than three decades is well
known to
be a social crusader and as such such issues like human
rights
civil liberties and even freedom of expression
are
issues where you will find the learned crusader delving
into ,he wrote this book based on his experience during
the
nigerian civil war ,the books interestingly starts with
the
dialogue between him and the then millitary governor of
the
then old
western region region leutenant-general
adekunle
fajuyi , a lively discussion between himself and the
late
solder ,the former
wanted to know how he managed to get
into the premises of the old western regional radio co-
peration and making a pirate broadcast despite the fact
that it was heavily guarded by soldiers armed to the
teeth,and the ensueing developements in the aftermath
of
the western regional election crises ,the
political imbroglio ,the breakdown of law and order in the
wetsern
part of the
country ,the millitary revolution of major
kaduna nzeogwu and his cohorts ,and ironsi,s eventualy
take
over and the present stutus quo.
Interestingly the pendulum of the book swings radicaly
as
the writer himself his suddenly been declared wanted,
things has changed a new
government of reactioneries
have
taken over government in the country and the way and
manner
of their approach has suddenly brought the country to
the
brink of a civil war,adekunle fajuyi and the head of
state
general j.t.u. aguiyi ironsi were both assasinated at a
place called lalupon ,near ibadan ,the capital of the
western state,by northen elements led by the irrascible
muritala muhamed,the writer is now a wanted man ,whose
crime was chiefly his visit to the seeceding
biafra,from
his arrest at ife to his transfer from ibadan to lagos
and
kaduna while in
prison where he stayed till the end of
the
civil war in 1970,his interogation at the hands of
government agents,his interaction with various categories
of the inmates,ranging from political detainies,to
prisoners of war captured on the batlefield,undisciplined
federal troops,the bravery of friends who supplied him with
infor mation about the going ons out side the walls of the
prison,and to his interaction with prison warders, but
perhaps what made the biggest
impression on him was to see the process of
centralisation ,the quota system fully in its growing
stage,but more importantly issues of human rights
abuse,and
freedom of speech were not tolerated and so for him the
tile of the book aptly describes the mood of the
book ,because the man died in him who kept quiet in the
face of oppression,the book sums up the typical african
political terrain where the sit tight syndrome of
clinging
to power has tuurned african polital leaders into
despots
ruling their people with an iron hand not even caring
at
what cost their selfish aims would impart on the
populace
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