AKINWUNMI ISOLA (Nigeria)

By O Bolaji

The Yorubas, essentially based in west Africa and ( also around the world), run into millions. The people are noted for their "pride", innovative mien, their hospitable nature,  their industry and their general broad-mindedness.

Yorubas  point to the many  greats they have produced over the years, with the pioneering chief Obafemi Awolowo eg credited with establishing the first t.v. station in Africa, the first skyscraper in west Africa (Cocoa House) etc...More pertinently in the sphere of arts and culture, Wole Soyinka another Yorubaman became the first African to garner the Nobel Award for Literature.

 It does seem rather "cruel " that Akinwunmi Isola, a great writer in the Yoruba language, has just died following on the heels of the distinguished Adebayo Faleti who died  a few months ago - another celebrated writer in the Yoruba language. 

Of course both writers (Faleti and Isola) followed on the heels of the nonpareil Yoruba writer, D.O Fagunwa who continues to be recognised as the original patron-saint of Yoruba creative writing and literature. The recently deceased Akinwunmi Isola was an international academic to boot , who lectured in north American universities, pushing Yoruba literature and sociology to the fore.

Isola was of course revered in the teeming, vibrant Yoruba community as writer, playwright, academic and a pillar of the society. For decades, his celebrated plays  - like Efunsetan Aniwura, and Ole Ku have been put on stage, on tv etc. He has spurred and encouraged other writers, and his passing has been a painful one. 

Henry Ozogula, a young Nigerian aficionado of literature says: "This is another terrible loss in the niche of literature. I do not know the Yoruba language or its intricacies but I do know that the late Isola was a great writer who also wrote wonderful essays in the English language. I celebrate and respect all African writers, hence I realise only too well that this is another dismal exit"