Why I support Biafra - Wole Soyinka

As he celebrates his 82nd birthday, there are many things we do not know

about Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, here are some of them.
However, there is something we do know. He is Pro-Biafra. He recently
explained why he supports the struggle of the Igbo people for Biafra.
Soyinka said the Igbo people have been so wronged that they have no choice
than to consider opting out of Nigeria.
While speaking to Al Jazeera, yesterday, Thursday, July 14, he shed light on
his support for Biafra agitators.
“I am very much pro-Biafra because I recognise that the Igbo have been
wronged desperately. They have been brutalised in a way that justifies their
feeling that they were not part of the nation.
Let me also say this, Biafrans are not entirely innocent in this affair. They
were not, but the unleashing of such venom, such devastation on them as a
people, was sufficient to justify their decision not to be part of the nation. I
was pro-Biafran in the sense that I felt that they needed justice.”
While denying the accusations that he was a troublemaker, especially in the
Biafran crisis, he also added:
“I grew up in certain circumstances being very conscious politically, in this
very Abeokuta; my mother was involved in the politics, my aunt, Mrs.
Funmilayo Ransome Kuti was a leader.
I grew up among political arguments on issues that concern humanity and I
find that basically gravitated towards recognising the basic worth of human
beings.
Something I disagree when they call me a patriot because I don’t agitate on
some certain entity called a nation; I agitate on humanity.”
He then went on to criticise the removal of History and teaching of the
Biafran crisis in schools.
“Officials do not want to confront their own history, especially the history in
the making of which they feel uncomfortable but, if you do not confront your
past, you are going to mess up your future.”
On Boko Haram and the breakup of Nigeria, he said ironically, Boko Haram
might be part of the reasons Nigeria may stay together.
Meanwhile, one strange thing about Wole Soyinka’s house apart from being
located in a forest in Abeokuta, Ogun state is that he does not allow cars
past a certain point. There are other strange things you should know.