Encomium
True to their words, three of the most respected families failed to show up at the Centenary awards in Abuja today.
Prof. Wole Soyinka, and the families of late Chief Gani Fawehinmi and Mrs.Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti shunned the ceremony honouring 100 Nigerians on the occasion of our 100 years as an amalgamated nation.
They had earlier stated their grievances on why it was impossible for them to stand on the same podium with some of Nigeria’s dictators and how some wrongs needed attention before such an honour will become acceptable.
However, Prof. JP Clark, 80, a playwright, poet and novelist,was at the ceremony to pick up his own award.
Prof. Soyinka,winner of 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, was far away from the venue. So were the families of Chief Fawehinmi, legal luminary, activist and philanthropist and Mrs. Ransome-Kuti, activist and teacher.
