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NA: How immune really are literary and journalistic writers in Nigeria today from governmental sanctions or thuggery against voices raised in condemnation of corruption and the burden of political ineptitude?
LS: Things have improved a great deal. I haven't heard of any raids in the last few years. The problems I think we are encountering now are quite different from what obtained during military rule. There is a strange culture of sycophancy sweeping though the print media. Where you have leaders who are outright failures, you'll be sure to find a journalist who will be talking as if he is the greatest thing since boob jobs. Too many journalists/ writers are too happy to compromise their integrity for a few Naira. Apart from this, the poverty has got so overwhelming that you're more likely to spread a message by going round ringing a bell like the village town-crier. People simply cannot afford to buy newspapers for instance. The other thing is the level of illiteracy, which the government is doing very little about. You'll be amazed how many people have to bank with stamp pads because they can't recognise their own names if it were written on a piece of paper and placed before them.
Journalists and writers aren't under any real threat. Now tell me, is that a good thing or a bad thing?
NA: Are you suggesting it is good for journalists and writers to be under some kind of threat?
LS: Yes in a way, in our context it means the government finds their writings offensive, which also means that it is the truth, it is revealing and of benefit to the people. When as a writer you get a bad reaction from the Nigerian government, you are obviously doing something right.
NA: Would it not just be better to have a government that accepts the truth when it is told, rather than shoot, hang or imprison its writer?
LS: Yes it would be better and we pray that we get to that point. Our leaders are not in the habit of listening to the truth or wise counsel.
NA: While we are on this subject of writers that are also political activists. You wrote a tribute poem to Ken Saro-Wiwa. What does the execution or 'judicial murder' as some of you intellectuals refer to the wasting of Saro-Wiwa, represent for all politically aware young writers?
LS: Hmm. His mother, Jesse, died recently. And I couldn't help but imagine if it was a massive relief for her. It is bad enough when your child dies before you, but to know that he was murdered, made a scapegoat by a bunch of thieving, deranged megalomaniacs must have been eternal torture. May her soul find rest.
Strange you should ask that question because if there's anything that occupies my mind in my quiet moments, it's whether I would be wiling to die for what I believe in. I always wonder if I would renounce my 'cause' if I were faced with the firing squad or the hangman, especially if I got a glimpse of my young children. Would laying down my life as a sacrifice be regarded by some as selfish? Would I be satisfied to die knowing that the mere mention of my name would inspire some and forever cause some people in certain quarters to perspire?
In my opinion, one of the greatest things KSW did for us was to fight the system. He may not have won several of his battles (many are still being fought to date) but the fact that Nigeria is operating a democracy today, as opposed to being run by mindless thugs, means that the overall war has been won. Because of Ken Saro-Wiwa, we don't have to confront some of the dilemmas I mentioned earlier. Bearing this in mind, I hope that more writers will be committed to the truth and that which is just.
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