Prof. Wole Soyinka, the Nobel laureate, gave an explanation on Thursday for his acceptance of the renaming of the National Arts Theatre in Lagos in his honor.
Soyinka claimed that until the Bankers’ Committee’s recent renovation, he had never thought the building could be restored and had thought it was irreparable.
Speaking at the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts’ reopening, he acknowledged that, despite his disapproval of previous leaders who had stolen public monuments, he had mixed emotions about accepting the honor.
I have to take a public stand and see my name listed as another appropriator. For me, it didn’t seem very good,” he said.
He went on to say that if the theater’s dramatic transformation came at the cost of the renaming, he was prepared to “eat his words.”
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