Professor Wole Soyinka, despite not being into real partisan politics, has boldly etched his name into the history books of his cherished home country, the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He has, since his student days, been an active participant in finding, elusive solutions, to the socio-economic and political milieu befuddling the country. By next month, the first African Nobel Laureate will attain the age of 90 on Mother Earth.
The drive to come up with an egalitarian society propelled him and few others to found a societal group devoted to challenging injustice in the territory known as Nigeria.
The story is that in 1952, while pursuing a degree in English literature, Greek, and Western history at University College Ibadan, Soyinka, alongside six others vibrant students, helped found The National Association of Seadogs (popularly known as the Pyrates Confraternity).
They called themselves “The Magnificent Seven” and one of them is Ikpehare Aig-Imoukhuede.
The Pyrates was formed as an anti-corruption, human rights and justice-seeking student organization. They operated via peaceful protests against the government and they held annual colloquia to discuss contemporary issues militating against the country’s development.
Their mission statement was “to uphold human dignity and maintaining a just and progressive society shorn of discriminatory and unmeritorious considerations.”
Membership of the confraternity was open to students who were bright academically, regardless of their tribe or religion.
