Why I Renamed National Theatre After Wole Soyinka -Tinubu

President Bola Tinubu has named the National Arts Theatre in Iganmu, Lagos, after Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, giving reasons why.

The renaming is coming amidst the 90th birthday anniversary of the Nobel Laureate.

Announcing the renaming in a tribute he wrote to celebrate Professor Wole Soyinka at his birthday, the president said Soyinka deserved all the accolades and recognitions he could get.

“Professor Soyinka, the first African to win the Nobel Literature Prize in 1986, deserves all the accolades as he marks the milestone of 90 years on earth.

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“Having beaten prostate cancer, this milestone is a fitting testament to his ruggedness as a person and the significance of his work.

“It is also fitting we celebrate this national treasure while he is still with us.

“I am, accordingly, delighted to announce the decision of the Federal Government to rename the National Theatre in Iganmu, Surulere, as the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and the Creative Arts.”

“When he turned 80, I struggled to find words to encapsulate his achievements because they were simply too vast.

Since then, he has added to his corpus with his series of Interventions, which have been published in many volumes.

He also described Professor Wole Soyinka as a colossus, “a true renaissance person blessed with innumerable talents. He is a playwright, actor, poet, human rights and political activist, composer, and singer.

“He is a giant best riding not just the literary world but our nation, Africa, and the world,” he averred.

“Beginning from his 20s, he took personal risks for the sake of our nation. His courage was evident when he attempted to broker peace at the start of the civil war in 1967. Detained for two years for his bravery, he narrated his experience in his prison memoir, ‘The Man Died.’

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“Despite deprivation and solitary confinement, his resolve to speak truth to power and fight for the marginalised was further strengthened.

“Our paths crossed during our struggle for the enthronement of democracy in Nigeria following the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election,” Tinubu stated.