Nobel Prize, gbajueists and the peddlers of lamba, by Simbo Olorunfemi

You won’t believe the number of people who believe the lamba about a boycott of the Nobel prize in 1986. The manner in which they have been hawking it around social media for some time now. Another misadventure in gbajue.

Two weeks, one guy brought it to this page to deface a completely unrelated post. The one attached was found on X, and there some were lapping it up. Some took to the new fad of asking Grok for help!

That this even crosses some minds as mildly possible or sensible is a confirmation of the poor state of civic education as we see it in our social spaces.

So, if this was a JAMB Question now, some will actually click YES and then come on X querying their JAMB scores.

Well, for some who might be genuinely ignorant, a few hints.

One doesn’t even understand what was boycotted in the imagination of whoever came up with this fabu. The prize itself or the presentation ceremony?

The Nobel Prizes
I guess these people mistake the Nobel Prize for the awards here and there, perhaps Grammys, Oscars, AMVCA, Headies or these ones that require of nominees to solicit for votes online.

The Nobel Prize was set up furtherance to the instructions in the will left behind by Alfred Nobel, inventor, entrepreneur, scientist and businessman who also wrote poetry and drama, with his varied interests reflected in the Nobel Prizes which he laid foundation for in 1895 in his last will and testament.

His will stated that the prizes should be awarded to “those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind” in the areas of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace, Economics.

Since 1901, the Nobel Prizes have been awarded every year, but for a few, mostly during World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945).

Alfred Nobel designates in his last will and testament the institutions responsible for the prizes he wished to be established with the Swedish Academy for the Nobel Prize in Literature responsible for the Literature Prize.

Winners are adjudged from a pool of nominations from eligible nominators who must fulfil the criteria set out by institutions so designated to award the prizes. Self-nomination is not allowed. It is up to the institutions to make the final decision as to who will receive a Nobel Prize for the particular year. The process is secret and winners only emerge when they are announced.

October, 1986

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1986 was awarded to Wole Soyinka “who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence”

The announcement was made by the Swedish Academy in October 1986:

“This year’s Nobel Prize in literature goes to an African writer, Wole Soyinka from Nigeria. Now in his early fifties, he has a large and richly varied literary production behind him and is in his prime as an author.
…He possesses a prolific store of words and expressions which he exploits to the full in witty dialogue, in satire and grotesquery, in quiet poetry and essays of sparkling vitality.”

That news was greeted with joy and much excitement around the world, especially in Nigeria, being
first black African to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

As always, he was in tune with the moment and the agitation of that time, which was on freedom for Nelson Mandela and an end of the apartheid system in South Africa. Wole Soyinka not only dedicated his Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech to Nelson Mandela, the focus was on the same subject, rounding off on this note:

“And of those imperatives that challenge our being, our presence, and humane definition at this time, none can be considered more pervasive than the end of racism, the eradication of human inequality, and the dismantling of all their structures. The Prize is the consequent enthronement of its complement: universal suffrage, and peace.”

While there is little doubt that his win didn’t sit well in some quarters, with some obviously ridiculous efforts made over the years to discredit or taint this historic achievement with silly tales and cheap fabrications, the prize must go to latter-day gbajueists, fabricators and peddlers of lamba for their wild imagination and extensive capacity to pass off outright lies as scoops, which they carefully feed to an army of ignorant people trapped in bigoted bubbles.

The question of Africa or African writers, who, in the first place, have no business with the process of choice, announcement or presentation of the Nobel Prizes boycotting the Prize/presentation in 1986. The Prize is not open to contest, so no one contested while others boycotted. Winners only emerge based on the choice and decision of the designated awarding institution.

Wole Soyinka was awarded the Prize in 1986 for reasons clearly stated. by the Academy. Those still sore about that can still go to Sweden to protest. I don’t think it’s too late. However, their attempts to falsify history will continue to fall flat on his face. It is a waste of time. Gbajues can only thrive in the community of the gullible.