It was soon time to go for the Inauguration Ceremony at the Cultural Centre in the town. That was when Kongi reminded Kunle of his role as one of the readers at the event. And when Kunle told him that he would be reading from Soyinka’s Ake, Kongi had responded; “I was looking forward to your reading from your book ‘Jailed For Life’. It will be nice to hear a former prisoner recounting his experience’’. And as we all laughed at the joke, Kunle quickly retorted; ‘’but sir, you were there before me’’.

“ I was never jailed, just put in a long drawn detention whereas in your case, you were a condemned prisoner’’ came Kongi’s response amidst another bout of laughter.

As we all laughed at the joke, I quietly informed another guest that from the calibre of the writers invited for the occasion, I seemed to be the only one who had not been to detention or jail before to which my friend replied; ‘’You are an ‘aje butter’ (butter fed, mild) writer. You can’t write what will take you to jail. Unfortunately it is too late to do otherwise. Buhari is not in the mood to jail any writer now that he is a born again democrat’’.

And as Kunle and I made our way to board our car for the trip to Kuto Cultural Centre, we saw a familiar figure behind the wheel of a black Land Rover packed in front of the annexe. It was the former Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi who had obviously driven himself all the way from Lagos. Not showing any sign of having just gone through the rigour of a Ministerial screening, Amaechi still looked fresh and in high spirits. Also on ground at the residence was Christopher Okigbo’s daughter, Obiageli, who had come to unveil a room named in her father’s honour as well as being a pioneer Senior Fellow at the residency.

Back in Abeokuta town, we were welcomed to the Kuto Cultural Centre, by a platoon of Pyrates Confraternity members in their traditional black, red and white outfits as they sang and danced to the delight of visitors. This was in addition to another column of traditional dancers at the entrance to the main hall. It soon became obvious that Rotimi Amaechi and this writer were not the only politicians who were taking the weekend off from politics as former Governors Kayode Fayemi, Donald Duke as well as Governors Ibikunle Amosun and Adams Oshiomole soon made their appearances. In his welcome address as the Chief Host, Governor Amosun poked fun at Rotimi Amaechi as he reminded him that even though he had been screened by the Senate, he was yet to be confirmed like Kayode Fayemi as such, he should brace up.

Apart from politicians, students, pyrates, former prisoners and detainees, members of the literati such as Francesca Emmanuel, Promise Okekwe, Kole Omotosho, Odia Ofeimun, Remi Raji, Igoni Barrett, DapoAdeniyi, Jumoke Verissimo and Hakeem Lasisi among others were all there to support their own.

It was a long but fascinating Inauguration made up of speeches, poetry recitations, readings, a film screening as well a performance of excerpts of Wole Soyinka’s Alapata Apata by Tunde Awosanmi before Governor Adams Oshiomole did the informal presentation of Kong’s latest book; ‘The Republic Of Liars’.

In his closing remarks, Prof Soyinka expressed his happiness at the fact that many Writers Residencies were coming up in the country around the same time. These were Wale Okediran’s Ebedi Residency in Iseyin, Oyo State; Femi Osofisan’s Residency in Ibadan as well as J P Clarke’s Residency in Kiagbodo, Delta State.

Annexe for junior fellows:
“Kunle and I were still a few metres from the entrance to Kongi’s residence when we saw the Nobel Laureate coming out of a building which turned out to be the residential annexe for the junior fellows…All in all, there were five bedrooms in the annexe for the Junior Fellows. According to Prof Soyinka, one of the highlights of the residency is for the Junior Fellows to be mentored by the Seniors who will be quartered in the main house.”

And as I came to the end of the refreshing weekend with one of the greatest living writers in the world, I counted myself lucky of such a worthy company. In the past, some of my literary weekends spent with the likes of Anton Chekhov, Kwame Nkrumah and Winston Churchill to mention just a few had been done post humously through their books. As a recorder of men and events, I consider spending another literary weekend with a living legend a rare honour. I admit that I wasn’t doing anything original only following in the footsteps of some of the masters; the storytellers, dreamers and thinkers who as life’s legendary witnesses have witnessed and recorded far greater events. Their names come to mind, Plato, Dante, D. H. Lawrence, Leo Tolstoy, Chinua Achebe, Abubakar Imam to name just a few. Having set the pace, their fame has become inseparable from civilization’s glory despite the fact that the bond between writer and society seems to fade with each passing year. Our duty therefore as legatees of this ancient craft is to refreshen the bond by dreaming, wandering and recording society as it is.

The sun was still up when I finally took my leave of this remarkable and respected writer. And as my taxi drove out of the Cultural Centre, Kuto, in the Saturday sunshine, I looked back to see him standing, talking, gesticulating in his trade mark fashion. He stood there in the warm glows of the daylight, slim, ram rod straight, his white fluffy mane shining in the sun like a famous statue with all the aura of a man who has lived to tell his tale.

Okediran, a Medical Doctor, is a former National President, Association Of Nigerian Authors and former Member, House Of Representatives, Abuja. He founded the Ebedi International Writers Residency, Iseyin Oyo State in 2010.