By Nehru Odeh
Professor Niyi Osundare, world-renowned poet, writer, scholar, columnist, essayist and playwright has said his right to freedom of movement has been breached.
The Distinguished Emeritus Professor of English, University of New Orleans, United States, made this disclosure at the 2nd Annual Niyi Osundare Colloquium organized by the Ekiti State chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors with the support of the Ekiti State government.
The event, which was held at the Main Auditorium of the Ekiti State University on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, also coincided with his 78th birthday. Professor Adebayo Lamikanra delivered the colloquium lecture titled “The Role of the Writer in a Society in Need of Social Re-Engineering.
Osundare made this statement against the backdrop of recent kidnappings and abductions across the country. The Distinguished Emeritus Professor of English lamented that his movement had been restricted and he had not been able to travel to Ekiti State his birthplace since 2019 because of a monster called kidnapping that had taken over the country.
“Let me begin by saying that this is a moment of homecoming for me. And I’m talking with all seriousness. I haven’t been to this part of our country since 2019. 2020, COVID. I couldn’t even come to Nigeria. And as COVID was receding, a monster called adoption and kidnapping replaced it. It became difficult for me to travel even When I was in Nigeria. And I was restricted to Ibadan.
“Even in Ibadan city, I made sure that at 7 o’clock in the evenings I was already at home. Because quite a number of my colleagues were being kidnapped. Those of them who survived the stories they gave us made us more frightened.
“This is the kind of hardship our country imposes on us. When people say Osundare is a political writer I said thank you. I embraced it. This is the kind of thing Professor Lamikanra was talking about. While it was so important to re-engineer – he was using the word rearrange- this country. It is affecting everything that we do,” Osundare lamented.
The multiple award-winning poet also used the opportunity to express his appreciation to those who made it possible for him to be in his place of birth. “I owe a mountain of gratitude to those who have conspired to make this occasion happen,” he said.
“I was able to make it here this time around because a friend and .a brother and a comrade by the name of Babafemi Ojudu said we’re going to make it happen. The Ekiti State chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors also said yes it is going to make it happen. But it was through the agency of Babafemi that we got the necessary contacts.
“And I want to thank the Ekiti State government, particularly our governor for making it possible for me to make it here. And it was important. It was compulsory. But it was also uncomfortable for me, being surrounded by policemen in my own country to avoid the danger and the tragedy of my being kidnapped.
“Nigeria 2025. No country allows that kind of thing to happen. I have no freedom of movement. And so many millions of us have been deprived of this. It was the day before yesterday they picked me up. All the way from Ado Ekiti here to Ibadan came to my door and through the terrible roads, we got here.
“I was feeling the bumps of the roads. Thank good my old lower back survived it. But I also felt at peace because I didn’t have to look left and right whether gunmen with AK-47s were coming. That is how to live in a prison. Our country, Nigeria today is a prison for many of us. Maybe I shouldn’t say all of us because those in positions of power are out of it,” Osundare maintained.