Chronology xxixsuccessful run at the Goodman, production is transferred
to the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC where it is
also well received. Shehu Shagari wins federal elections
and Nigeria returns to civilian rule.
Appointed Visiting Professor, Yale University. Opera
WonyosiandAk ́e, the first part of Soyinka’s autobiogra-
phy, published. Produces satirical revue, “Rice Unlim-
ited” with the Guerrilla Theatre Unit.
Ak ́elaunched at Ak ́e, Abeokuta in January. Soyinka uses
the occasion to lambast the policies of the Shagari gov-
ernment and its “achievements”: the plundering of the
country’s wealth; the massacre of unarmed farmers and
peasants at Bakolori in the North; the subversion of the
Kaduna and Kano state governments controlled by the
People’s Redemption Party (PRP); the destruction of
the offices ofThe Triumphnewspaper owned by the PRP;
the storming of an elected legislature by the paramilitary
detachment of the Nigerian Police Force controlled by
Shagari’s government; the deaths of students, athletes,
members of the National Youth Corps and ordinary citi-
zens at the hands of the police at the innumerable check-
points set up by the government to intimidate and cower
an increasingly restive populace. Late in the yearDie Still,
Dr. Godspeak!, a play on the influence of the quackery
of parapsychologists, astrologers and ‘metaphysicians’ in
Nigeria is broadcast on the African Service of the BBC
World Service.
Production ofRequiem for a Futurologist, stage version of
Die Still, Dr. Godspeak!Soyinka uses countrywide tour of
the production to spread ideas contained in the “Priority
Projects,” a satirical revue attacking corruption, misman-
agement and hypocrisy of the country’s political rulers.
On the eve of the national elections in August, Soyinka
releases the songs from this revue in a record album titled
Unlimited Liability Company; the album takes the country by
storm and is a huge success. Shagari wins the elections
which are marked by massive vote rigging, use of the
armed services of the state to intimidate opposition par-
ties and their supporters, and widespread outbreak of vio-
lent protests and demonstrations. Soyinka flies to London