The message of Ngugi Wa Thiong'o and Obiajunwa Wali on African literature 

Ngugi Wa Thiong'o and Obiajunwa Wali were the only two Africans that really believed in African literature- others are in it for money and fame

Hello brothers and sisters 

I've always wondered the simplest way to explain to Africans the message that Ngugi Wa Thiong'o and Obiajunwa Wali had for us all on African literature. 

I rank this message as one of the most suppressed information hidden away from educated Africans, especially those in literature. 

Other suppressed information to educated Africans in literature include how Britain and the CIA fooled Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe to destroy African languages in literature (this is probably the most suppressed of them all) and how a man named Obiajunwa Wali, just like Ngugi, advocated for the use of African languages in literature. 

You probably haven't heard about Obiajunwa Wali, yet he was the most enlightened post-colonial personality in literature on the African continent. 

If you haven't heard about him, that's because his name and voice have been suppressed because of his energetic defence of African languages in the 1960's. 

For more information about Wali's defence of use of African languages in literature, see the dead end of African literature. Wali wrote that article in 1962, and he accurately predicted that writing in European languages in Africa marked the death of African languages in literature. And he was right!

I think I've finally solved how to pass the message that Ngugi Wa Thiong'o and Obiajunwa Wali had for African people, and in today's article I'll explain their message in a simple way that anybody can understand.

Let's get started!

A day before the news of the departure (not death) of our brother Ngugi Wa Thiong'o broke out, I was listening to the songs of various female African musicians across the African continent.

I listened to the songs of musician, Monique Seka, who's from Ivory Coast. The songs I listened to was "Missounwa." Here is it 

After that, I listened to her other song "Okaman." Here is it 

Then, I moved to Guinea/Mali and listened to the song of Kamaldine, titled "Naderabi."  Here's it 

I moved to Congo and listened to the song of Mbila Bell, titled "Bo ya ye."  Here is it 

Again, in Congo, I listened to the song of Makoma, titled "Butu na moyi." Here's it 

Still in Congo, I listened to the song of Barbara Kanam, titled "Bina malembe." Here's it 

Then I moved to South Africa and listened to the song of Zahara, titled "Loliwe." Here is it 

 And that of another female South African musician named Brenda Fassie, titled "Vulindlela." Here's it 

I branched in Benin Republic and listened to the song of Angelique Kidjo, titled "Agolo." Here's it 

In Nigeria, I listened to the song of Onyeka Onwenu, titled "Ekwe." Here's it 

In Cameroon, I listened to the song of musician Lady Ponce (can't remember the name of the exact song right now) but most of her songs are in her native language anyway.

I listened to more songs by other female musicians around the African continent. 

If you're familiar with the songs of the said musicians, you'll notice that all the mentioned songs I listened to are the ones done in their various native languages. And that's what got me so inspired that I decided to write this article in honor of Ngugi Wa Thiong'o and Obiajunwa Wali.

Somewhere along the line as I sat listening to the songs, I began to cry, I felt so ecstatic of the voices that I began to shed tears. I mean, the said songs are world class and they are made in African languages. 

They're so good that I began to shed tears in ecstasy, knowing that they are product of African languages. 

You may wonder what I was thinking while listening to the songs that got me so ecstatic that I was shedding tears.

It wasn't just the songs alone that got me shedding tears, neither was I thinking about music in Africa. No, I was instead thinking about African literature, African languages, Obiajunwa Wali, Ngugi Wa Thiong'o.

While listening to the songs, I was asking myself; imagine during the colonization of Africa that Europeans imposed their languages on us as the only language to be used to sing all songs in Africa. It means these songs won't have been heard in African languages.

I was thinking; see how beautiful African languages are in songs. Literature is an art just like music, therefore, African languages would be this good too for writing.

I was thinking; but we have lost this type of creativity inspired by our native language in another type of art called literature.

I was thinking; who knows what books and other literary works that we would have produced in our native languages across Africa?

I was thinking; who knows what literary stars and authors would have emerged from native African languages?

I was thinking; this voices were not imported from Europe or America. They're completely a product of the ingenuity of African culture and people, and can compete toe-to-toe with any other singing voice anywhere on planet earth.

I was thinking; this is what Obiajunwa Wali and Ngugi Wa Thiong'o stood for in literature. They advocated till death that literature in Africa should be done in African language.

Those are the type of thoughts that were running through my mind, leading me to shed tears.

The next day, the first news headline I saw was the passing of Ngugi Wa Thiong'o. I immediately remembered what happened a day before and realized I was actually in a telepathic communication with him while listening to the songs. That's probably when he departed and he was thinking the same thoughts as mine till he departed. Ngugi departed thinking about African languages.

Most Africans haven't heard about Obiajunwa Wali in African literature. Wali was the most enlightened post colonial African personality in literature. The only reason you probably haven't heard about him is because he was sidelined by white people as he strongly believed that African literature should be written in an African language. 

He died under mysterious circumstances in the hands of hired killers. His killers have never been caught till today. I believe he was assassinated by the British secret service.

Africans don't understand what Obiajunwa Wali and Ngugi Wa Thiong'o represented for African literature. 

The reason the name of Obiajunwa Wali is suppressed in African literature is because if you know him, you'll understand that the reason we write in European languages in Africa is because we were cheated out of our native language and that Obiajunwa Wali and Ngugi Wa Thiong'o were against it throughout their lifetime. 

Both of them are late now but I want to help keep their message going because they stood for the right thing. Their message must be kept alive until the right thing is done by future generation of Africans. 

Their message was that we Africans must study, speak and write in our own language. We may then translate our books to English and any other language we want. That's the right thing to do, and until we do that, we can't truly call ourselves a free people.

The destruction of our native languages is the worst thing that happened to the African continent after slavery. That's why as a victim of that, I write in English now instead of expressing myself in an African language. For more information, read my book: intellectual slavery, the worst legacy of colonialism. Read the PDF version only. It's free. That's where you'll find all the details.

If you follow this blog and you've already read the said book or you read it later, you'll notice where I said that Europeans would lobby African elites to continue using European languages in Africa any day we want to shift attention to our native languages. 

As at the time I wrote the book in 2017, I thought what I just said above was a prophecy. I didn't know it wasn't a prophecy! I didn't know it already happened!! 

What happened was that after colonialism ended, some intelligent African authors started calling for African languages to be used in literature. 

Sadly, Britain and the CIA sabotaged their effort, they killed the revolution for native African languages in literature and returned us to writing in European language. 

They achieved this by using the CIA to deceive some young post-colonial African authors like Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Christopher Okigbo, Ezekiel Mphalele, and Co. They deliberately misled them by training them in such a way that they despised African languages in literature. For more information, see how Britain and the CIA fooled Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe to destroy African languages in literature.

This is a major event that every African should know. However, in the said book, I didn't talk about it  since I didn't have the details at that time.

Right now, I am working on another book to explain the post colonial lobbying and how Britain and the CIA destroyed African languages in literature. 

My preliminary finding looks like what happened in a movie! It was a thoroughly thought out plot by the CIA and the colonialists that involved deep indoctrination, strong delusion, coercion, deceit, psychological manipulation, deep undercover work, and things of that nature.

That's why I am looking for the families of Obiajunwa Wali and Ngugi Wa Thiong'o. I want to ask them some questions and know whether they have unpublished materials that I may learn one or two things from. 

Obiajunwa Wali and Ngugi Wa Thiong'o are the only two people that you should trust as long as literature is concerned on the African continent but they were sidelined. That's the reason many don't know about Obiajunwa Wali.

Ngugi Wa Thiong'o was fairly known but he was also somewhat sidelined because of his views on African literature. They would have given him the Nobel prize for literature if not that he stood on the side of African people and language.

Should you know the family of any of them, kindly inform them to reach out to me. I am just a blogger of African history and culture and don't have the resources to travel around the African continent looking for them. 

My contact is in the support me page below. 

The book will also be good as a movie. If you can, also help me find someone to make a movie out of the book when it's ready. 

Finally, I currently have a different book that would be good as a documentary (not movie). You'll find more details about that and my contact information on the support me page below.

Should you be interested in similar songs shown earlier, here's 150 records by amazing African women you should listen to, but they're not specifically in native African languages.

FINAL NOTE: my last warning to Africans on language.

Before I leave, let me say that most educated people in third world countries do not understand this message, so they'll ask why I am still writing in English. 

If you're one of those asking such a question, you've missed the point!

Nobody argues that we shouldn't speak English or that English isn't important.

Any language that could be used for wider communication is important. But African languages have what it takes to be that universal language as well.

Why do you want this universal language to be English?

Why don't you want Swahili to be that universal language?

Why don't you want Hausa to be that universal language?

Why don't you want Igbo to be that universal language?

Why don't you want Yoruba or Zulu or Gikuyu to be that universal language?

Etc.

I've heard some people say we have many languages in Africa and that even one of the most widely spoken African languages like Swahili is only spoken in Eastern African. What they don't realise is that if we had paid attention to our native languages, Swahili would have expanded into other parts of Africa. It would actually have been a common language by now.

Yoruba would have expanded into other parts of Africa too.

Hausa would have expanded into other parts of Africa too.

Igbo would have expanded into other parts of Africa too.

If we had taken our native languages seriously since independence, native African languages would have emerged to solve the problem of communication that some of us worry about. Necessity would have caused that to be. 

Don't forget that you as an African is a multilingual being by nature. Your gene is designed to multitask in language as an African! Our ancestors spoke an average of six different languages very fluently. 

One white slave trader, during the Atlantic slave trade, sampled how many languages spoken by some of the slaves on board his ship, and he said that each slave spoke at least six languages very fluently.

If we took our native languags seriously since independence instead of European languages, the most popular African languages would have been studied in schools around Africa today.

If we had paid priority attention to our native languages after independence, at least five native African languages would have emerged as the dominant languages, and they would have been studied in schools in every country around Africa, such that I would communicate with you in Swahili, Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, etc., without needing a European language as the intermediary.

It's because we haven't paid priority attention to our native languages since independence that a common language hasn't emerged. That's why Swahili or Hausa or Yoruba, etc is not spoken throughout Africa the same way Europeans can often communicate themselves in English, French, German, Spanish, etc.

Again, nobody has argued that English should be prohibited. But even if we have to do so, that would still be the right thing to do.

For your information, England was also colonised by Greece, Rome, France, and Scandinavians.

But once they gained their independence, they prohibited Latin, Greek, and other foreign languages to save their native English language, starting from 1348. That's the year English became the official language for education in Britain.

In 1362, they again prohibited the use of other languages in offices and wider society. 

Most educated people in England refused to abandon the language of their colonisers by making exactly the same argument that some of you make against African languages. LOL!

The first daily English newspaper was published in England in 1702. Before that period, they were published in Latin, Greek, French, and Scandinavian languages. So, I wonder why you, an African, insist on using the language of your colonisers when Britain prohibited the language of their own colonisers to save their native English.

Having said that, the argument is that we should produce our works in our native languages, then translate them into English, French, Russian, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, etc. That has been the message of Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, Obiajunwa Wali, and now Africason.

There's nothing in history that says that the white man and his language and culture will last forever, and that once we buy into Western hegemony we'll last forever too.

In fact, if you check history, we should be scared for our future because, like Rome, Greece, ancient Egypt, Persia, Babylon, etc., which collapsed with time, so will white civilisation give way to another. It's a matter of "when," not "if."

The world will not continue to be the way it is today. It will change,  change is the only constant thing in life.

Language and culture are fluid (language is actually culture itself, but let me leave that for now).

Western culture WILL eventually give way to someone else, and everyone alive today can already see that "someone" is China, just as Latin, Greek, and the others gave way to other languages in Europe.

Are you saying that when Chinese becomes the most dominant language in the world, we should migrate to writing in Chinese so that we may reach the wider world with our books?

Why can't we master our own language, then translate to other languages?

Where did you see a German writing in English?

A French person writing in Spanish?

A Japanese person writing in Russian?

Etc.

There's no room or time for me to fully talk about this now. You can find the main argument in my first book: Intellectual Slavery: The Worst Legacy of Colonialism.

With due respect, Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka don't understand the argument. They were scammed by white people.

Unfortunately, because they're the "chosen" ones, real authentic African voices like Obiajunwa Wali, Cheik Anta Diop, and Ngugi Wa Thiong'o were suppressed.

The 2025 Nobel laureate for literature was won by a book written (not in English or French) but in Hungarian. African languages can do that too when you wake up.

It's not even about literature. It's about our survival as a race. We will simply go extinct as a people if we don't retrace our footsteps.

Read the said book to understand in full what this is about. Download for free at: https://archive.org/details/intellectual_slavery_the_worst_legacy_of_colonialism

Africason

Africason is a die-hard believer in Africa

Twitter: @African_School

Facebook.com/AfricanSchool

Related articles:

The dead end of African literature - by Obiajunwa Wali 

How Britain and the CIA fooled Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe to destroy African languages in literature