WOLE is out in the night, hunting – an expedition which brings back memories of the times spent with his grandfather who amongst many words of wisdom, taught him to face his fears and never to turn the other cheek. From a written note in Wole’s car, it’s established he has been warned to stay out of circulation, so when he shows up at FEMI JOHNSON’s customary weekend soiree, an alarmed MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER, who had sent him the warning note, warns him to go undercover – the army is looking to arrest him and possibly kill him; notifying him that his office had just been raided.
The duo of FEMI JOHNSON and BOLA IGE forces a reluctant Wole to heed the warning but as he sets off, he remembers he needed to disband a group of activists waiting on his command to start an anti-war rally and despite the attempts of the concerned trio to sway him, he insists it is only right he disbands them so they do not endanger their lives by rioting when they don’t see him. As he drives through University College Ibadan, he is arrested by a lone police officer. A tussle for his body begins between the military governor in Ibadan, Governor Adebayo and the federal might of Lagos.
Lagos wins and Wole is transferred to Lagos where all agreements made to Governor Adebayo to bring him (Wole) safely back to Ibadan are broken. He is interrogated by the ruthless officer, YISA who has been given the mandate to frame and liquidate him. The interrogation reveals Wole’s offence – his visit to the Biafran warlord – Emeka Odumegwu -Ojukwu in Enugu under the aegis of the THIRD FORCE. The visit had rattled the military government as they believed Wole, with his international clout is capable of giving both armed and diplomatic advantage to Biafra. Wole refuses to implicate any of the Third Force members, angering Yisa. Despite Wole’s insistent he was there just to find a way to end the joke of a war; he is chained and sent to Kirikiri where he rejects an offer from the government to implicate an Easterner for a cabinet position. Wole manages to smuggle out a letter to comrades in the university encouraging them to keep on the fight and informing them that he remains committed to the cause only for the letter to end up in government’s hands, setting off a dangerous chain of events that will see Wole framed and subsequently marked for liquidation. It will take partnership of his lover MORENIKE and the rallying together of the prison community regardless of tribe, tongue and creed to unite to save Wole from imminent death – a probable metaphor of what makes a nation.
AS VICTOR BANJO
AS AIG
AS OLUSEGUN OBASANJO
AS YAKUBU GOWON
AS KAM SALEM
Awam Amkpa is a professor of drama, film and social and cultural analysis at New York University in New York and Abu Dhabi. Actor, playwright, director of stage plays, films and curator of visual arts, Awam Amkpa is a Nigerian-American.
Akonwande Oluwole “Wole” Soyinka was born in Abeokuta in Western Nigeria. At the time, Nigeria was a Dominion of the British Empire.
Femi ODUGBEMI is an accomplished Storyteller, content producer, filmmaker, and media scholar. He is the Founder/CEO of Zuri24 Media Lagos. His screen credits over 25 years in the creative industries span feature films, multiple drama TV series and documentaries. He was one of the founding Producers of the daily soap-opera Tinsel as well as Executive Producer of several popular TV soap operas, including BATTLEGROUND, BRETHREN, MOVEMENT JAPA and COVENANT. He has produced several award-winning documentaries and feature films. He is Co-Founder/Executive Director of the IREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival Lagos and a voting Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Erudite lawyer, politician and orator, Wole’s ‘rational’ friend, while Wole is up to challenge any undesirable status quo by any means necessary, Bola believes in going through the system as a serving commissioner in Oyo State. Wole is deliberate in keeping Bola out of his clandestine schemes against injustice to ‘protect’ him.
Attractive, feisty yet no nonsense nurse at the University College Hospital, Morenike’s chance meeting with Wole will end in a relationship fueled by their mutual hatred of injustice and love of adventure, a relationship which will not only emotionally sustain Wole during his incarceration but also aid his survival.
Ebullient, adventurous and happy go lucky creative turn successful insurance broker, Wole’s Man Friday, there is no dull moment with Femi Johnson. While Wole is a sort of connection to his creative self, his genuineness of spirit and sense of adventure is the glue that holds this enviable friendship together.
Brilliant, counter-culture, university library staff, wife of Wole and co-conspirator in the early years but will baulk as the family suffers from repercussions of her husband’s heady idealism.
Awam Amkpa is a professor of drama, film and social and cultural analysis at New York University in New York and Abu Dhabi. Actor, playwright, director of stage plays, films and curator of visual arts, Awam Amkpa is a Nigerian-American. Awam Amkpa is the author of Theatre and Postcolonial Desires (Routledge, 2003). He is director of film documentaries and curator of photographic exhibitions and film festivals. Amkpa has written several articles on representations in Africa and its diasporas, representations, and modernisms in theater, postcolonial theater, and Black Atlantic films.