Soyinka recalls last moment with younger brother, Femi

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has recalled his last moments with his late brother, Professor Femi Soyinka who died last month.

The renowned Professor of dermatology, venereology and clinical immunology died on June 14 at his home in Kukumada village, Ibadan, Oyo State aged 85 years.

Speaking at the event tagged “Evening of Tributes in Memory of Professor Femi Soyinka”, which held on Thursday 29 June, 2022 in Ibadan, Oyo State, the Nobel Laureate jokingly described his late brother as an unrepentant bundle of mischief who remained one up to his last breath.

Soyinka’s tribute titled “The Secret Life of Baale Kukumada” (As shared by his quite complicitous brother) was read by his first son Dr. Olaokun Soyinka.

“I was with him barely forty-eight hours before his night of departure. I had been on the road for hours and, on arrival, should have gone to the toilet. However, that need was clean forgotten in my anxiety to see him, and I allowed his wife to lead me straight to his bedside.

“She pulled up a chair and I sat beside him, took his hand. Femi returned the grip and we sat this for a while, communing in silence. Sometime later, Nature reminded me of a neglected duty. I tried to detach but he held on, quite gently, not letting go.

“So, I stayed put. Inevitably, Nature gave a more imperative nudge until finally, I was left with no choice. I gently detached his hand, went off, delivered and returned. Again I took his hand and again, he turned the grip. The pressure was, however, somewhat different in some indefinable way. It was still firm but gentle, so perhaps it was the pulse that had changed.

“Kofo had rejoined us. She sat next to his head and tried to coax him into acknowledging my presence in some more obvious way. It was not needed. I am convinced he knew me, had sensed who I was. That change in pulsation, I feel reassured, was his response, an inward, mischievous chuckle. And what that rapscallion was saying was: ‘Broda, I nearly made you pee in your pants,’” Soyinka narrated.