Convocation Play: A message of hope to Nigeria

At the Convocation play for the 37th and 38th convocation ceremonies of the University of Ilorin, art again immitated real life penultimate Thursday (October 19, 2023) as the play, Jeong Do-Jeon, reflected a turbulent period in the history of Goreyo, a South Korean Kingdom led by King Gongmin.

The play, which is based on 14th century historical events, has a number of intersecting thematic preoccupations that crisscrossed from grief to infidelity, ambition to betrayal, sacrifice and accident, reality of politics and idealism of the intellectual class, which is personified by Jeong Do-Jeon, who is the hero and main protagonist of the play, and after whom the play is tittled.

The anti-heroes, who are bent on prioritising personal interest over a national dream in the historical play, include influential figures such as the unsrupulous Vice Chancellor, along with others in the Army, the ministries and across the social strata who chose to exploit problems in the implementation of the noble project of the construction of a shrine in memory of the Queen of the Kingdom who died during child birth.

The frailty and imperfection of the King also became manifest in the existence of his illegitimate child whom he named as Crown Prince to the chagrin of the nation.

At the end of the national turmoil, trial and tribulations, the resolution to the tensions and problems of the Kingdom came in the emergence of a new King in Yí Seong Ye, who was positively received by all surviving parties.

For the audience, however, the drama did not end until the Director of the play, Prof. Rasheed Abiodun Adeoye, mounted the rostrum to re-emphasise inclusiveness as a universal ingredient in social progress and other leaders in the audience took turn to offer a word each.

The Head of the Department of The Performing Arts, University of Ilorin, Prof. Olusegun Oyewo, noted that the play was a message that Nigeria shall be great again. The Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Prof Lérè Adeyemi, congratulated the Vice Chancellor for being a man of both tangible and intangible culture and the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN, philosophised that leadership is a burden and everyone who is burdened needs help.

The evening climaxed in a memorable end when the foremost Professor of African Studies, Prof. Toyin Falola, joined the cast and crew of the convocation play and performed three Nigerian songs that traversed folk, Afrobeat and Pop as he led them in singing “Baba o, Oluwa je ki Baba pe fun wa”: In a spiritual intercession for the Vice Chancellor; Mummy o o o a pe laye in supplication for the mothers present and finally in KIzz Daniel’s Buga won, as, perhaps a Prophesy of a successful 37th and 38th convocation ceremonies, which just began at the time and as a celebration of the new projects and human resource products being presented by the University administration, which is only a year old.

Buga also comes as a metaphor of success for the don himself, whose pen has graced Encyclopedia Britannica for years, as he shared his knowledge of Africa and Nigeria and represents the country as an intellectual and cultural icon and indeed, an ambassador.