The first person to voluntarily turn down the Nobel Prize for Literaturearguably the most prestigious prize in the world- was Jean Paul-Satre in 1964. He declined it stating that the Prize would transform him, stand in the way of his responsibility to his readers and could drag the Nobel into his personal politics and vice versa.Nine years later, Le Duc Tho, a Vietnamese statesman was awarded, jointly with Henry Kissinger, the US Secretary of State, the Peace Prize, for their role in negotiating a peace accord after the Vietnam War. Tho declined the award given that there was no peace accord yet. On each occasion the Nobel Prize was rejected, the awarding bodiesthe Swedish Academy, Royal Swedish Academy of Science, Karolinska Institutet and the Norwegian Nobel Committeetook it graciously. Not a retort fired in response to the rejection of the prestigious award. The award ceremony has been on for more than a hundred years and, governments have insulted, belittled and demeaned it. In all that time, it has not gone for its critics jugular with insults as response, not for once.Fast forward to 2011 Nigeria with a PDP governing centre and what do you have' A barracking of unimaginable indiscretion by government officials for whom the word no is a personal slight.The first time literary icon, Prof. Chinua Achebe, declined the National Honours Award in 2004, the then Anambra State governor, Chris Ngige,s kidnap saga was playing out its death throes. Achebe had declined the 2004 bribe saying his home state was a place where a small clique of renegades reigned supreme.I am appalled by the brazenness of this clique and the silence, if not connivance, of the Presidency, he wrote.And how did the then government spokesperson, Femi Fani-Kayode, respond' He chided the rejection noting that Achebes action was a slap on the face of Nigerians, not the government. As he put it:The truth is that even though we continue to retain the highest degree of respect and admiration for Professor Chinua Achebe, it is painfully obvious that he is not fully conversant with the enormous strides and tangible achievements that this nation has made in the last few years and that the Federal Government has achieved since 1999 simply because he has not been here Our doors are open to him and will continue to be open as we have nothing but the most profound respect and admiration for him. Yet despite this, it is also pertinent to note, as a general point, that no matter how distinguished and resourceful a person you are and no matter how brilliant and gifted an individual you are, if you feel that your country does not deserve to honour you, then we believe that you certainly do not deserve your country. This is because the greatest honour that anyone can receive is that which is bestowed upon him not by a foreign land or foreign organisations, but by his own country. It is, therefore, unfortunate that up until today, some of our people are still of the view that the quest for foreign and international awards in places like Sweden and elsewhere are more important or are of more value than an award being given them by their own homeland. (Emphasis mine).The retort by Fani-Kayode tells of a sordid state of the national honours. Not only is there no respect for the prerogative of anyone being awarded to reject the prize but that a rejection is a double whammy when it is a way of making political statement and calling attention to an open sore.Fani-Kayode and his principals at that time missed the whole point of Achebes rejection by a million miles and reduced it to a personal slight and consequently responded in an uncouth manner. A little over seven years and we are back, full circle. The same prize is offered to Achebe again and he says that the same issues that made him turn down the prize earlier persist and so his position remains unchanged. What is the response this time around'The President continues to hold Prof. Achebe in very high esteem in spite of his regrettable decision which may have been borne out of misinformation as to the true state of affairs in Nigeria and hopes that he will find time to visit home soon and see the progress being made by the Jonathan Administration for himself.Not only does it seem that the presidents media aides work from the template of response: praise the man and insist you respect him while offering thinly veiled insults about his exiled state. I find the latter especially reprehensible because the circumstances that forced him out of Nigeria are all about governments failure and with which they taunt him.Lest we forget, Achebe is the same person who rejected a million dollars from the American rapper, Curtis James Jackson III aka 50 Cent, when the latter sought to buy out the name of Achebes seminal work, Things Fall Apart. No gun shots or singles castigating Achebe was heard from the rapper, yet 50 Cent is noted for gangsterism.Awards/honours, nationally or internationally, generally, have political undertones. It is about what a person stands for and might, hopefully, die for. When you accept one, you align yourself with the politics of the giver. It works the same way when you reject it. When John Lennon returned his Order of British Empire award to Britain because of its role in the Biafra and Vietnam wars, it was a political statement and not an insult to the Queen. Achebes rejection of the offer is equally a political statement in many ways. It is rejecting those who want to use his ethos to boost the popularity of an annual ritual that has been the butt of many jokes and criticisms.The CFR he was offered is the third in the ranks of the national honours but then, if properly scrutinised, what does it do for a man of Achebes status' Dont get me wrong, I believe in awards because they have a way of validating good intentions that have evolved into good works. They have a way of encouraging the recipient to do more and challenging those who would rather not.But, does Achebe fit into all these' Does he need one more medal around his neck to prove anything' Should he stand in the same category with people whose achievementsand I do not in any way belittle their contributionsdo not measure up to a tenth of his and collect the award' Will that be honour in the real sense of things'If I were Achebe, I would refuse it too and that is not because I think I am too big for a CFR but because honours should be commensurate with what one represents. Once you have passed a certain stage, you do not go back to take an award for which a similar one was given you nearly four decades ago, akin to giving a school principal a primary school certificate! That would be self-devaluation. If the Nigerian government really wants to honour Achebe, there are better ways to do that. It could make it in the form of a gift that self-replicates: like instituting a prize, a fellowship, a fund or a programme in the universities in his name. It can even sponsor a reading campaign for younger people in his name. That way, more lives are impacted and the old man is honoured. But hanging a medal around his neck and expecting him to whoop for joy is, frankly, an insult on its own.
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