Renowned Nigerian poet and scholar, Professor Niyi Osundare, has challenged Africans to confront their own role in the transatlantic slave trade instead of focusing exclusively on those who bought enslaved Africans.
Osundare made the submission during his conversation with Gbénró Adégbolá at an Ibadan event marking the presentation of his book, Truth Is Trouble.
The collection, published by Bookcraft Africa, brings together decades of Osundare’s writings and reflections on literature, politics, culture, identity and truth.
Reflecting on historical memory and the slave trade, Osundare said Africans must be courageous enough to acknowledge the role played by Africans who sold other Africans into slavery.
He said, “For a long time, we have been blaming those who bought slaves; what about those who sold them? In Africa, we sold our brothers and sisters.”
According to him, refusing to confront that aspect of history amounts to allowing society to remain trapped in a distorted understanding of its past.
He said the inability to confront uncomfortable historical facts meant that Africans had effectively become “slaves of memory”.
Osundare argued that the slave trade could not have operated in the same way without both buyers and sellers pointing out, “Without sellers, there wouldn’t have been buyers.”
He linked this historical reflection to his broader argument that societies must learn to remember honestly rather than selectively.
The poet said historical memory should not be used to protect the conscience of contemporary generations by hiding uncomfortable facts.
His position, he explained, was not intended to diminish the responsibility of those who bought and transported enslaved Africans, but to encourage a fuller and more honest examination of the history.
Osundare maintained that truth requires confronting facts even when those facts are uncomfortable.
He warned that societies that build their understanding of history on falsehood would struggle to make meaningful progress, adding, “Nothing based on falsehood ever succeeded.”
The scholar said the same principle should guide Nigeria and Africa in confronting contemporary challenges, arguing that honest remembrance should be transformed into lessons for present and future generations.
