Why was Wole Soyinka's A Dance of the Forests important to Nigeria's independence celebrations?

Wole Soyinka’s play A Dance of the Forests was commissioned for Nigeria’s independence celebrations in 1960. Its importance lies in its critical, satirical approach to the nation's birth; rather than celebrating the event with romanticized legends, the play stripped away such myths to challenge the new nation. By demonstrating that the present was no more a golden age than the past, Soyinka used the work to offer a sobering reflection on the realities of the fledgling state and the complexities of its history.1