Who’s demonising Soyinka?

There seems to be a well-oiled but clandestine propaganda machine bent on tarnishing the image of Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka. If they are not portraying him as anti-Igbo, they are busy attributing partisan political gibberish to him or even giving the impression that he has become inconsistent in his old age. Nothing could be crueller […]

There seems to be a well-oiled but clandestine propaganda machine bent on tarnishing the image of Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka. If they are not portraying him as anti-Igbo, they are busy attributing partisan political gibberish to him or even giving the impression that he has become inconsistent in his old age. Nothing could be crueller to a globally acclaimed man of letters who I am proud to acknowledge as my teacher.
Cowards all! Unable to compete in the arena of logic and incapable of standing for any noble cause, they have now found a purpose for their miserable lives in fabricating words and putting them in the mouth of the literary icon. All through his career as a very public intellectual,
Soyinka has always stood by his principles. You didn’t have to agree with him, but you could hardly fault his logic and patriotic commitment.
In the run-up to the last presidential elections, Soyinka was reported to have spoken against Muhammadu Buhari’s candidacy on the grounds that, “We can’t go back to our vomit”. That lie was eventually traced to the pro-Jonathan brigade on the internet which, desperate for endorsements, stole Soyinka’s voice and image and flung them against Buhari. Eventually, their antics failed; so did their principal.
Again, the social media was awash with postings claiming that Soyinka had just delivered a lecture at Harvard University in which he lambasted Igbos.
According to the fib also relayed by an online medium, The Cable, Soyinka was supposed to have said, “The Igbos are probably the only group of
Nigerians that you can predict with great accuracy whom they will vote for in an election, because they tend to put their votes where their stomachs take them; suffering as it were, from incurable money-mindedness, as they would stop at nothing in their quest for personal financial gain.”
Not bothering to verify the authenticity of the claim, many tribal warriors literally took up arms, insulting Soyinka and demanding an immediate apology. As it turned out, Soyinka never said anything of such. Checks at the Harvard University also revealed that there was no such record of anti-Igbo sentiments uttered by Soyinka at any time. What the fabricators intended was to ignite another round of Yoruba/Igbo trading of insults using Soyinka’s name as the accelerant.
Understandably angered by the allegation, Soyinka issued a statement: “I have just read a statement attributed to me on something called The CABLE, a news outlet, evidently one of the Internet infestations. My lecture at the Hutchins Centre, Harvard University, was video recorded.
“Anyone who believes what I am alleged to have said must be a moron – repeat, a moron. It is demeaning, sickening and boring to have to deal with these cowards who cannot fight their own battles but must fasten their imbecilic pronouncements on others.
“Only the mentally retarded will credit this comment attributed to me regarding the Ndigbo voting pattern in the last elections….”
The latest in the fabrications is the jejune panegyric prose adulating
Tinubu. In it, Soyinka is portrayed as a glorified tribal area-father genuflecting before the altar of political power. Anyone who knows Soyinka or is familiar with his works would immediately know that the pro-Tinubu piece was not even a brilliant fake. By Soyinkean standards, the style is even pedestrian.You don’t need a stargazer to tell you that it is a continuation of the criminal conspiracy to tarnish the image of the great man.
“It is difficult to prescribe for the sort of mind that finds itself so inadequate that it must foist its opinions on others, and with such confident sense of impunity”, said Soyinka.
Perhaps the cyber police will eventually catch up with these criminals and make them face the full wrath of the law? Over to the Nigeria Police Force.

Adieu Dele Babatunde
News recently filtered in of the untimely death of Bamidele Babatunde,
President of the University of Ife Students’ Union in the ‘Ali-Must-Go’ days. Dele had of late kept up his activist commitments via the social media, working for a better Nigeria. He will be sorely missed. May God console his family. And may his efforts not be in vain.

… And Mama Awo
Mama Awo, as many people called Chief Mrs Hannah Dideolu Awolowo, has gone home in a blaze of glory, aged 99 years. Famously described by her husband as a “jewel of inestimable value”, she lived true to that appellation, exiting as a model wife, mum, grandma and matriarch.
They don’t make them like that anymore!

Calling Amaechi & Sirika
I did promise that we would help the new ministers fulfill their mandate by identifying areas of quick wins in which they can make the country better through their ministries. Today we look at Aviation. Between Ministers Chibuike Amaechi and Hadi Sirika, let the process for returning our local airport in Abuja to its former status begin in earnest. Any private jet owner who feels too big to share the same airport with lesser mortals should either build his own airport or take a hike. The appropriation of our collective patrimony for the benefit of a few people of dubious distinction must stop forthwith.
Secondly, work must commence on bringing back Nigeria Airways. I have seen lobbyists of the dying order of insolvent private airlines pooh-poohing the idea of a national carrier. They will fail. There are too many good reasons why we need a national carrier not least of which is our national pride. I propose that the new Nigeria Airways should not be a government
parastatal but a publicly quoted company with the government holding 20-30% in trust for Nigerians while the remaining 70% should be thrown into the open market with a caveat: no single entity should either directly or through proxies, own more that 10% of the shares. That done, we can then employ first grade aviation professionals to manage the airline in line with best practices.