Soyinka denies eulogizing Tinubu, says tribute concocted

Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka has denied a report attributed to him extolling the virtues of a former governor of Lagos State and chieftain of the ruling All Progressive Congress, Bola Tinubu.

A recent online report had quoted Mr. Soyinka as admiring the former governor’s maturity and political sacrifice for “saving Nigeria from the danger of falling into one party state”.

The online report also quoted Mr. Soyinka as saying, among other things, that Mr. Tinubu had “nurtured many renowned national successors” and surrendered his ambition for President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Political juveniles believed that APC won because of the votes from the North. No!!!, APC’s victory was cemented the day Muhammadu Buhari and Asiwaju Tinubu resolved to work together,” the false report said.

According to the concocted report, the Nobel Laureate said, “Tinubu has the option of joining the PDP elites to hold us hostage for another decade but he gave his all to the masses to dethrone the elites.”

But Mr. Soyinka, a professor emeritus, in an e-mail sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday, refuted the entire report, saying he had never said what was attributed to him.

“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. Kindly assist me in letting the public know that I am not in anyway connected with the publication that has just been forwarded to me…

“I can only yet again recommend my recent “occasional” publication – The Republic of Liars – to the public as a cautionary tract, while the growing population of victims await the routine descent of the full operational wrath of Internet policing on all impudent impersonators,” Mr. Soyinka said.