*Urges Tinubu, Obi, Others To Send Their Spokespersons On Vacation
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Prof. Wole Soyinka has weighed in on the 2023 general elections and the rhetoric of political actors.
The Nobel laureate, who appeared on Monday’s edition of Channels Television’s Roadmap 2023, described the elections as “not exactly the most edifying exercise that we’ve been through.”
Stating that he was out of the country for some months, Soyinka shared his insight on the politics-speak that took hold while he was away.
“On arriving, I came in for the World Poetry Day, and immediately, I was bombarded by the most horrendous narratives both pre and after the elections,” he said.
“Since then, I’ve also read columns; I’ve seen Nigerian papers for the first time in months and I didn’t like what I read at all.
“My trust has broken down completely and even the minimum restraint that we’ve learnt to expect from seasoned politicians have been jettisoned completely.”
The literary icon noted that he preferred not to make comments on the electoral process as he was away, though he says it does not mean he was ignorant of what was happening on the home front.
In his estimation, the nation was moving towards a situation, which he says was not planned, but one that happened fortuitously where the existing mould was going to be broken.
“And the signs were there that there would be die-hard opposition to the breaking of that mould,” he said. “Elections should be keenly contested. But I still believe very much in what I call the Fashola Dictum.”
Soyinka quoted former Governor Babatunde Fashola, now Minister of Works and Housing, as once saying elections should be like festivals.
“They should be yet another aspect of the festive spirit of humanity – and this was anything but festive,” he said.
Professor Wole Soyinka also urged the leading presidential candidates in the just-concluded election to send their spokespersons on vacation following the recent narratives hitting deep into the polity.
Speaking during an interview on Roadmap 2023, a Channels Television’s programme that highlights election issues and tracks personalities, Soyinka said Nigeria can still get its democratic concert if the country starts doing things right.
“I will say that there have been at least appearances, a level playing ground, and therefore which one of those instances where I think I believe that will must take the position that the process is not yet ended and until the final pronouncement is made as far as I’m concerned.
“The electoral process is still on as long as they are having no the time we’re talking about. For me, the electoral process is still on,” he said.
He added; “We can still come back to that moment when we had a common purpose and we said enough of military. I’m talking about June 12 and everyone came together and demonstrated, not just to ourselves but to the whole world.
“Yes, we know what democracy is and we know how to practice it. Unfortunately, we seem not to have succeeded in reaching that level of democratic concert as we agreed when we said let us take back our political volition and get rid of the Khaki boys (Military regime) and we can still come back to it even with this election.
“The first thing is, I believe that all these political parties (attacking each other) is for them to send their spokesmen and women on vacation and say we’ve completed a major phase of the electoral process, thank you very much. For now on we will speak in our voices. I say this in all seriousness.”
According to him, he was disappointed after reading a “pronouncement” from one of the leading party’s spokespersons on the wake of the ethnic profiling in Lagos.
“To read this fellow (the spokesperson) who is supposed to be a lawyer, educated and who is also being from one party to the other and back again. To me, the young man was writing at the tumoil between ethnic groups in Lagos when by now he should be busy now pouring oil on troubled waters,” he said.
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