My view on Soyinka is that, where public affairs are concerned, he is a mercurial politician, a man who has stood up for justice but also a man easily bought. I expect, that, as a commentator on another group stated, if Soyinka had been accommodated within the GEJ govt, perhaps as an adviser with ready access to the President, as he has with Buhari, had been feted, as he was by Amaechi or been given an appointment, as he was by IBB, he would not have supported Buhari.
Part of the strategic genius of the Amaechi/Tinubu/Obasanjo/
Olayinka, since you say Soyinka's reasoning is so consistent you don't need to question his declarations, please help me understand the following-1. Why did he contribute to legitimize the govt of coup plotter Ibrahim Babangida by accepting a job in that govt, dismissing those who criticized his action as 'disco critics', people who insist on perpetual critique without taking opportunities to effect change from within, as he presented himself as doing by accepting the appointment?2. Within this 'change from within' program, why was his voice muted over the murder of Dele Giwa in which Halilu Akilu and Tunde Togun, military officers linked to IBB, were implicated by circumstance, , with one of them calling Giwa at his house before the fatal parcel bomb was delivered and the other declaring of the assassination, that it is what is to be expected when a person stands in the path of a moving train?3. Within this 'change from within program' what did Soyinka do when the June 12 Abiola election was annulled, before NADECO gained prominence in the anti-Abacha struggle in which Soyinka played a role?4. Soyinka has severely criqued most Nigerian heads of state and Presidents, from Gowon, to Obasanjo, to Buhari to Abacha, but I am yet to read a word from him on his employer IBB, one of the the most systematically destructive of them all. Why?5. I am yet to read an explanation from Soyinka that makes sense on why he overturned his exhaustive 'The Sins of Buhari' essay summation to endorse Buhari for the 2015 election. Having contributed to the Buhari placement, what has he had to say about the culture of terrorism unleashed on the nation by Buhari, as represented by Buhari's sponsorship of Fulani herdsmen terrorism, the killing of peaceful pro-Baiafra protesters and the massacre and continual persecution of Shiites? If you are aware of Soyinka's positions on these hellish situations, please provide links so we may assess them.6. What was the business of a Nobel Laureate for literature in running down the wife of the President of Nigeria, calling Patience Jonathan a 'shepopotamous' and declaring that when a person marries an illiterate, like the President did, the person will have the kind of problems Jonathan had? If you dispute these statements widely credited to Soyinka, which I asm yet to read him deny, please let us know why you do.7. What was Soyinka's bone in the Amaechi/GEJ/Patience Jonathan struggle in Rivers state that he was happy to so roll in the mud as represented by his utterances agst the President and his wife?8. What was Soyinka doing in allowing Amaechi as governor of Rivers State feting him to a birthday in millions of naira in a land of stuggling people, a birthday later described, when questions were being asked, as a literary festival? Is that not part of the genesis or conformation of how he was bought, leading to his rolling in the mud in the Rivers/Presidency conflict and his eventual mobilization in supporting Buhari by the Amaechi/Tinubu group who saw a winning horse to Aso Rock?8. Why has Soyinka taken to insulting Nigerians who call on him to abide by his word on his response to the Trump election?9. Soyinka declares himself as imprisoned by Gowon during the Nigerian Civil War bcs he was working to set up a Third Force to stop sale of arms to both Nigeria and Biafra yet in The Man Died, if I recall correctly, he fulminates agst Victor Banjo for delaying in Benin in his drive to take over the Midwest and the Southwest, centred by Ibadan and Lagos, on behalf of Biafra, leading to the fed govt being able to assemble an army that stopped Banjo's advance at Ore, that being the turning pint for Biafra's effort to establish a beachhead outside the East, at which point the fed govt was able to hem them in there and commence the eventual defeat. I have nothing agst support for Biafra in those or any other circumstances, but this stance from Soyinka suggests its vital to stop seeing him as disinterested political actor but primarily as a partisan politician, a stance reinforced by his history.Soyinka is a great writer. That is indisputable. As for politics, another story.
My view on Soyinka is that, where public affairs are concerned, he is a mercurial politician, a man who has stood up for justice but also a man easily bought. I expect, that, as a commentator on another group stated, if Soyinka had been accommodated within the GEJ govt, perhaps as an adviser with ready access to the President, as he has with Buhari, had been feted, as he was by Amaechi or been given an appointment, as he was by IBB, he would not have supported Buhari.
Part of the strategic genius of the Amaechi/Tinubu/Obasanjo/Ezekwesili/Bring Back Our Girls/Boko Haram/Shettima, Borno state governor who enabled Chibok incident/Sowore, founder of Sahara Reporters media/Spaces for Change Facebook group alliance agst GEJ, these being the people and representative movements who gave Buhari his 2015 victory, in my view, was their mobilization of symbolic gestures to shape public opinion in the South, such as endorsements by Soyinka and the castigations by people like Soludu, central bank governor under Obasanjo, people and groups who worked day and night to demonize the GEJ govt for their own motives, not all of which were nationalistic. toyinOn 7 December 2016 at 21:52, Olayinka Agbetuyi <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com> wrote:
Well said! If he Soyinka had not taken the action he took ( which I had no doubt he would take unless he was misquoted) having been a consummate student of Soyinka (the man) for well over 4 decades the situation would have been inexplicable.
There have been only two men whose reasoning have always been consistent down the line. The other is no longer with us: Gani Fawehinmi.
If they say the sun is shining outside I dont need to go out and check: I know the sun will be out there in its full glory.
Even if he did not say he would relocate some of us would have wondered what he was still doing there (in the US) when he left Nigeria on exiles in similar situations under military dictatorships that portended ill for the generality.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
-------- Original message --------From: Kenneth Harrow <harrow@msu.edu>Date: 07/12/2016 17:08 (GMT+00:00)To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com >Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - It is no secret that Soyinka's Nobel Prize Was Rigged - Says Fayose's Aid, Olayinka [ A Defense of Soyinka in US Election/Green Card Controversy]
--I like the encomium for Soyinka.
He is just human, like you and me. Like achebe. Like Shakespeare. All of us.
But he is a real true master of the word, and few of us and can say that.
I don't really esteem the noble prize; I esteem what all of us feel about Soyinka as a great writer and a true man of courage.
ken
Kenneth Harrow
Dept of English and Film Studies
http://www.english.msu.edu/peo
ple/faculty/kenneth-harrow/
From: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroup
s.com > on behalf of Femi Segun <soloruntoba@gmail.com>
Reply-To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com >
Date: Wednesday 7 December 2016 at 10:10
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com >
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - It is no secret that Soyinka's Nobel Prize Was Rigged - Says Fayose's Aid, Olayinka [ A Defense of Soyinka in US Election/Green Card Controversy]
Nobel Prize in Literature to spite Abacha in 1986? Where is this Vincent coming from? Who told him that Abacha was Nigeria's Head of State in 1986? He must be one of those children with little or no knowledge that Prof Soyinka referred to in his response to the brouhaha over his threat to destroy US Green card
On Wed, Dec 7, 2016 at 3:29 PM, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com> wrote:
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: 'Chukwuemeka Okala' via AfricanWorldForum <africanworldforum@googlegroups.com >
Date: 7 December 2016 at 06:29
Subject: [africanworldforum] Re: [NIgerianWorldForum] ||NaijaObserver|| It is no secret that Soyinka's Nobel Prize Was Rigged - Says Fayose's Aid, Olayinka
Surely, Nigerians are a people bedevilled by inexplicable paradox. They eulogise you and testify to your meritorious achievements when all things are equal. But when the opinion of the achiever becomes diametrically opposed to theirs on any issue that they hold dear or of pecuniary interest to them, they quickly turn 360 degrees around to pull the same person down. What a people!
How on earth would any right thinking man of the society say that the Noble Prize Award conferred on the literary Giant and revered icon, Prof. Wole Soyinka of all persons in 1986 was rigged? An Award that the entire world celebrated and made Nigeria proud as it placed us on a map of global scholarship.
Yes, any riff-raff (as is obvious in this case) could say or write his/her pile of rubbish against the name of a well known personality, to satisfy their whims and caprices, but the annoying thing is not what they say or write per se, it is when others begin to pay attention to their garbage. It's very annoying to say the least!
See Vincent Modebelu calling Wole Soyinka a "boy boy" to Gowon, when Gowon was he who jailed Soyinka for opposing his Government on the issue of Biafra. Soyinka risked his very life like no other Nigerian on the other side by opposing the Federal Military Government at the time of war for the Biafran cause. If he were a Biafran and his utterances were made against the Government of Biafra in support of the Nigerian cause, he would have been summarily executed. And the Government of course would have been justified. So Soyinka knew the consequences of his action. Yet he defied all odds to oppose a government run with live-ammunition at a time of WAR. And his pay back today is calling him Gowon's "boy-boy". Lord have mercy!
Nnamdi Kanu allegedly talked about dismantling Soyinka in a 3 minutes debate, and people are listening to that kind of rubbish? How old was Nnamdi in 1986 when Soyinka achieved his global feat? He was about 14-15 years of age and in secondary school. So, what does he know about Soyinka?
What about Governor Ayo Fayose? So because he has become a governor of a state, he has suddenly got a credential to pull down Prof. Wole Soyinka, abi? How old was he in 1986? He was either of primary or secondary school age when Soyinka achieved that feat. So, what does he know about Soyinka?
To all Nigerians, I make bold to say that Prof. Wole Soyinka has become a solid, concrete and credible institution. He is an immovable towering mountain that no human being can afford to push down. He has contributed beyond measures to the land that gave birth to him and he still soldiers on. Even God is happy with Soyinka's contributions to scholarship and to his fatherland. "Whence wilt thou lift up Olympus?" (Apologies William Shakespeare).
As opposed to celebrating our heroes, Nigerians have a penchant for pulling them down. Even where there is no cause to do so, they try to fabricate one to satisfy their whims and caprices. We have suddenly become the demented chicken that sucks the best of its eggs. We have to change our mentality. Lord have mercy!
Emeka Reuben OkalaLondon, UK
"Faith [Religion] and reason are not necessarily opposed. But when reason won't take you another step, faith keeps on going because it connects you to God."
On Wednesday, 7 December 2016, 1:05, "vincent modebelu vin_modebelu@yahoo.com [NIgerianWorldForum]" <NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroup
s.com > wrote:
Fellows
It is no secret that Wole soyinka's Noble Price was not based on sharp writing but Political to debase Abacha and turn the world against Abachja.
American and Europeans that take 99% of the award decided to play politics and used Wole.
The rest is History
It did not work
Abacha did not care,
they had to find other means
Nigerians cannot even tell you the books published by wole Soyinka.
Obasanjo + YaraDua + Jonathan + Buhari know what happened.
Wole is a politician than a writer.
from his Boy boy service to Gowan through Sam Aluko
To Willing his Thugs of Black AX fraternity to Babangida
To opposition to Abacha and exile and political noble prize
To Obasanjos showdowns on appointments he never got
To NDDC Board fight with yaraDua and Jonathan that were denied him
Now Buhari who does not want to hear from him do not talk of see him
Remember that when Jonathan refused appointing him, Wole joinedGov. Amaechi to abuse Jonathan.
Now he is on his own.
He always wants to be bought out.
BOMBSHELL!!! Nnamdi Kanu Finally Exonerated: Soyinka's Nobel Prize Was Rigged - Says Fayose's Aid, Olayinka
Governor Ayodele Fayose, has said Professor Wole Soyinka's Nobel Prize was rigged. Recall when the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu made the same allegation during one of his live broadcasts on Radio Biafra thereby challenging Soyinka to a live debate and vowed to deconstruct the Nobel Laureate in just 3 minutes.
Olayinka has been a rabid critic of the playwright and Africa's first winner of the prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature ever since Soyinka grudgingly supported Muhammadu Buhari, over Goodluck Jonathan, in the 2015 presidential election which Buhari won.
Olayinka described Professor Soyinka's recent outburst against Nigerians who criticized him for not ripping his American Green Card into shreds as soon as Donald Trump was elected the United States president last month.
"When you are operating under the ANOINTING of a RIGGED Nobel Laureate, there is no way you won't say Nigerians are morons", he said on his social media account.
vin.....///
""If President Muhammadu Buhari must succeed in taking the country to greater heights, he would require the support and cooperation of the Igbos in the Federal Capital Territory and the nation at large.""..ABUJA- MINISTER .. Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello emphasized
"....Born to tell the truth....
Observe and see
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