Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has said he would never join the Coalition for Nigeria Movement spearheaded by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Obasanjo had, in a letter highlighting the shortcomings of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, recommended the coalition. The elder statesman had also enjoined Nigerians to support the movement.
But Soyinka, an elder statesman in his own right, dismissed the coalition, saying he should be got a psychiatrist if he joins.
He said, “Me? Obasanjo would establish a group and I will become a member of such group? That means they should get a psychiatrist to examine me.”
He also said the letters written by two ex-presidents – Obasanjo and Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida – should be tested to determine if they are telling “the truth or telling lies, or is he being tricky”
Soyinka told BBC Yoruba,
“When these soldiers begin to speak, we are supposed to get suspicious and ask what exactly do they have in mind? It is possible that what they have in mind is different from what we have in mind,” he said.
“You can look at it from two perspectives, the messenger and the message. The message should be examined closely. We should not look at the misdeeds of the messenger alone. Let’s start by asking, is he saying the truth or telling lies, or is he being tricky?
“If he is saying the truth and talking about things that are beneficial to the masses, we would allow that be. After that, we would now look at the person speaking, what is in his mind? … even if it’s a little child who is speaking, as far as that child is saying the truth, we won’t ask the child to keep quiet. We won’t ask the child what do you know? We would listen. It is the same situation with those who have presided over the affairs of this nation without making significant progress.
“We have seen their weaknesses, we have seen their nakedness in public, if they now want to be covered by saying that they have turned a new leaf, we would examine that, too. What I am saying, in essence, is that what they have said should also be examined.”
