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Tag: Soyinka

  • OAU students hail Soyinka at 81

    Students of the Department of English and Literary Studies at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun Stateý have hailed Prof Wole Soyinka as he marked his 81st birthday. They described the Nobel Laureate as a blessing to the nation, saying the playwright has proven his mettle in literary world.

    In a congratulatory message to the literary icon, President of National Association of English and Literary ýStudies (NASELS), Sodiq Oyeleke and Assistant ýGeneral Secretary, Afeez Gbadamosi, said Soyinka was an inspiration to all Nigerians, especially the students.

    The message reads: “We align with well-wishers from around the world to celebrate our icon and social justice activist, Prof Wole Akinwande Soyinka, as he begins another decade of abundant vitality. It is a blessing for Nigeria to be endowed with a cerebral playwright and intellectual giant, who has changed the course of Nigerian literature for the better. There is no gainsaying that every material literature students read today has input of Soyinka in one form or the other.”

    The students also praised Soyinka for his efforts in promoting African beliefs, values and culture.

    The massage added: “We respect the Nobel Laureate’s staunch advocacy for the preservation and promotion of African cultural values and beliefs. Today, we celebrate a man with strong moral fibre, who never loses thirst for knowledge despite his unprecedented success in the realm of literature.

    “Soyinka’s deeds and writings give credence the aphorism that pen is mightier than sword. As good students of history, we are not oblivious of his firm stance against despotic regimes of the military rulers through his poems, prose, plays and caustic observations.

    “His works has always been warning against persecution, segregation, corruption, racism and injustice. With this, ý English and Literary Studies students of OAU extend their birthday greetings to Soyinka and wish him good health.”

  • Obasa greets Soyinka at 81

    Obasa greets Soyinka at 81

    Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly Mudashiru Obasa has described Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka as a role model, who inspires people globally.

    Obasa, in a statement congratulating Soyinka on his 81st birthday  yesterday, said: “Prof Wole Soyinka is a global figure, someone who inspires people all over the world and we are proud to celebrate him not only as a Nigerian and African icon but also as a global figure, who has contributed immensely to the struggle for peace and justice in the world through his writings, comments, speeches and actions.

    “We pray to God to continue to give him the strength and good health to continue to inspire the world and promote peace globally. Happy Birthday, Kongi.”

  • The Sexual Offences Bill: Soyinka got it wrong, says Senator Anyanwu

    I have read your open letter published in PM NEWS and re-published on BELLA NAIGA, Premiumtimesnig.com and a number of on-line papers and also The Nation.

    No one who read that letter could miss the fury embedded in your words. I know where that fury comes from: moral fiber, good conscience, and love of people. I want to assure you that it was the very same sentiments that drove me to come up with that bill and the same sentiments that led senators and members to pass it.

    As always, your aim was to speak as the voice of reason in our increasingly confused society.  I know you meant well. I know you acted out of your deep compassion for Nigerians and fatherly love for the children. But as I read your open letter, my heart sank because this time, my dear Baba, my dear icon, you are wrong; very wrong.

    You have been misled by the misinformation circulated by someone who could not read or comprehend a legal draft; someone who did not have the patience to read through a proposal, see what was recommended and what was finally accepted. You were misled by someone who deliberately distorted the content of one of the most profound bills ever passed by the Nigerian legislature, scandalised the proponent and the institution for reasons that you and I may not know.

    No where in the SEXUAL OFFENCES BILL That I proposed; no where in the bill passed by Senate was it stated that you can defile an 11 years old. No where in the bill passed by the Senate was the age “11 years”  mentioned. Here is what was passed in relation to your area of pre-occupation which is defilement clause 6 (2):

    “A person who commits an offence of defilement shall upon conviction be sentenced to imprisonment for life”.

    You claimed that the bill re-defined “female adulthood as marital status”. Where in the bill proposed by me and where in the bill passed by Senate did you see adulthood linked to marital status? The extreme distortion of the spirit, intent and even content of this bill leads me to think that you may be talking about an all-together different piece of legislation. For emphasis, let me state that the bill makes no such linkages as you erroneously stated. I think it may be fear of Senator Yerima that is at play here. For  your information, Senator Yerima and all other Senators who  participated in the debate the two times the bill came up on the floor supported it as a vehicle for instituting a stringent law barring all ranges of sexual offences in Nigeria. They did this because they also have children, wives, daughters, even mothers and cannot afford to leave them in the current state where abuses are rewarded with a slap on the wrist of the perpetrators

    because our laws are outdated, without strong in-built deterrence and mechanisms for monitoring and control are absent.

    This is just another case of people demonizing what is clearly in the public good because of deeply-set negative pre-dispositions towards individuals in an institution. By your strong advocacy against the bill, you have unwittingly stamped your feet in favor of maintaining the statusquo. Where we are now..the statusquo.. is a world in which a six year old child is raped to death and then set ablaze. Where we are now is a place where a father rapes his 3 year old boys repeatedly and the mother weeps at night and cannot speak out out of shame and fear of her life. Where we are now is a place where young Cynthia in her struggles for self employment ran into a gang who drugged her, raped and murdered her. Where we are now is a place where foreigners come for tourism and turn children into their objects of tourism.

    With all due respect Sir, I want to express my deep disappointment with your hastiness in flowing with the mob on this matter. I blame your press officers. I think they should have advised caution.  You have known me since the 1990’s. There is no way you could have sent fellers and I would not jump into the next flight to answer you.  Infact, a mere telephone call could have dispensed with the matter. If you had even asked someone to get you a copy of the Votes and Proceedings of Senate for that day which published the exact words in the legislation passed, you would have spared yourself the time and emotions spent over what is clear mischief circulated through the web. The people who started it all are hate-mongers. They merely took advantage of the negative public feelings they have built up against the legislature. You have no business with such people Sir.

    I am sure in the most inner recesses of your mind you know I cannot in anyway be associated with any anti-people law. Nothing in my personal history, professional antecedents or even the hard work I did to push through pro-people legislations in Senate, could lead anyone to think of me as capable of working against children, the very people I fought for over the course of my 8 years in Senate. The Sexual Offences bill is only one of many I did. I also proposed the Occupational Safety and Health bill protecting workers in virtually all sectors of the economy from hazards at work.  The only group excluded are those in the oil and gas sectors who have been extensively provided for in the PIB.

    There was no “accident” as you call it involved in this legislation. Neither was there an error in judgement. The bill has been fabricated to provide a strong deterrence against abuses. When implemented, It will mitigate the private sufferings of parents; reduce their fear of what happens in their absence to their children at school, in the play grounds, in the neighborhoods, even in religious spaces.

    Nigeria today is not a safe place for children; not a safe place for girls; not a safe place for small boys; and it is not a safe place either for old women.  This legislation is proposes condign punishments for abhorrent crimes such as we are seeing in our country today. It even covers crimes yet to arrive our shores. Under this bill, pedophiles will be put away for life not made rock stars as we do today. This bill will bring sanity to our society. It will make Nigeria a better place for all.

    I suspect that some of those fighting against the bill are fixating on the short title. Its long title shows what it is:  a sexual offences prevention bill; a tough deterrence to crime.  I want you to take time and read the final copy of the bill. You will be proud. You will realize that good things can come from Nigeria and Nigerians. It is not only legislations initiated by outsiders and handed to us locals to push for their passage that should be deemed as good for us. By passing that bill, National Assembly has kept faith with the people of Nigeria. It has provided the cover of protection under which Nigerian children can live normal lives of fulfillment without fear. By your robust advocacy against the bill preventing sexual abuses of children, you foreclose the future of children in this society. But if I read you correctly, I have no doubt that you will reverse yourself on this once you have the correct information. This is why I have written you this letter.

    You have made your first “imposition” on Mr. President based on your understanding of the false information circulated by the very offenders you despise. I plead with you as a man who has been found to be a great man of honor and bestowed with the highest literary honor in the world to reconsider.

    Let me on behalf of the innumerable victims of abuse in Nigeria; let me invoke the spirit of Cynthia who fell victim in Lagos; and let me plead  on behalf of the many wives and husbands deliberately infected with HIV by their partners whose suffering impelled this bill, that you reverse your instruction to Mr. President.  The President of the Federal Republic looks to old sages like you for positive direction. That was what you intended to give him. But now that you know the truth, for the sake of your long established reputation and known love for Nigeria, turn it around and urge Mr. President to sign this bill that will protect our people, restore sanity to society and make Nigeria a better place for all.

    I remain your loyal admirer and sister.

  • Soyinka, Adeola urge OPS on education funding

    Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka and Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Yemi Adeola, have called on the organised private sector to assist the government in repositioning the education sector.

    They spoke at the Third Convocation of the Kwara State University, Ilorin which coincided with the presentation of awards to winners of the Business Plan Competition sponsored by Sterling Bank Plc.

    They noted that with the rising challenges facing governments, the growth of the sector relies mainly on private sector participation through appropriate funding and provision of content.

    Soyinka, who delivered the Convocation Lecture, advised on the need for private sector to take more interest in the sector, noting that thre was the need to develop the sector as it remains the bedrock of any nation.

    Adeola, who was represented at the event by Mr. Ademola Adeyemi, the Regional Business Executive, South West, expressed optimism that the foray into the sector by the bank would encourage other financial institutions to see the need to contribute their quota to the growth of the sector for the benefit of students.

    His words: “The challenges in the education sector are three fold – funding, capacity building and content. These have continued to hamper the development of the sector in the country leading to the outflow of foreign exchange as many Nigerians seek better and quality education abroad.

    “This informed our decision to set up the One Education Desk to constantly seek out and execute ideas that would champion the advancement of the education sector in Nigeria through strategic partnerships, service provision for students, parents, teachers/lecturers, vendors, school administrators and the non-academic staff as well as the provision of world-class ICT solutions and other services with the ultimate aim of reducing unemployment in Nigeria”.

    He added that the desk would serve as the platform “to achieve our objective of putting in place a one-stop shop for ICT infrastructure solutions and other services needed to take education to the next level, ultimately improving the quality of graduates churned out in Nigerian institutions”.

    Adeola said the sponsorship of the  competition was a confirmation of “our conviction at Sterling Bank that the MSMEs remain the catalyst of economic growth of any nation especially in a developing economy like ours. It also goes a step further to attest to our commitment to the sustainable development of the education sector in Nigeria”.

    While praising the university for organising the competition, he said “it will serve as a starting point for the galvanisation of practical ideas towards the industrialisation of the country”.

    Adeola enjoined the winners of the award to use their prizes on their projects to create value for themselves and the society.

  • Soyinka for KWASU convocation lecture

    Soyinka for KWASU convocation lecture

    •732 to graduate Saturday

    Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka is scheduled to deliver the convocation lecture at the third convocation of the Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete on Saturday.

    At a briefing on Tuesday, Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof AbdulRasheed Na’Allah, told reporters that the renowned Professor of Comparative Literature would speak on a topic that is relevant to the present situation in the country, adding that “Professor Soyinka would speak from his heart”.

    He said 732 students would graduate this year – with six from the faculties of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) and Pure and Applied Sciences bagging first class honours degrees.

    One hundred and seventy-four others would get Second Class Upper, 549, Second Class Lower, and three would be awarded third class.

    The Vice Chancellor, who said the graduates of the university had been prepared with academic and entrepreneurial knowledge, added that some got funds from the university to start businesses, even while on campus, with the aim of making them job creators.

    He, therefore, appealed to parents of the graduates to support and encourage them in their determination to create wealth and be solutions to the country.

    The vice-chancellor also called on the corporate organisations, government, and others to partner with the university on research outputs.

    Asked his expectation from the new government, Na’allah urged President Muhammadu Buhari to revitalise public education in Nigeria.

    He said: “Most of us here are products of public education. We were ready to defend our schools as the best. We had the best teachers; best equipment and we had the passion to make the difference in the world. Today unfortunately, most Nigerians who have something good for their young people prefer the private schools. Today sadly too people have no more confidence in public schools.

    “I think this government must take revitalisation of public education as one area of major change for Nigeria. If public education is revitalised and parents begin to have confidence in public education a lot of changes will come to this nation.

    ‘’The Federal Government should declare state of emergency on public education and mobilise state and local governments to revitalise public education in Nigeria.”

  • Shun corruption, Soyinka advises public officers

    Shun corruption, Soyinka advises public officers

    Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka yesterday advised security operatives and public office holders to shun corruption.

    Corruption, he said, is a cankerworm that has destroyed the country’s economy.

    Soyinka spoke at the Ogun State mega rally organised by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in conjunction with transport unions and other stakeholders.

    The Nobel laureate, who spoke on the theme: “Towards an enduring safe road culture in Nigeria”, advised the FRSC to embark on capacity building that will make officials fulfill the goal of its establishment.

    He urged officers to increase their working capacity and abstain from any form of indiscipline that can dent their image.

    The Nobel Laureate, who was FRSC’s first Corp Marshal and Chief Executive, advised the corps to establish a safety school where people can be trained on safety. He pledged his support for the corps.

    The Corps Commander, Engr Boboye Oyeyemi, appealed to motorists to shun indiscipline causing crashes on the road.

    Boboye said the need for the mega rally is to ensure the safety proclamation gets to every road users regularly.

  • Soyinka eyes top UK job

    Soyinka eyes top UK job

    Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka is one of the three candidates for the Oxford professor of poetry, a 300-year-old elected post, seen as the top academic poetry role in the United Kingdom.

    First held by Joseph Trapp in 1708, the professorship, which is second only in prestige to that of poet laureate, has been filled in the past by Matthew Arnold, Cecil Day-Lewis, WH Auden, Seamus Heaney and Paul Muldoon.

    Acclaimed poet Ruth Padel was elected the first woman to hold the post in 2009, but she resigned less than two weeks after her election. She resigned following the revelation that she had alerted journalists to allegations of sexual harassment they made against her rival for the position, Nobel laureate Derek Walcott.

    The eminent poet Geoffrey Hill was elected the following year ahead of nine other candidates. Hill, winner of a host of poetry awards, will complete his five-year tenure this summer, with Oxford graduates due to vote on their choice of his successor next month.

    Candidates need to be nominated by at least 50 Oxford graduates. Soyinka, who writes drama, novels and poetry, and who was imprisoned in solitary confinement in Nigeria during the 1967-1970 civil war, his poems smuggled out on toilet paper, received more than 90 nominations, including votes from writers Melvyn Bragg and Robert Macfarlane.

    Soyinka won the Nobel in 1986 for his “wide cultural perspective [which] with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence”. He will be competing for the Oxford post with Ian Gregson, a poet, literary critic and professor of creative writing at Bangor University who was backed by 54 graduates. In a provocative statement setting out his intentions if he were to be elected, Gregson said he wanted to “address the major issue facing contemporary poetry, which is, nonetheless, the one most shunned in the poetry world: how poetry has suffered, in recent decades, a catastrophic loss of cultural prestige and popularity”.

    “Five hundred years, in which poetry and indeed, the poet played a central role in the culture, are at an end. You could, now, be as talented, but self-destructive as Dylan Thomas, or you could fight a corrosive but symptomatic gender battle like Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, but go unnoticed,” he writes, blaming the shift on the rise of popular culture – including television, which he says “shaped a crucial shift in which the visual took the upper hand over the verbal, and thus, the literary” – but most of all on new media.

    “It is not the content of the internet that’s the problem, but its form,” writes Gregson. “No matter how many poems are mounted on the web, the sensibility it creates is indifferent to poetry. This is a medium ,which ranks words below images, and delivers those images at great speed. It is the opposite of poetry, which, in this context, is made to seem ponderously slow, atavistically verbal, and snobbishly inaccessible.”

    Seán Haldane, a poet, award-winning novelist and psychotherapist who ran against Hill in 2010, is the final candidate, with 51 backers. “Oxford’s professorship of poetry is one of the most famous and illustrious positions in the world of letters, and the chair has been occupied by some of our greatest writers, both poets and critics,” said Seamus Perry, professor of English literature at Oxford. “It has been an honour and a delight to have Geoffrey Hill in the post, and he will be a hard act to follow. I am delighted to have such a strong and diverse list of candidates for this year’s election.”

    The winner will be announced on June 19 . The professor’s duties include giving one public lecture a term, as well as encouraging “the art of poetry in the university”, and are rewarded with a stipend of £12,000 a year.

     

    •Culled from The Guardian of London

  • Soyinka disowns report

    Soyinka disowns report

    NOBEL Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has disowned a report credited to him by an internet media organisation.

    Prof. Soyinka, in a statement yesterday, said: “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.

    “I strongly suspect the author of this despicable concoction, and may make a further statement, once the source is verified.”

  • EU, Soyinka, Reps, others to govt: bring back the girls

    EU, Soyinka, Reps, others to govt: bring back the girls

    Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka led hundreds of Nigerians yesterday to demand the release of the missing Chibok schoolgirls.

    The European Union (EU), in a statement yesterday, also called for the girls’ release.

    Soyinka spoke at a forum organised by Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, the President of Women Arise, one year after the girls were taken away.

    Actionaid Nigeria yesterday marched for the girls. It marched with 219 youths, to represent the girls still in captivity.

    The EU statement reads: “A year has passed since 287 school girls from Chibok, in north-eastern Nigeria, were abducted by Boko Haram. Though some girls escaped, others have since been taken and more than 300 girls are still missing. We express our solidarity with the plight of the families and with the ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ campaign.

    “All efforts must continue to be made to rescue and reunite the girls with their families, and bring the perpetrators of this terrible act to account. The EU remains ready to assist the Government of Nigeria, including the newly elected President and local authorities, as well as others in the region in their fight against Boko Haram and all forms of terrorism and criminality.”

    To Soyinka, Nigerians must join hands with the government to ensure that the children were found.

    “We must make sure that such assault on our humanity doesn’t happen again.

    “The survival of humanity and of the nation must remain paramount,” he said.

    According to him, terrorism is not a Nigerian phenomenon alone and may not be going away soon.

    “However, we must not get used to it. Our children are being dehumanised. I believe that our responsibility is to assist by becoming vigilant.

    “We must become policemen/women; vigilante of our communities. We must encourage others to be protective members of their community,” Soyinka said.

    Former presidential candidate Prof. Pat Utomi   also called for the girls’ freedom. He said humanity, the world over, was a shared one and anything that diminished any human and did not touch others was bad.

    “Terror is not something we should tolerate. We must confront terror and not sit in our homes complaining.

    “We must stand up to enforce what we demand. The measure of the progress of any civilisation is how they hold the dignity of the human person.

    “It’s not just about rescuing the girls alone but about staying together and fighting for what is right.

    “It is however important to recognise that nothing gets done without a strategy,” he said.

    Utomi suggested that plans must be put in place that would help rehabilitate the girls when they eventually return.

    “Their psyche must have been so tampered with. The nation must ensure that they are re-oriented,” he said.

    On the just concluded elections, Utomi said: “We can hope that we have started moving forward.

    “We used to be a people that assumed nothing will change but we are beginning to realise that things can change, so, it is a new dawn for our country,” he said.

    Speaking at the forum, a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mrs Funmi Tejuosho, expressed concern over what the missing girls could be passing through.

    “These children are lost and we don’t know what is happening to them. We must never relent until they are found,” she said.

    Dr Okei-Odumakin, who is also the President of Campaign for Democracy (CD), said more should be done to enhance security of lives and property in Nigeria.

    “The whole world stood in unison to call for the return of our girls since they were taken from the Chibok secondary school.

    “We will continue to raise awareness and to insist that our military gets better welfare to boost their morale,” Dr Okei-Odumakin said.

    Also yesterday, the House of Representatives urged President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to do everything possible to re-unite the remaining  219 Chibok girls kidnapped over a year ago in Borno state to their parents, before handing over to the new administration on May 29.

    The resolution of the House was sequel to a motion sponsored by Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, APC, Lagos under matters of urgent national importance.

    Mrs Dabiri-Erewa, moving the motion, said it is one year since Boko Haram stormed the school in Borno and abducted over 200 girls.

    “It is exactly one year since Boko Haram terrorists stormed the premises of GSS Chibok in Borno State and took away almost 300 students who were preparing to write their school certificate final examination.

    “It is unfortunate that the innocent girls were captured virtually unchallenged and government was unresponsive for over two weeks and one year on, it deeply hurts that no concrete information is available as to the whereabouts of our missing girls from Chibok.”

    Members who spoke in support of the motion include Friday Itulah, Nnena Elendu- Ukeje, Jumoke Okoya- Thomas, Nkoyo Toyo, Nkiruka Onyejeocha, Ife Arowosoge, Stella Odogwu.

    Friday Itulah noted that the issue of the Chibok Girls “is a sore thorn in the flesh of this administration. The Jonathan administration should ensure that before the 29 of May we are celebrating the return of the girls.”

    Hon. Stella Odogwu said the issues surrounding the missing girls is a mystery.

    “It is a criminal act that should not be condoned.”

    Hon. Jumoke Okoya-Thomas urged prayers for the girls. “We should not forget the girls in prayers. It is easy to forget. It is the duty of the government to protect the citizens. We hope Nigerian will never see this kind of situation again.They said 50 were found. If this is true then the others can come back.”

    Hon. Nkiruka Onyejeocha expressed surprise that “they are not back” and admonished that the girls should not be forgotten. Her colleague, Ife Arowosoge, wanted definite answers over the issue.

    “Are you sure they are in Nigeria and are alive? The chief of Army Staff must tell us,” he insisted.

    Tambuwal in his ruling noted that the motion is an important one and that “it is dear to our hearts”. He further said “I wish to add that as a nation we must do everything humanly possible to bring the girls back.

    “We pray that God in his infinite wisdom and mercy should guide our security agents on the recovery of the girls.”

    He said it is sad that the girls have been missing for a whole year. “Even the claim by the Military that they know where the girls are have turned out not to be correct. I think we have to be serious about it.”

    When he called for a vote on the motion, it was overwhelmingly supported by all members.

    Members of the #BringBackOurGirls advocacy yesterday said they appreciated President-elect Muhammadu Buhari for “his kind and soothing words” on the occasion of the one year commemoration.

    The group demanded that the safe return of the girls be made top agenda of the transition between the present and the incoming government.

    In a statement by Dr Oby Ezekwesilli and Hadiza Bala-Usman , they stated: “Today, 14  April, 2015 is that dreadful day we never imagined will come without having  back our missing precious 219 Chibok schoolgirls, abducted exactly one year ago today.

    “We thank Nigeria’s president-elect for his kind and soothing words on the occasion of this one-year commemoration; wherein he promises among other things to do everything he can to #BringBackOurGirls when he becomes the president, if they are still alive. However, this does not address our concerns. We demand that the safe return of our girls be the top agenda of the transition between the present and the incoming one.

    “We have just concluded a march by #ChibokGirlsAmbassadors (part of the global schoolgirl march). We express our immense gratitude to our #ChibokGirlsAmbassadors for being the right voices to carry the message of their generational peers on a day like this.”

    They urged the United Nations to “deploy relevant instruments in ensuring the prompt rescue of our Chibok girls and other abductees, as well as improve the security situation in the country”.

    The Chibok girls ambassadors and members of the #BBOG advocacy staged a peaceful protest to the Ministry of Education to demand for the release of the girls and demand to know what the ministry was doing to assist with the rescue efforts.

    Although the ministry locked them out for almost an hour without allowing the children into the premises,  its Director, Human Resources Management, Mohammed Umar, later met with them and the girls gave him an ultimatum of May 29 for the Chibok girls’ rescue.

     

  • Soyinka: Nigerians must forgive Buhari’s past

    Soyinka: Nigerians must forgive Buhari’s past

    NOBEL laureate Prof Wole Soyinka has said “there is a moment when we must put the past aside, most especially when what presumes to the present becomes intolerable and continues and threatens to prolong itself, then we have to be more pragmatic.”

    He said Nigerians must show a Nelson Mandela-like ability to forgive president-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s past as an iron-fisted military ruler.

     “I criticised him for certain acts during his stint as a military dictator,” the 80-year-old playwright and poet, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV Africa on Wednesday.

    He spoke in his hillside country home, Abokuta, Ogun State.

    His words: “But I also insist that it’s about time we try our best to be mini-Mandelas, to learn there’s a moment when we must put the past aside.”

    The legacy of Buhari’s 20-month tenure as the military head of state included the introduction of the War Against Indiscipline (WAI) campaign.

    By voting in Buhari, a 72-year-old Muslim, who has described himself as a “converted democrat,” Nigerians have shown an ability to look past his earlier misdeeds, Soyinka said.

    Gen. Buhari, who defeated incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan in last Saturday’s election, has denied having ever perpetuated human rights abuses.

     “Mandela had a faith in the capacity of the Boer, the masters of apartheid, to reform,” Soyinka said in his booming voice in a living room filled with wooden carvings.

    He went on: “There’s a moment when we must put the past aside, most especially when what presumes to the present becomes intolerable and continues and threatens to prolong itself, then we have to be more pragmatic.”

    The victory of Buhari, a three-time loser in presidential races, broke PDP’s 16-year monopoly on power.

    “I think more in terms of the APC winning the election,” said Soyinka, who has some of his allies and admirers in the APC.

    Soyinka said reports from APC members and his own observations suggest Buhari was “struggling to be a party man.”

    Responding to claims that there  was nothing substantially different between the PDP and its rival because members of the ruling party defected to the APC, Soyinka said: “Neither party is filled with angels, there are corrupt figures on both sides.”

    Insisting that the March 28 elections were the most money-fueled in the country’s history, the literary giant said: “Some of them I don’t even want to see anywhere near this building. Others, on the other hand, have sat here, these very chairs, eaten and drunk with me.”

    On why the PDP did not move early enough to dislodge Boko Haram insurgents from Northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, the Nobel laureate said: “Nigerians have a right to be resentful of the fact that that kind of measure was not taken early enough

    “That this disease was allowed to fester leading to the traumatisation of swathes of Nigerian landscape and society and humanity.”

    On the rare sportsmanship displayed by President Jonathan, who conceded defeat, Soyinka said: “He could have easily tried to do a Gbagbo.”

    He was referring to Laurent Gbagbo, who sparked post-election violence in Ivory Coast when he refused to step down after an election defeat in 2010.

    With Buhari’s victory, Soyinka, who has not felt this optimistic since the end of military rule in 1999, hopes he will not be disappointed again.

    “Against my rational instincts, I believe that we have here a genuine case of a born-again democrat. The real heroes of this exercise have been the Nigerian people and that gingers me up.”