Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, on Friday debunked reports that he paid tribute to the presidential flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu.
This was contained in a statement issued by Soyinka’s spokesman, Abiola Owoaje and it’s titled ‘I did not pay tribute to Tinubu – Soyinka’.
There were reports making the rounds entitled Prof Wole Soyinka’s tribute to Sen Asiwaju Tinubu’, supposedly written by Soyinka praising Tinubu on his political accomplishments, had gone viral on various WhatsApp platforms shortly after the former Lagos State governor emerged as APC’s presidential flag bearer on Wednesday.
However, Soyinka has come out to describe the trending post as the handiwork of indolent identity thieves whose preoccupation is to deceive the public in a bid to gain prominence.
Soyinka emphasized that he doesn’t operate or own social media accounts.
The statement read in part, “The literary luminary reiterated his position on the 2023 elections and the issues surrounding it, noting that he has no business meddling in the struggle for power by political parties in the country.
“Soyinka enjoins the general public to be on alert to the antics of faceless cowards spreading falsehood, adding that they should not partake in the despicable action of the authors by spreading the cocktail of lies.”
Wole Soyinka had earlier in the year stated that he doesn’t have a preferred candidate for the 2023 presidential elections.
Wole Soyinka, distanced himself from media reports linking him to candidates running for president in the 2023 general election
in his words “For the avoidance of doubt, I have not even thought 2023, much less inserted candidates into coveted positions.”
“Here we go again, the same boring, illiterate public interlopers who lack the courage of their conviction and must steal the identities of their betters,” Mr Soyinka, a professor of literature, said in the statement he titled ‘Season of Fakery Galore.’
“One can only hope that the public has learnt to identify fake news and join in the urgent task of exposing and disgracing these despicable touts.”
