Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka has once again,
slammed Nigerians who questioned the
sincerity of his claim that he had dumped his United States green card.
This comes after he told AFP last week in Johannesburg,
South Africa, that he had dumped his green card in fulfillment of his pledge to
do so should Donald Trump win the U.S. presidential election.
However, some Nigerians questioned the claim ,asking him to
show evidence .
Angered by this, Soyinka,yesterday told reporters in Lagos:
”Our common sense is
totally lost. I am embarrassed sometimes that I occupy the same nation space
with some people.
“Where is the arrogance coming from? What right do they have
to tell me that I have no right to take a decision in a particular way? I never
took orders from (the late) Sani Abacha, why should I take orders from you? Let
us have a little respect and spirit of tolerance. I can decide whether to use a
garden shell or scissors for my green card. What is the business of any
Nigerian to challenge me on my decision? Green card is even more important than
human beings. Barbarians have taken over the country, using the anonymity of
the Internet. They sit somewhere, writing about me, questioning the right of me
to express myself.”
He continued
“I am not an entertainer. Why should I entertain you on
that? I am a dramatist. When I say I have done something, Ogun (the god of
iron) is my guiding spirit on it. Maybe I should be exiting Nigeria and not the
U.S. People that one dedicated one’s life of struggle to can be so slavish in
mentality to query the right of their champions to freedom of expression.”
If I decide to leave the U.S., it is my personal decision
and not that of the millipedes of the Internet. Why do Nigerians weep more than
the bereaved? Trump is not really my business. He has been elected. He should
do his work. There are born-again humans in all areas, why not in politics?
Even the stock exchange reacted to Trump’s election. I also reacted in my own
way. There is freedom of expression. We have far too many illiterates in this
country.’’
Soyinka plans to hold a private funeral on January 20, the
day Donald Trump will be inaugurated as president, “to mourn the death of
common sense in Nigeria and not to bewail the citizens of the U.S. over their
choice of president”.
He cautioned President Muhammadu Buhari against sending congratulatory
messages like he did to ex-President of The Gambia, Alhaji Yahya Jammeh, for
conceding defeat to Mr. Adama Barrow.
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