On Prof. Soyinka’s Assertion Over Peter Obi’s Leadership Capabilities In 2027: Prof Umukoro Doubts If He Really Said So
The Oasis Reporters
May 31, 2024
By Greg Abolo
gregabolo@gmail.com
When Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka was quoted to have said that the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi is “unfit” to lead Nigeria in an interview with Noble Eyisi on Thursday, we at The Oasis Reporters called Professor of Theatre and Performing Arts at the University of Port Harcourt, Julie Nwabogo Umukoro for a brief interview.
Professor (Mrs) Julie Nwabogo Umukoro expressed her reservations on that assertion.
“I have my serious reservations about that alleged interview, if indeed Nigeria’s own Nobel Laureate, Professor Woke Soyinka actually used those words. I am a Professor of Theatre and Performing Arts. Just like my husband who himself is an emeritus professor of Theatre Arts at the University of Ibadan. We know emeritus professor Wole Soyinka and he is just a phone call away.
Could he have actually said so?
I have my doubts. One thing that is at the back of my mind is that news media practitioners who are working in private media houses have a goal, a target each morning. When they wake up every morning, they must catch a story that should boil the pot. In other words, what story would fascinate readers to click the link and draw traffic? Unless all those clickability metrics are met, the pay would not reflect in the account.
Therefore any story that has Peter Obi and Wole Soyinka in its mix is bound to attract traffic. That is how the food pot cooks and the journalist gets paid in the private media. So the possibility of tilting a story to the sweetness angle is usually very attractive. Largely attractive.
Like every other person else, I read the story when it broke. It was just a story. I saw no photos or videos of the interview. Even if there had been a video in this age of deep fakes and Artificial Intelligence, I would still fall back on my intuition on who I believe our father and grandfather in Theater Arts could have said.
Would WS say that “Obi who INEC said finished third behind Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 presidential election should not vie for the presidency in the 2027 election in a democratic dispensation because of the control of human thoughts and actions?
Let me quote what the reporter wrote.
He said, “I hope for the sake of the nation that he doesn’t express interest in the next election because for me as a leader, if there was any proof that he was unfit to lead that country, it’s in the conduct which he encouraged among his followers.
“I know for a fact that he was in control of those forces,” he added.
“Look at the facts on the ground. Professor Wole Soyinka has a distinguished history of political activism in his youthful days.
Would he make such an allegation without proof ?
Would Professor Wole Soyinka who fought dictatorship to a standstill, remember that he went to prison throughout the civil war, incarcerated by the General Yakubu Gowon administration because he had traveled to the Eastern region before the Civil War to dissuade then Col. Odimegwu Ojukwu from the war that would have broken Nigeria up, turn around about fifty years after to encourage dictatorship and control? Would our own WS encourage that? Read his seminal book, The Man Died.
Only powerful cultists control those perceived to be followers by telling them what to think, how to think and what to say. Our Nobel Laureate would definitely be frightened of such a scenario. I would too, if Peter Obi would be such a man. I follow him because he is a democrat who believes in freedom of expression and of thought.
Let me quote more from the said interview: “The Nobel prize winner added that dishonest political leaders are encouraging the “divisive actions of the group.”
He said “one of these days, they would turn on them and teach them a lesson”.
Soyinka said, “It has to do with education. I didn’t read all these insults from Obidients but of course, some links were sent to me, especially when facts were being manufactured.
“I know that there is a relay mechanism, which is triggered into action by those who control what we call the trolls of the internet, and so my disgust and contempt.
“I just went about my business, you know, because nobody, anybody on this earth who thinks they can stop me telling the truth as I see it needs to have his or her head examined. It’s as elementary as that.
“But it is depressing to see those who wanted to be political leaders encouraging that kind of action, that kind of attitude in the youth.
“And my mind went to the expression: ‘They don’t know what they’re doing’. Those who sow the wind will reap the whirlwind.
“One of these days, they would be astonished, they would turn on them and teach them a lesson.
“And so, my attitude was very blasé but it is for me a sad phenomenon, especially for those who want to lead a multi-textured (society) — different religions, different ethnic groups, different worldviews — who actually want to preside over such a group as one.
“It means that they have already declared themselves incompetent to lead such an entity.” End of quote.
Now, talking about a multi textured society and various approaches to being a leader in those circumstances, I would say that Peter Obi’s stance in that milieu is fantastic. Just as we talk about Jero’s metamorphosis, let us also see Obi’s Metamorphosis for a much more inclusive nation.
I’ve read about the painful circumstances of Nigerian citizens trekking for hours across the borders of Nigeria into Niger Republic to fetch drinking water.
And I see Peter Obi spending his personal funds to ameliorate such circumstances by providing access to potable water to fellow Nigerians in the northern parts of this great nation. It gives hope and Obi’s ‘favorability rating’ is on the rise in the north. He’s not a person that seeks to control people’s thoughts and processes as a true democrat.
I saw Peter Obi donating 22,500 laptops to students of Anambra State plus l400 printers at the rate of 2.65 billion naira. This was at a time that his Osun state counterpart was said to have donated 3600 “Opon imo iPads” at 8.6 billion naira.
All those acts have helped in deepening knowledge that has enabled students to exit illiteracy and be in a position to read all of Professor Wole Soyinka’s books.
Besides, Peter Obi paid workers their emoluments throughout his 8 years as governor and even saved enough money for the incoming administration. The records are there.
So I believe that Professor Wole Soyinka must have been wrongly presented in that said interview. We should know the styles of patriots and our own WS couldn’t have said things to denigrate a son to him like Peter Obi “
“Peter Obi is truly the hero and Messiah of our time. I reach that conclusion by looking at the quality and ratings of his deeds.
His overwhelming noble deeds endorse him truly as a noble man of great worth who deserves the support of all”.
