25th December, 2023
Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has revealed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ignored his advice not to run for the presidency five years ago.
Soyinka who revealed this on Sunday during a visit to the President in Lagos said he also gave the same advice to Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the 2019 and 2023 general elections.
While Tinubu did not contest the presidential election in 2019, he gave strong support to the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, his party, Muhammadu Buhari who defeated Atiku to get reelected for second term as President.
However, Tinubu contested for the presidency against Atiku and 16 others in the 2023 election, but Soyinka did not endorse any of the candidates.
Tinubu won the election and was sworn into office on 29 May 2023.
The Nobel Laureate said his visit to the President on Sunday was to say how he is faring after neglecting his advice not to contest the presidential election five years ago.
“We met last five years ago, and it was an embarrassing visit because I went to tell him not to run for office.
I told him and Atiku to leave the stage for young people. I call him “olori kunkun” (strong-willed). He ignored my advice completely.
”I came to see him to find out how he is doing after neglecting my advice. I wanted to see how he and his wife are faring. I also came to wish them a merry Christmas.
”You know we are old friends. And it was as a friend that I told him ‘don’t run,” he said.
But Soyinka said he could only assess Tinubu’s administration after one year in office, as had been his tradition with the President’s predecessors over the years.
The Nobel Laureate said that he presented a seven-point agenda to the President toward moving the country forward “in these trying periods”.
He said he would not want to disclose what he presented, but added that a critical aspect was that of respect for the rule of law and adherence to the constitution of the land.
Soyinka added that the discussion also centred on the release of various Nigerians languishing in prison for standing on some personal principles.
He added that he is optimistic that something positive would be done about the incarceration of prisoners of consciousness across the country.
Soyinka said he is aware that the President may not be in the know of such cases due to the bureaucracy involved in governance.
“That is the reason behind making this request; that is the way to get results for legal breaches,” he said.