Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has decried the way politicians in the country are running their campaigns, describing it as crude and a vulgar abuse of language.
Professor Soyinka, who accused the presidency of being in the centre of it all, spoke yesterday in Lagos at the public presentation of a book titled “Modern and Tradition Elite in the Politics of Lagos” written by Ambassador Patrick Dele Cole.
He equally dismissed former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s book, “My Watch”, as “three tonnes of doctored and self-serving narratives”, adding that “a little learning is a dangerous thing.”
Professor Soyinka accused current political actors of taking Nigeria to “hitherto imaginable low in the art of public persuasion which – we have a right to imagine – forms the foundation of political life.”
According to him, Nigerians have never been so subjected to what he called “sheer venom, crudity and vulgar abuse of language in such prodigal quantities as in this current political exercise”, adding that the Presidency is “at the centre of this uncultured art of political persuasion”.
He said: “All of us here have passed through the electoral process furnace before now and I suspect we would mostly agree that never before have we been subjected to this level of sheer venom, crudity of and vulgar abuse of language in such prodigal quantities as in this current political exercise.
“The very gift of communication, considered the distinguishing mark of cultured humanity even in polemical situations, has been debased, affecting even thought processes, I often suspect. Speaking as objectively as is possible in such circumstances, I would say that, among the various camps, the most reckless and indecorous has sadly proved the incumbency camp, where restraint has been thrown to the wind with such abandon that even highly privileged spouses have publicly urged supporters to stone any voices raised in opposition to their cause.”
Speaking on Obasanjo’s book,, “My Watch” Soyinka condemned the as “three tonnes of doctored and self-serving narratives”, asking Dr. Dele Cole, a former adviser to the former president, to give Obasanjo tutorial on how to write history.
Comments