NOBEL Laureate Wole Soyinka has distanced himself from statements making the rounds on the social media including WhatsApp of his purported support for the agitation for the Yoruba nation.
A statement signed and issued by his spokesperson Abiola Owoaje, and seen by The ICIR on Tuesday urged the general public to ignore the utterances of those he described as “contemptible interlopers” who lack the courage of their conviction and thus take to Identity Theft for the furtherance of their views.
The statement added that the professor of literature does not express his opinion on national issues on social media except through the print media.
“For a start, Wole Soyinka does not participate in Facebook, Tweet, Blog, WhatsApp or other offerings of Social Media. Any views that he wishes to express on national and other issues routinely go through the print media,” Owoaje said.
The Yoruba nation agitation is a political ideology driven by Sunday Igboho, a self-acclaimed activist and Ayo Adebanjo, one of the leaders of the Afenifere socio-political to realise the independent and sovereign country for the Yoruba race in Nigeria over what they called the marginalisation of the South-West region.
The agitators have held series of solidarity protest in Ogun, Osun, Ibadan and other parts of the South-West.
Several political leaders in the region have all rejected and kicked against the idea.
Former Governor of Lagos Bola Ahmed Tinubu alongside Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila, Bisi Akande and all leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South-West, in a meeting in Lagos, last month, called for ethnic and religious unity instead of a divided nation.
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