I didn’t pay tribute to Tinubu – Soyinka

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has distanced himself from a tribute he purportedly wrote in honour of the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

In a tribute which has gone viral on the social media, Soyinka was quoted as saying that he admired Tinubu because he saved Nigeria from becoming a one-party state.

Soyinka was also alleged to have said that he would continue to stand by Tinubu no matter what.

The alleged tribute read in part, “I do not admire Tinubu because he is a saint. I do not admire Tinubu because he is from the South. I do not admire Tinubu because he is a Yoruba. If I want saints, I will proceed to heaven, not on earth. Every human is fallible. I admire Tinubu because he saved Nigeria from the danger of falling into a one-party state.

“He has nurtured many renowned national successors. He listened to the voice of the masses to surrender his personal ambition at the most critical moment. He strategically terminated the PDP’s 60-year ambition in 16 years.

“Anybody, any cabal, any Viju milk activist, attempting to humiliate Asiwaju must have me to contend with. An average the PDP man is angry with Asiwaju because he brought them to their knees. If anyone thinks that bringing down Asiwaju is his project, that mission will not only crash but it will boomerang.

“He owns Lagos! I hear you! Ask your grandfather and parents how they acquired your so-called family land. Is it God that allocated it to them? Prof. Wole Soyinka.”

However, Soyinka, while reacting in a statement he signed on Thursday, wondered why people continued to use his name to spread falsehood.

He asked members of the public to be careful about the things they read on the Internet.

He said, “It is difficult to prescribe for the sort of mind that finds itself so inadequate that it must foist its opinions on others, and with such confident sense of impunity. Kindly assist me in letting the public know that I am not in any way connected with the publication.

“I can only yet again recommend my recent ‘occasional’ publication, ‘The Republic of Liars,’ to the public as a cautionary tract, while the growing population of victims await the routine descent of the full operational wrath of Internet policing on all impudent impersonators.”