Soyinka: I won’t advise anyone to vote for GEJ

Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has questioned the basis for President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election bid, saying he has not done enough to receive the votes of Nigerians on February 14.

The revered scholar, who had earlier denied endorsing any candidate in the election, said at the appropriate time he would make his stand known.

“Whenever I choose to declare support for a candidate – as is my electoral right – I shall ensure that I deploy a medium that places my authorship beyond dispute,” he said back in January.

But speaking at the 2015 edition of Vision of the Child (VOTC), an art programme for primary and secondary school students, Soyinka expressed dissatisfaction with the current government.

“I will not vote and I will not encourage ‎anyone to vote for the continuation of this government, simply because your colleagues numbering over two hundred were kidnapped and the government of this nation failed to show leadership,” he told participants of the programme.

“After that dereliction of duty, after that failure of leadership, after that betrayal for our future, for anyone to think or to put words in my mouth suggesting that I will vote or encourage anyone to vote for this regime is a travesty of intelligence.”