The management of Cable Newspaper Ltd, publishers of TheCable, would like to make the following statement concerning our report on the lecture by Professor Wole Soyinka at the Harvard University Hutchins Centre for African & African American Research.
Soyinka was quoted to have made derogatory remarks about the Igbo over their voting pattern in the March 28 presidential election. He has since denied the offensive quotes attributed to him.
After an in-house investigation, we have come to the conclusion that the story misrepresented the views expressed by Soyinka in the question-and-answer session after his lecture.
We take full responsibility for the inaccuracy and promise that we will continue to strive to improve our standards.
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Also, we wish to reiterate that we take our professional responsibilities very seriously, as our readers can attest to.
We hereby offer an unreserved apology to Soyinka, Ndigbo and our readers.
Signed: Management of Cable Newspaper Ltd
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26 comments
We all goof but it takes a man if honor to accept this and apologuse. I pray the professor forgive the cable.
People should be extremely careful and civil in any assertion or utterances about Igbo nation. We have every natural right under the sun to vote our conscience, it is no body or group of individuals business period. Yorubas or other ethnic group must stay away from our business period. Enough must be enough.
I can see why you can’t even use your name.
who will patronize you then. myopic and shortsighted .
To be myopic is to be shortsighted. Both mean the same thing my dear.
But why must you then come to lagos and be seeking Yoruba support when you know you don’t need the support of other tribes.
I am happy the cable has tendered its unreserved apology to Professor Soyinka, hoping that the Prof. will accept it.
But come to think of it: why are some of us Umu Igbos allergic to criticisms? I personally do not see what is so untrue that Soyinka said about Igbo Nation regarding the last election for anyone to call for his head. If there is any Nigeria or, better, non-Igbo-speaking Nigerian today that has earned the right to criticize us Ndi Igbo, it is Wole Soyinka – the man who stuck out his neck for and in support of our cause when Nigerians, including even some Igbos, were betraying that cause. Soyinka has been a friend of the Igbo nation; he has earned the right NOT to “stay away from our business.” If anything Ndi Igbo need fearless and honest friends like him to say it to us as it is!
Your comment..my pain is dat wole have received all sort of insult 4rm ndigbo 4 makin such comment,pls d cable manager u pple should be very careful so dat dis will nt repeat itself again. @ wole I knw ur image av been tarnished,dat makes u a hero and brave man to d core
Your comment..Yellow card for the “Cable”.
So unfortunate that this is coming just after u celebrated your one year anniversary but like said in your interview with punch newspaper, u must take this as part of the lessons to enable u get better and maintain your neutrality in reporting all. Better luck ahead
When I saw that post I knew it never came from Prof. I am an Igbo man and I have been an ardent follower of Prof and from his antecedents, I knew he would never have said that trash published by The Cable. Prof. is still by far one of the sanest minds in this country.
I remember his role during the Biafran War which even got him imprisoned by the Nigerian Government. I know there was a special chemistry between him, Achebe, Okigbo & JP Clark (The Ibadan Literary Quartet).
Prof. Wole Soyinka is the only influential non-igbo person that publicly agreed with Chinua Achebe on the fact that the Biafra War was a genocide on the Igbos.
So i have followed the esteemed prof for so long that I can tell you when someone is trying to use him as a springboard to brew mischief.
God bless you.
I doff my cap for Brino. For Cable News, you should henceforth crosscheck your news before publishing.We all need ourselves and the earlier we stopped the ember of division,the better for all Nigerians.
What do you mean by in house investigation. Is cable, Harvard. 2nd, where is d transcript. 3, WS simply said d lecture was on tspe, he did not tell us wat he said…In wat context if he mentioned igbo at all
It is very unfortunate that a respected, non-tribalistic, celebral professor has received undeserved bashing over a statement he never made of dreamt of. This is a man who stood for Ibo course during the war, which some of his contemproraries and even this current generational beings could not have done. Onbehalf of everybody that reacted negatively on the issue, I tender unreserved apology to the professor of great repute, amid an honour of nobel lau—-. Pls find a space in ur mind to forgive all. Am a journalist by profession and would like to say that it is very disheartening that some professional journalists like the owner of The Cable can still be practising yellow journalism in this century of available technologies to verify information and when you are in doubt, you leave out. The owner of this medium is a respected member of the noble profession of journalism, but he has proved that all those his fight against unprofessional misconduct is nothing put a ruse. I am ardent reader of The Cable, but today, I seize to be a reader because this has proved that he has been feeding us with tissues of lies, capable of pitching one ethnic group againt the other. I read all his reports throughout the electioneering campaigns and confirmed that he is ethically bias and professionally naïve, which confirmed his myopic trappings on national discuss. He is practising quack journalism to gain immediate attention of readers, but I advise you to desist from this before you throw up issues capable of distablising the unity and ones gained over the years which did not come by a strock of luck but by immesurable sacrifices of both human and material loses. If you are working for a sectional group, pls be careful so that you don’t use ethnicity to cause more havoc. Pls publish your apology on the national dailies because you have pschologically wounded a world-class professor of inestimable value, produced by a great country Nigeria. A poser sir–America called its govt house–White House, which by implication, is meant for the Whites, but today, a man from African extraction is occupying the White House. Can we draw a lesson from there? Don’t be like Mugabe, who said that what annoyed his most is that the Whites, after constructing their White Cars, coupled it with the Black Tyre to be rolling the car. Enough of this my senior colleaque in this noble profession. It is well.
I normally do not reply to asinine comments like yours, but kindly permit me to lend you a few lines sir. Your comments about the person of the founder of Thecable is rather sad. A mistake was made, obviously by one of his staff writers and they have taken responsibility and apologized. You might take issue with the tone of the apology or the mistake in the first place but why must you spew this illogical vitriol at the integrity of a man you obviously do not know well enough, do you know the cost of iintegrity? Do you know how much people pay by way of sacrifices and denials to remain clean? What has Mugabe or Obama got to do with this? Please be gentler with your judgement sir and keep your thought stream together. Thanks.
If you have a problem with the producer……see him and resolve it. Don’t use this medium to score cheap point and turn yourself into an unwanted celebrity…since they have been publishing, how many mistakes have they made…how many….who cares if you stop reading thecable….
Better people dey here…..the cable carry go….u are simply the best
please don’t take it too personal
So what exactly did he say??? The quote didn’t come outof thin-air! He must have said something close to that
You can trek to Harvard and find out for yourself.
Is it that he’d said something related to this issue or you wish he did? So that you all could continue with your Moronic bashing. If you really care to know, it’s released to the internet – google is your friend…
Better reporting next time, I have seen older news outlets make apology and we didn’t call for their head. Some have even stand by their errors and even made it right. I will continue trust your reportage
I think Simon Kolawole the editor of the cable might not have had a hand in the publication but he should now realise that such mistakes can destroy all d good will he has built over the years and he must put in place strict measures that such never happens again. However still I am extremely surprised that with all of Simon experience he could allow the publication of such tribalistic write up about a renowned Nigerian personality of like of Prof Soyinka. We all make mistakes and hopefully this should never repeat itself again. On the positive more Nigerians have heard of the cable news even if it’s in the negative light.
let us listen to the interview in question or was a speech held at Havard University.and judge for our selves if those words were used. good hunting
There’s no Nigeria news platform that doesn’t make mistakes. Cable did and theyve also done the noble thing by apologising publicly.
I’m sure some lessons have been learnt, but one thing is clear, we know the cable for December the journalism and that hasn’t changed
I’m surprised at the acerbic tone of some of the comments here. No one is infallible. To deny our capacity to err is to deny our humanity. TheCable is one medium that has warmed itself into the heart of Nigerians within such a very short time by adhering to very high standards. One mistake is not enough to undo the tonnes of good that have been done. Kudos to the management for doing the needful.