Literary icon Professor Wole Soyinka in a statement released yesterday
to media houses
said that while he may have publicly chastised First Lady, Dame Patience
Jonathan, he has never referred to her as
an illiterate. He said his name is being falsely used to disrespect the
first lady and will take legal action once he finds out the source of
the lies. I recall him referring to Patience Jonathan as
that woman on his CNN interview with Amanpour though. Anyway, his statement reads in part below;
"It commenced over a year ago, I seem to recollect, as a telephone text,
'tweet' or whatever it is called, died away after strong rebuttals, and
is now being provided renewed life by some faceless cowards with their
own private agenda. Let me
state quite clearly that literacy is no indicator of intelligence, even
though we all believe (I hope) in universal literacy. From childhood I
have interacted with so-called "illiterate" men and women, sipped from
their innate intelligence, and learnt much from them outside formal
schooling"...
"Your readers may wish to know that when I first encountered the
statement, I was sufficiently appalled to send a personal message to
Patience Jonathan dissociating myself from such a base sentiment. The
associated commentary on the president's decisions - I have no idea
which decision, if any - is equally outrageous and disgusting. To
attribute to me the slightest interest in the choice of a spouse by man
or woman is a complete travesty of my near obsessive belief in the
sanctity of private relationships"
“Let me take this opportunity to announce yet again that I do not tweet,
blog or whatever goes on in this increasingly promiscuous medium. I do not run a Facebook, even though I am aware that one or
two serious-minded individuals/groups have instituted some such forum on
their own, for the purpose of disseminating factual information on my
activities. I neither contribute to, nor comment on the contents of
their "calendar".
On how the internet is being used to
disrespect people, Prof Soyinka said professional actions should be
taken to protect the integrity of the medium, and save it
from becoming “a mere vomitorium” for unprincipled scallywags who may or
may not have a particular axe to grind.
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