Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has disclosed that he told the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar and the president-elect who is of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu, that they should leave the stage for fresh energies to assume the helm of affairs in Nigeria.
Soyinka disclosed this while speaking in an interview on Wednesday.
He said: “I told Atiku when he was contesting and came to see me in my Ikeja office few years ago; he came with Gbenga Daniel, my former governor (of Ogun state).
I said to him, ‘Listen, it’s about time you people left the stage, why don’t you just go away. We need an infusion of fresh blood into the system’.
“But, for some people, maybe they read it as bloodletting. No I said infusion of fresh blood. I said so I cannot support you. I think your generation should quit.
“But, he wasn’t the only one. I then sought out the current President-elect, Tinubu and I gave him exactly the same message.
“I said, ‘Whatever you people are planning, I’m convinced that we need the young generation, new thinking, new sensibilities, new energies’.
“So, why don’t you just leave the stage, let’s look for somebody, a really brilliant individual then use your entire influence to catapult that person to power, and this country will see a massive transformation.
“We spoke for about an hour and a half, and then Bola Tinubu said, ‘No’. He said there were still things he felt he could still contribute,” Soyinka said.
Politicos had reported that the Nobel laureate had earlier said he also warned the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi on the excesses of the his supporters, otherwise known as ‘Obidients’.
Soyinka stated this in a statement titled, “Media responsibility” on Tuesday.
