NOBEL laureate, Professor Wole
Soyinka, on Thursday, in Lagos, disclosed he had 60 reasons not to vote for the
re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan.
The 60 reasons were, however, not
adumbrated.
Soyinka also noted he would not
encourage anyone to vote for the continuation of his administration, which he
concluded had failed the tenets of leadership.
He spoke at the 2015 edition of
the annual Vision of the Child (VOTC) programme which commenced in 2012, with
this year’s edition themed: “The Road to Sambisa.”.
“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, ” Soyinka
told students at the event.
He lamented that the Chibok girls
kidnapped on April 14 of last year were sent on a mission to acquire education,
but ended up being kidnapped.
According to him, “and the
government of this nation failed to show leadership. So, anyone who says after
that event that I will vote or cast my vote or encourage anyone to vote for
this regime must be living in Sambisa forest.”
Sambisa forest is widely
acknowledged as the abode of the Boko Haram terrorists, who kidnappped the
Chibok girls and the girls are thought to be kept there.
Soyinka said it took the Jonathan
government 10 days to even accept that the Chibok girls were missing.
“There has been a failure of
leadership. Our children whom you represent today have been betrayed.
“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, ”
Soyinka said.
Soyinka laughed off those who had
claimed on the social media that he was dead, telling journalists at the event
that they should not misquote him, adding that if they did, he would rise from
the dead to correct them.
A total of 250 student
participants from 60 primary and secondary schools within Lagos attended the
interview, of age bracket nine to 12 years.
Their entries were assessed by a
panel of eminent judgesm, comprising teachers, artists, child carers and social
workers.
The finalists would be invited on
March 7 to the National Conversation Foundation Park, Lekki and provided with
brush, paint and easel, and required to illustrate their literary presentation
in the complementary medium painting.
Festival Secretary and Programme
Manager for the programme, Foluke George, said 60 finalists were drawn this
year from 35 schools within Lagos State.
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