Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate, on Monday, reacted to a video showing some members of Pyrates Confraternity mocking Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In the video which has gone viral on social media, some members of the group dressed in red and white attire can be seen yelling out critical remarks.
The group chanted: “Baba wey no well e dey shout emi lo kan (Baba that is sick is saying it’s his turn)”, and “hand dey shake (a hand that shakes)”.
‘Emi lo kan’, is a catchphrase attributed to Tinubu who had said it was his turn to be president.
Soyinka, who is a founding father of the secret group, distanced himself, after describing the group’s action as “distasteful and appalling.”
He said although, he does not dictate political choices and decisions to the confraternity, “the display acidly targets a presidential candidate in the awaited 2023 elections”, and warned that it would have unpredictable consequences.
“My attention has been drawn to a video clip making internet rounds, of a dancing and chanting group, in red and white costume, purportedly members of the Pyrates Confraternity. The display acidly targets a presidential candidate in the awaited 2023 elections. Since the whole world knows of my connection with that fraternity, it is essential that I state in clear, unambiguous terms, that I am not involved in that public performance, nor in any way associated with the sentiments expressed in the songs.
“Like any other civic group, the Pyrates Confraternity is entitled to its freedom of expression, individually or collectively. So also is Wole Soyinka in his own person. I do not interfere in, nor do I attempt to dictate the partisan political choices of the Confraternity. I remain unaware that the association ever engages in a collective statement of sponsorship or repudiation of any candidate This is clearly a new and bizarre development, fraught with unpredictable consequences,” Soyinka said.
He said his culture as a Yoruba man does not encourage the mockery of persons with disabilities or vulnerability due to old age.
The statement read further, “In addition, let me make the following cultural affirmation. I have listened to the lyrics of the chant intently and I am frankly appalled. I find it distasteful. I belong to a culture where we do not mock physical afflictions or disabilities. Very much the contrary. The Yoruba religion indeed designates a deity, Obatala, as the divine protector of the afflicted, no matter the nature of such affliction. This sensibility is engrained in us from childhood and remains with us all our lives. It operates on the principle of mortal frailty to which all humanity remains vulnerable.
“One of my favorite authors, about whom, by a coincidence, I had cause to write quite recently, was CLR James, author of The Black Jacobins, Beyond A Boundary etc., etc. I called him my ideological uncle. He suffered from Parkinson’s Disease but remained alert, lucid, and combative for decades after the onset of the disease. We interacted politically at the Tanzanian pan-African Congress, the Dakar Festival of Negro Arts, and a number of other cultural and political fora. We met frequently in his lifetime, and dined together in restaurants, despite his challenge. it would be unthinkable, and a desecration of his memory to be part of any activity that mocked his affliction.
“A further statement will be issued when I have made further enquiries into this strange, uncharacteristic outing of the association.”
