Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has condemned the rally by some members of the Pyrates Confraternity and targeted at a presidential candidate in the 2023 election, New Telegraph.
He described the display as “a dubious political outing,” stressing that he was not involved in “that public performance, nor in any way associated with the sentiments expressed in the songs.”
Soyinka, who stated this in a statement he signed and issued on Monday, noted that: “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.”
The statement entitled: “INTERIM STATEMENT ON A DUBIOUS POLITICAL OUTING” reads in part: “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 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.”
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