Prof. Wole Soyinka, has
expressed shock at the contents of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s
controversial autobiography titled, My Watch.
Soyinka, in a piece titled, ‘Watch And
Pray, Watch And Prey’, described Obasanjo as an expert in telling lies
and a shameless man.
Obansanjo described Wole Soyinka as a misfit, a better wine connoisseur and a guinea fowl hunter in the book.
“For Wole, no one can be good, nor can anything be spot-on politically except that which emanates from him or is ordained by him. His friends and loved ones will always be right and correct no matter what they do or fail to do. He is surely a better wine connoisseur and a more successful aparo (guinea fowl) hunter than a political critic, ” Obasanjo wrote.
Soyinka did not find the ex President Obasanjo's comment funny. In a very acerbic piece, the Nobel Laureate said:
“I despise that species of humanity whose stock-in-trade is to concoct lies simply to score a point, win an argument, puff up his or her own ego, denigrate or attempt to destroy a fellow being.
However, even within such deplorable species, a special pit of universal opprobrium is surely reserved for those who even lack the courage of their own lies, but must foist them on others.”
He also took a swipe at the former
President for openly condemning his former Special Adviser, Mr. Akin
Osuntokun, who is 'young enough to be his son.'
The playwright said:
“For now, let me single out just one of the most glaring instances of this man’s compulsive career of lying, one sample that the media can readily check upon and use as a touchstone – if they do need one – in assessing our author’s multifaceted claims and commentaries on people and events. I refer here to the grotesque and personally insulting statement that he has attributed to me for some inscrutable but obviously diversionary reasons. In the process, this past Master of Mendacity brazenly implicates an innocent young man, Akin Osuntokun, who once served him as a special adviser. Instead of conferring dignity on a direct rebuttal of an ignoble fabrication, I shall simply make a personal, all-embracing attestation. When an old man stuffs a lie into the throat of an age-mate of his own children – omo inu e! – we can only pity an irredeemable egomaniac whose dotage is headed for twilight disgrace.”
The literary icon also revisited the
controversial Obasanjo Presidential library, saying it was acquired
through ‘executive extortionism’ just as President Goodluck Jonathan
recently got over N21bn at a dinner/fund-raiser last Saturday.
He noted that both Jonathan and Obasanjo were leaders known for impunity.
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