Nobel laureate and elder statesman, Prof Wole Soyinka, has berated members of the National Association of Seadogs, popularly known as Pyrates Confraternity, for shockingly mocking the foremost presidential candidate in the county and national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in a song.
In the viral video, the confraternity members, decked in their red and white regalia were seen dancing to a chant of condemnable hate that goes thus, “Hand dey shake, leg dey shake, baba wey no well he dey shout Emi Lokan,” which simply means, “With an unstable hand and leg, a man with a frail health is sounding off that it’s his turn to be Nigeria’s president.’’
Recall that the statement, “Emi Lokan,’’ was made by Tinubu on June 3, 2022, during a meeting with the party delegates in Abeokuta, Ogun State, where he expressed frustration over the non-support of his ambition to win the party’s presidential ticket.
In a statement released on Monday titled, ‘Interim statement on a dubious political outing,’ the Nobel laureate explained that his attention was 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.
Soyinka was quoted saying, “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.
“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 designate 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 coincidence, I had cause to write quite recently, was CLR James, author of The Black Jacobins, Beyond A Boundary, 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, 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.”
The renowned essayist concluded by saying a further statement would be issued on the development after he had made further enquiries into what he described as the strange, uncharacteristic outing of the association.
