Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka,
declared on Thursday that no one
should vote for the continuation of
President Goodluck Jonathan’s
government, saying that there has been
a total failure in leadership.
He said he has sixty reasons not to vote
for the Jonathan regime.
“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 2015
edition of Vision of the Child (VOTC), a
yearly programme inaugurated in 2012.
He said the Chibok girls kidnapped on
14 April of last year were sent on a
mission to acquire an education, but
ended up being kidnapped.
“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,” Soyinka said, referring
to a forest in Borno State where the
Chibok girls are believed to be held by
Boko Haram.
“There has been a failure of leadership.
Our children whom you represent today
have been betrayed,” Soyinka said,
adding that no appropriate action was
taken to retrieve them.
Soyinka said it took the Jonathan
government ten days to even accept
that the Chibok girls were even missing.
“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. If
they do, he added, he will rise from the
dead to correct them.
The 2015 edition of Vision of the Child
has for theme “The Road to Sambisa”.
This year, a total of 250 student
participants from 60 primary and
secondary schools within Lagos
attended the interview. The age bracket
for the participants was 9 to 12 years.
Their entries were assessed by a panel
of eminent judges comprising teachers,
artists, child carers and social workers.
The finalists will be invited on the 7
March to the National Conversation
Foundation Park. Lekki, and provided
with brush, paint and easel, and will be
required to illustrate their literary
presentation in the complementary
medium painting.
This year, 60 finalists were drawn from
35 schools within Lagos State, said
Foluke George, Festival Secretary and
Programme Manager for the Vision of
the Child.
