Professor Wole Soyinka, a Nobel laureate, has reacted and disassociated himself from a viral video that is thought to have been posted by a member of the National Association of Seadogs, also known as the Pyrates Confraternity, at a rally where participants appeared to be making fun of Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate for the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Soyinka, whose reaction was contained in a statement, yesterday, described the video as “dubious and bizarre.”
He said: “My attention has been drawn to a video clip making rounds on the internet 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.
“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 favourite 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, 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 inquiries into this strange, uncharacteristic outing of the association.”
Ada Peter
