Playwright and social critic, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has said in a statement that he withdrew his earlier criticism of the congratulatory message President Muhammadu Buhari sent to The Gambia on its recent elections.
The Nobel laureate said he thought President Buhari was congratulating the outgoing President of The Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, on his re-election having been in power for 22 years as one of the sit-tight African leaders.
Soyinka during a media chat on Monday in Lagos had advised President Buhari to be wary of sending congratulatory messages like he did to Jammeh.
In a statement signed by the essayist and dramatist titled, ‘A correction on Gambian elections,’ he said, “Just before setting off for my Media Chat at Freedom Park this morning (Monday), I was handed a Sunday newspaper with a comment on the recently concluded Gambian presidential election.
“I totally misheard the comment and thought that President Yahya Jammeh had again succeeded in manipulating the votes to remain on the continent’s “sit-tight” roll of dishonour.
“It turned out that I had obtained the wrong picture. The torturer and notorious administrator of hallucinogenic broths to citizens had been dethroned. I therefore take back my criticism of Nigeria’s message of congratulations.
“Let the entire West African sub-region and indeed the entire continent rejoice in the overthrow of the monatrocity who had sworn to rule for a billion years, a throw-back autocrat with delusions of eternal power who casually tossed opposition in dungeons and threw the keys away. It is now time to make Jammeh answer for his 22 years of boastful misrule and crimes against humanity.”
Soyinka added, “Once again, my apologies for the miscommunication. I rejoice with the long-suffering citizens of The Gambia, encourage the rehabilitation of that land strip and recovery of its existence in full liberty, freed of fear, and restored to dignity as part of the sentient species.”
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