Obasanjo Is A Liar, Economic Illiterate – Wole Soyinka

Nobel laureate and playwright, Prof. Wole
Soyinka, has lambasted former president
Olusegun Obasanjo, saying he has no respect for
him.
Soyinka, Obasanjo
The Punch reports that hurled insults at the
former president on yesterday night, Friday,
August 28, while he was responding to questions
during a programme tagged: ‘An evening with
Wole Soyinka’, organised by Globacom. Recall
that the former president, in his book titled ‘My
Watch’, referred to Soyinka as someone who is
good at hunting and wines but a political
illiterate. However, when the Nobel laureate was
asked to comment on the former president’s
assessment of him in his book, Soyinka said that
he was hardly bothered because he believed that
Obasanjo was a liar.

Soyinka said: “Obasanjo is entitled to his opinion.
But the question is: ‘Who respects the opinion of
a liar?’ I can spend the whole night proving that
he is a liar. Obasanjo was once described by an
economist, the late Prof Ojetunji Aboyade, as an
economic illiterate. They nearly ‘went into blow’
that night. It was Prof. Mabogunje who separated
them. “So, if an economic illiterate calls
somebody a political illiterate, no problem at all.
“In ‘ My Watch’, Obasanjo told the first lie when
he said he deplored lies. Anybody who said he
never plotted to have an unconstitutional third
term in office, even as a writer, I need a word to
describe him.”
The feud between the former President and the
Nobel laureate did not just start today. Obasanjo
had once stated that Soyinka once vowed that the
differences between the two of them would not be
resolved on earth. Obasanjo had also in his book,
My Watch, and at public events described
Soyinka as an expert in wine matters than in
political analysis.

He had said: “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.
“Wole Soyinka is a gifted man. I have always
acknowledged that but he is a bad politician and I
have also always said that. That is my own point
of view. He may agree with it, he may not agree
with it. For instance, I know that if I want
somebody to give me the best wine, one of the
people I will go to is Wole Soyinka and I know he
has a taste for good wine and I said that in the
book.”
Just recently, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the leader of
Afenifere said former president, Olusegun
Obasanjo is a tragedy to the Yoruba people.

Source - Naij.com