Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has said that the decision of President Muhamadu Buhari to introduce the highly controversial naira swap policy, and its attendant hardship, have soured his hope of leaving office on a high note.
The Nobel Laureate gave this verdict on Arise TV’s Morning Show on Wednesday.
He stated that that single action of the president had wiped off some of the legacies his regime had dreamt of leaving behind, since it had, overnight, impoverished millions of Nigerians.
“Well, I don’t think we need to even waste much intellectual energy to assess Buhari’s tenure because he’s living on a very sour note.
“I’m referring to the policy, which, overnight, impoverished millions and millions of Nigerians. If he was hoping to go out on a high note, I’m sorry, he will find himself disappointed that the single action has really wiped out the major part of his achievements,” he added.
Soyinka commended some state governments that challenged the federal government’s policy at the court, describing it as decentralization in action.
“If you go back to what I said about decentralization. You saw what happened, especially the action initiated by certain governors, not only to take the central government to court but also to tell their people to ignore the centre and obey the decision of the Supreme Court. That for me is true federalism in action. It is that type of transformation I look forward to seeing in the activities of whichever government comes to power,” he stated.
He, however, denied some posts, going viral on social media, regarding his support for a presidential candidate in the last election.
While warning Nigerians on the need to be wary of fake news, Soyinka used the opportunity to announce a reward of $1,000 to whoever would help him track the authors of those fake posts, being attributed to him.
“I hope you don’t mind me warning your audience. Please be aware of fake news. A lot of damage is being done by the purveyors. Some garbage, some nauseating praise-singing posts, seen so many times, have been resurrected and attributed to Wole Soyinka. It makes me sick. It makes me want to opt-out.
“I want to use this opportunity to announce a reward. I’m not a rich man. But I’ve looked at my accounts, I can afford a $1,000 reward to anyone who can successfully finger the author of some of these posts, attributed to me, but which we have repudiated again and again.
“I will even go further to raise additional funds for anyone, who can relieve us of this incubus of false attribution of fake news,” he added.
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