‘It’s crazy’, Nobel Laurette, Wole Soyinka on OAU VC matter
Nobel Laurette Wole Soyinka has described the invasion of Obafemi Awolowo Univerisity, Ife by indigenes of Ile-Ife, demanding that one of them be made Vice Chancellor of the institution as crazy.
Soyinka, who once lectured at OAU, spoke at the University of Pennsylvania, the United States while delivering a lecture titled, ‘The Politics of Black Intellection and Creativity’.
“An Ife person wrote me and say, look at these people disgracing us. I told him to go there and disgrace them. You are an Ife person. You should be in the front line.
“The Ife people should say those people don’t belong to us, we don’t know where they came from. And they should be dealt with ruthlessly.
“Why should there be an Ife VC anywhere? I just don’t understand what they put in the water these days. It is crazy,”
Responding to a question by Professor Wale Adebanwi, Presidential Penn Compact Professor of Africana Studies, Department of Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Soyinka said he has been shocked at the state of kidnapping in Nigeria.
“I have been under a state of shock for a couple of decades. So it was time I took my revenge and hopefully shock our own people just for exchange,”
