Soyinka disassociates himself from Pyrates Confraternity song mocking Tinubu as being old and frail

NOBEL laureate Professor Wole Soyinka has disassociated himself from the National Association of Seadogs song mocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as being too old to run for office.

 

In a comical twist to Nigeria's ongoing presidential election campaign, members of the National Association of Seadogs, popularly known as the Pyrates Confraternity, met over the weekend. In line with their tradition, the Pyrates marched and sang but this time around, their song was one mocking Asiwaju Tinubu as being too old and unwell to be Nigeria's president.

 

In the one-minute video, the members dressed in red and white attire danced and chanted: "Emi lokan, Emi loka, baba wey no well de dey shout emi lokan. Hand dey shake, leg dey shake, baba wey no well he dey shout Emi Lokan.” Roughly translated it means "with an unstable hand and leg, a old man in poor health is say that it is his turn to be president."

 

Distancing himself from the song, Professor Soyinka said: “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 and 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 designate 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 coincidence, I had cause to write quite recently, was CLR James, author of The Black Jacobins, Beyond A Boundary 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.”

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