Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, on Thursday lashed out at the Nigerian media, saying he would not talk to them any longer due to what he described as reportage of falsehood.
He accused them of ‘extreme invention’ and ‘distortion of facts’ and said he cannot be spending time correcting falsehood. “I’m not responsible for the falsehood, and that burden should not be placed on my head.”
This is as he also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to positively respond to the Niger Delta militants in order to solve the issues in the oil region, adding that he has been contacted to intervene in the Niger Delta crisis.
He stated this at a press conference in Lagos. Soyinka was quoted in the news not too long ago as saying that the services of international mediators would be sought to intervene between the Nigerian government and militants to resolve the crisis in the oil region. The report, he claimed, was distorted beyond measure.
“Let me make a plea, it’s bad enough distorting whatever happens, events, statements on certain subjects, bad enough. But on an issue like the insurgency in Nigeria, the Delta in particular, we are on very very delicate grounds and the media has a huge role to play in that.”
“And the immediate role people like me must demand of the media is accuracy. There can be no invention in this kind of situation. There can be no adumbration, there can be no extrapolation, not even second guessing. You have got to be accurate. Otherwise, there’s a loss of confidence and therefore a lack of solution. People must be confident that what they say to you is what you translate and transmit to those to whom you are sent.
“So please I implore you, media, in fact, I’ve taken a decision not to speak about the Delta situation publicly; just to carry on any assignment which I feel I can carry out on behalf of a resolution.
“I will not be talking to the press any longer, because I cannot spend my time correcting falsehood. I’m not responsible for the falsehood, and that burden should not be placed on my head,” he said.
On the Niger Delta crisis Soyinka advised, “I wish to make an appeal publicly to the government, and please report me accurately, to respond positively to the outrage from the militant groups,” he said.
“That is the request which has been made by some of the groups who got me into this interventionist role in the first place. At the moment they feel that the government of President Buhari is not seriously responding to their own outrage. And I wish to make a personal appeal to the government to respond positively and let us see where it ends us.
“But I’m not part of any international group, I was approached personally and I’ve been responding personally to some of these groups just as I did when President Jonathan was in power and MEND was the umbrella group of the insurgents.
“So I make that appeal once more to the government please, respond to the efforts of these militant groups to arrive at a holistic and comprehensive solution.”
By Ebere Ndukwu …
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