2023 ELECTIONS: My Trust Has Broken Down Completely – Wole Soyinka
Professor Wole Soyinka on Monday, gave his assessment of the recently concluded 2023 general elections in Nigeria.
Soyinka while speaking on Channels TV, noted that though he was not in the country as at the election time, reports he has read on the outcome of the election process broke his trust in the system completely, adding that politicians chose to jettison the restraints expected of them.
“On arriving, I came in for the World Poetry Day, and immediately, I was bombarded by the most horrendous narratives both pre and after the elections”.
“Since then, I’ve also read columns; I’ve seen Nigerian papers for the first time in months and I didn’t like what I read at all.
“My trust has broken down completely and even the minimum restraint that we’ve learnt to expect from seasoned politicians have been jettisoned completely” the noble laureate stated.
He added that;
“Elections should be keenly contested. But I still believe very much in what I call the Fashola Dictum.”
Soyinka quoted former Lagos state Governor Babatunde Fashola, now Minister of Works and Housing, as once saying elections should be like festivals.
“They should be yet another aspect of the festive spirit of humanity – and this was anything but festive,” he said.