Don’t Vote For Jonathan, Soyinka Lists Reasons

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, declared on
Thursday that no one should vote for the
continuation of President Goodluck Jonathan’s
government, saying that there has been a total
failure in leadership.
He said he has sixty reasons not to vote for the
Jonathan regime.
“I will not vote and I will not encourage anyone to
vote for the continuation of this government,
simply because your colleagues numbering over
two hundred were kidnapped, ” Soyinka told
students at the 2015 edition of Vision of the Child
(VOTC), a yearly programme inaugurated in 2012.
He said the Chibok girls kidnapped on 14 April of
last year were sent on a mission to acquire an
education, but ended up being kidnapped.
“And the government of this nation failed to show
leadership. So anyone who says after that event
that I will vote or cast my vote or encourage
anyone to vote for this regime must be living in
Sambisa forest,” Soyinka said, referring to a forest
in Borno State where the Chibok girls are believed
to be held by Boko Haram.
“There has been a failure of leadership. Our
children whom you represent today have been
betrayed,” Soyinka said, adding that no appropriate
action was taken to retrieve them.
Soyinka said it took the Jonathan government ten
days to even accept that the Chibok girls were
even missing.
“After that dereliction of duty, after that failure of
leadership, after that betrayal for our future, for
anyone to think or to put words in my mouth
suggesting that I will vote or encourage anyone to
vote for this regime is a travesty of intelligence, ”
Soyinka said.
Soyinka laughed off those who had claimed on the
social media that he was dead, telling journalists
at the event that they should not misquote him. If
they do, he added, he will rise from the dead to
correct them.
The 2015 edition of Vision of the Child has for
theme “The Road to Sambisa”.
This year, a total of 250 student participants from
60 primary and secondary schools within Lagos
attended the interview. The age bracket for the
participants was 9 to 12 years.
Their entries were assessed by a panel of eminent
judges comprising teachers, artists, child carers
and social workers.
The finalists will be invited on the 7 March to the
National Conversation Foundation Park. Lekki, and
provided with brush, paint and easel, and will be
required to illustrate their literary presentation in
the complementary medium painting.
This year, 60 finalists were drawn from 35 schools
within Lagos State, said Foluke George, Festival
Secretary and Programme Manager for the Vision
of the Child.