Wole Soyinka Speaks On Agitation For Yoruba Nation

• Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, has spoken about the agitation for the Yoruba Nation.

EKO HOT BLOG reports that Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, has condemned calls for the actualization of Yoruba Nation in the South-West region.

Soyinka, who made the comment while speaking during an interview with BBC Pidgin, said he preferred a united Nigeria, but under certain “rigorous conditions”.

The Nobel Laureate, who described Nigeria as a “basket case”, further stated that the political arrangement in the country has failed to work.

He, however, expressed displeasure over the raid of the residence of the popular Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo fondly known as Sunday Igboho, in Ibadan the Oyo State capital, by security operatives last Thursday.

Soyinka said, “I don’t like the sound of a Yoruba Nation any more than I like the sound of a Tiv nation or an Igbo nation.

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“The reason is this: there are certain pejorative overtones, chauvinistic overtones attached to it. That’s not the issue.

“When you talk about a Yoruba Nation, are we talking about the creation of a nation within Nigeria alone or across colonial borders into Cotonou, Benin Republic, where Yoruba exists, moving on to Togo and even Ivory Coast?

“So, when we talk about Yoruba Nation, I have to know exactly what you mean. Do we even talk about the Yoruba in the Diaspora?

“So, it’s a question which is not for me to answer at this particular moment,” the Nobel Laureate stated.

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