Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has endorsed Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, presidential candidate of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), for President.
Soyinka and his civil society
group, Citizens Forum, made the announcement in a statement personally signed
by him a on Friday.
According to Soyinka, the
decision to endorse Moghalu was reached after months of rigorous analyses of
the profiles and manifestoes of the various candidates vying for the nation’s
top job.
THE FULL STATEMENT:
“The nation has been brought to
her knees. Internally, the blaring media testimony needs no augmentation.
Beyond her borders, Nigeria is the tale of citizens designated pariahs of the
global community for whom special dossiers are opened, and units of security
agencies are specifically assigned. Online transactions are programmed to
reject basic usage once the word ‘Nigeria’ is inserted in the Data profile.
There are few nation left, within or outside the continental borders where – no
matter the codeword – a Nigerian ‘room’ has not been designated. Her humanity
litters the sand trails of the Sahara, it lines the Mediterranean sea-bed with
the bones of a desperate generation, seeking ‘green pastures’. Lines from my
poems have been appropriated and embossed as epitaphs on the tombstones of
Nigerians washed up the isle of Catania and accorded dignified burials by total
strangers, certainly paid more respect than Nigerians themselves consider due
to their own humanity. Other would-be migrants have been slaughtered by
religious fundamentalists on the shores of Tripoli, while waiting for their
precarious crossing on suicidal boats. Yet others end up as commodities in the
slave markets of Libya and Mauritania, hundreds recently rescued and airlifted
– credit where credit is due! – repatriated by government.
“It was not always thus. Numerous
Nigerians believe that it need not remain so. There is always a choice to be
made outside any presumptuous orders – in reality associations guaranteed to
perpetuate social disorders and the politics of inequality. This is not the
thinking of any one individual but of a large section of this populace. If it
were not, there would not have been a record number of nearly a hundred
political groups aspiring to take over the reins of governance. We do not need
any instruction however to estimate that several of the aspiring groups are
mere plants, raised to sow confusion. It redounds to the credit of a few
individuals, including some of the candidates themselves, who embarked on
efforts to winnow down their own ranks, then seek a consensus candidate as
standard bearer for the battle against the two political behemoths.
“They did not succeed, but that
is no cause for despair. They still deserve the gratitude of Nigerians for
their uniquely principled efforts. The CITIZEN FORUM – last heard of during the
time of the dictator, Sani Abacha – was pulled out of retirement to join in
their effort to arrive at peer consensus. The Forum worked peripherally with
them. It made no attempt – I stress this – no attempt whatsoever to impose its
own preferences, but utilized material from the deliberations of at least four
such selection groups. It remained on the fringe, except on invitation. Our
mission today is simply to present the result of that effort by Citizen Forum
which, I am especially gratified to reveal, coincides with my own personal
preference. The CF conclusion is obviously not binding on other groups or
individuals involved in the exercise. May I take this opportunity to advise the
public that neither Citizen Forum nor myself, belongs to any Third Force or
other Consensus seeking councils by any other name. Please ignore any such
attributions.
“Over the past few months, we
studied the careers, experiences and track records of most of the presidential
aspirants, and most intensely those actually short-listed by the opposition
parties themselves. Like millions of Nigerians, we watched the debates. I
physically interacted with some of the acknowledged top contenders, in some
cases several times. We participated in HANDSHAKE ACROSS NIGERIA, where some
candidates presented their briefs. Among others, I delivered a keynote address.
We watched television interviews. We have exchanged notes with highly respected
international Civil Servants. The drive towards Consensus among these dedicated
groups sometimes took the form of test questionnaires to the aspirants, including
items such as: ‘Who among the contestants would you choose, if you did not
emerge as the ultimate preference?’
“There was nothing complicated
about assessment parameters: mental preparedness, analytical aptitude, response
to the nation’s security challenges, economic grounding, grasp of
socio-political actualities, including a remedial concern with the Nigerian
image in foreign perception etc. etc. not forgetting a convincing commitment to
governance and resource decentralization – commonly referred to as
Restructuring. The Forum rejected retrograde propositions of a political
merry-go-round, which urge the electorate to choose this or that candidate in
order to ensure “our turn” at the next power incumbency. Overall, the exercise
was exacting but also – therapeutic. It proved yet again that there is
over-abundant leadership quality locked up in the nation, and that it is a
collective shortcoming that the political space has not been sufficiently
opened up to let soar such potential. Well, to cite the Chinese proverb: a
journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.
“Let me reiterate: there is
over-abundant, but stifled leadership material, and there can be no excuse, now
that that potential of high quality is being manifested, for constricting the
political space in a population that is nudging two hundred million. And that
statement is of course specially addressed to those who took part in this
exercise, those who deliberately opted out of it, some of whom were assessed
anyway. Such potential compelled us to exercise utmost rigour in what proved to
be a most daunting exercise. The final determination however is – the
flag-bearer of the Young Progressive Party – KINGSLEY MOGHALU.
“I shall conclude with a somewhat
interesting aside. I met Moghalu again on Monday morning, February 4th, and
informed him of the Forum’s decision. During our discussion, I happened to ask
him – what is the meaning of Moghalu. I was curious, because it had taken quite
some time along the way for me to know to which ethnic group the name belonged.
He replied, it means – “Evil Spirit, Leave me Be!” Then I asked him for his
other names and he spelt them out: “Actually my full names are Kingsley Chieedu
Ayodele Moghalu”. Eyebrows raised, I asked, How come, Ayodele? A piquant
revelation resulted: “Oh, that came from Mrs. Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti. She was
friends with my father. Mrs. Kuti was my godmother, and she gave me the name
Ayodele”.
“I was learning this for the
first time. Moghalu’s CV is however in the public domain – his publications,
record, and vision. The above is just a side-note that contains its own mild,
thought provoking instruction, for those who care to examine the distractions
of ethnic equivocations, and the rigid mind-sets and stereotypes imposed on
products of circumstance.
“That immediate task being now
completed, Civic Forum will now join forces with those who pray, “Evil Spirit,
leave us be!” – at least those who subscribe to the belief that political
elections are not a Do-or-Die Affair!
“Wole SOYINKA Convener, CITIZEN
FORUM 2019”
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