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| Prof. Wole Soyinka |
Nobel
laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has condemned what he described as crudity and
vulgar abuse of language that has dominated the electioneering campaigns in the
country and blamed the presidency as the major culprit, the Vanguard reports.
The report continues:
Professor
Soyinka, who spoke yesterday in Lagos at the public presentation of a book
titled “Modern and Tradition Elite in the Politics of Lagos” written by
Ambassador Patrick Dele Cole.
According
to Professor Soyinka, what the current political actors have done is to take
Nigeria to “hitherto imaginable low in the art of public persuasion which – we
have a right to imagine – forms the foundation of political life.”
He
said never before had Nigerians been so subjected to what he called “sheer
venom, crudity and vulgar abuse of language in such prodigal quantities as in
this current political exercise”, and accused the Presidency of being “at the
centre of this uncultured art of political persuasion”.
His
words: “All of us here have passed through the electoral process furnace before
now and I suspect we would mostly agree that never before have we been
subjected to this level of sheer venom, crudity of and vulgar abuse of language
in such prodigal quantities as in this current political exercise.
“The very gift of
communication, considered the distinguishing mark of cultured humanity even in
polemical situations, has been debased, affecting even thought processes, I
often suspect. Speaking as objectively as is possible in such circumstances, I
would say that, among the various camps, the most reckless and indecorous has
sadly proved the incumbency camp, where restraint has been thrown to the wind
with such abandon that even highly privileged spouses have publicly urged
supporters to stone any voices raised in opposition to their cause.”
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