2019 presidency: Wole Soyinka discloses who he will vote for

Nigeria’s literary icon, Prof. Wole Soyinka has said that he will not vote for the presidential candidates of the of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Muhammadu Buhari and that of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar in next month’s presidential election.

The Nobel Laureate stated this on Thursday at an event organised by Citizen Forum, held at the Freedom Park on Lagos Island, Lagos State.

Soyinka noted that it was time for the nation to move into a new direction different from that of the PDP or APC.

“For the avoidance of doubt, let me make my position quite clear because I don’t want any ambiguity; I Wole Soyinka will not be voting for either the two so called contesting parties [PDP or APC]. I find both of them worthy of absolute rejection,” Soyinka said.

“For a number of reasons which I will not go into here, I’m not interested in a comparative assessment. My position is simply that it is time for a totally new direction. And obviously, I’m not the only one, as I’m speaking, there is a coalition having its meeting in Lagos from which they hope to produce a consensus candidate.

“There is another group meeting in Abuja, also at the end would send us their consensus candidate. Things have been going on quietly in the background to try and change the direction of this nation in a very positive way, and to make the public understand that they do not have to be enslaved permanently to the old discredited order. It is my sole business in this election.

“I don’t believe in what is called negative vote which means, for me, throwing your vote in a wastebasket, I believe instead in a creative vote, not a protest vote, not a negative vote but a creative vote. And a creative vote means that the will to at least sow a seed through your vote that will germinate eventually. The pace of germination is beyond the control of everyone, but it is never too early to make a beginning. It has happened before in other societies. When a dark horse emerges from nowhere and trumps all the political juggernauts caterpillars and so on with their performers, worthless, their capacity for violence and treachery.”