I never supported election of Buhari, I only said ‘Do not vote Jonathan’, says Soyinka

Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has denied supporting the emergency of Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s President in 2015.

Indeed, Soyinka said he neither voted for Buhari nor asked people to vote for him.

The professor stated this during a press conference in Lagos on Thursday.
“It is false to say that I supported the election of Buhari,” he said, adding that what he said at the time was “do not vote for Jonathan.”
Soyinka said it is his fundamental right to vote for any candidate of his choice, and if the person fails, he is entitled to say it.

Following the bitting economic hardship and insecurity across the country, many Nigerians have accused Soyinka of bringing the problems on the nation by supporting the emergence of Buhari as president.
The Nobel laureate was a staunch critic of the Goodluck Jonathan administration.
In the run-up to the 2015 general election, he, however, distanced himself from media reports claiming he endorsed a presidential or governorship candidate.
“All such attributions are fabrications by faceless, often self-appointed agents of deception, and should be publicly pilloried,” Soyinka had said in a statement in January 2015.
“Whenever I choose to declare support for a candidate – as is my electoral right – I shall ensure that I deploy a medium that places my authorship beyond dispute. Internet habitues, social networks etc are urged to be less gullible, and avoid becoming cheap conduits for the deception industry.”