Nigerian novelist and poet, Professor Wole Soyinka, has slammed the South African government for its confrontational attitude towards Nigeria and its citizens.
According to Soyinka, such behaviour distorts the fraternal relationship between the progressives of both countries.
The Nobel Laureate winner said this on Saturday 15 June at an event tagged: ‘An Evening with Professor Wole Soyinka at 90’, which was put together by the Metropolitan Club, Lagos to mark the 90th birthday of the writer, which comes up on July 13, 2024.
Among the top personalities present at the event include, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former General Secretary of the Commonwealth: Dr Kayode Fayemi, former Governor of Ekiti State: Dr Yemi Ogunbiyi, former Managing Director of Daily Times Nigeria Plc: and Kunle Ajibade, Executive Editor, TheNEWS and PM NEWS.
“I mention this deliberately because we have a problem with South Africa,” Soyinka said.
“There is this kind of complex, I haven’t quite figured it out. A kind of complex which distorts what I consider a fraternal relationship of progressives between Nigeria and South Africa.
“I am saying this as a message to South Africa. Please don’t do that sort of thing again. We don’t know whose turn it is going to be.”
Soyinka made the assertion following the negative roles played by representatives of the South African government, which truncated the efforts Nigerian activists were putting together to remove the late Head of State Gen. Sani Abacha from office.
According toSoyinka, some Nigerian activists, including him, were supposed to hold a conference in South Africa during the dark days of Abacha but their efforts were sabotaged by some representatives of the South African government.
He revealed that as the Nigerian activists were gearing up for the conference in South Africa, the representative of the South African government in Nigeria asked the activists to submit their passports to him so he could help them process their visa only for him to sabotage their efforts.
He said when the South African government was confronted, they said they did not want to be seen to be harming the king.
The famous playwright also recalled how he had suffered humiliation several times at the hand of South African immigration.
“I can tell you a number of times I have suffered humiliation at the hands of South Africa immigration. Some of which are in the public domain, others are not. But these are issues which sometimes make me wonder.
“I want to use this opportunity to pose this as a challenge to South African progressives.”
