Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka on Saturday broke his silence on the aircraft seat controversy which has gone viral on social media.
He said in a statement in Lagos that there was no truth in suggestions that he resisted doing the needful once he realized that he occupied somebody else’s seat.
Soyinka, in what appears to be an attempt to correct misconceptions about the episode, said: “I don’t know how much airlines succeed in raising for their charity drives through those envelopes they distribute to passengers into which their captive donors are exhorted to deposit their loose change before disembarking.
“Such monies are then distributed to worthy causes all over the world, especially in the pursuit of health.
“What I am convinced of is that they would generate a hundred times more if they were more creative.
“For instance, they could impose a fine on passengers who take the wrong seat on boarding, even for a second.
“One can only rejoice in the thought of such benefits to humanity in its efforts to eradicate all kinds of diseases, especially malnutrition, and ensure the supply of nutrients that prevent the premature onset of brain impairment.”
“Those who permit themselves to be persuaded, even for one second that I, Wole Soyinka, having wrongly identified a seat number like millions of travellers all the time, and all over the world, would then attempt to consolidate the error in any form, through act, word, or gesture, qualify to be the first beneficiaries of this vastly improved humanitarian policy.”
