Prof. Wole Soyinka, a Nobel laureate, has claimed that his recent interview with a Lagos-based television station was distorted, rendering his remarks completely unrecognizable.
On Tuesday, in a statement titled “Media Responsibility,” the playwright expressed concern about an alleged complaint by him that people were not following instructions.
In a veiled interpretation of ‘people’ to mean members of the Labour Party, the essayist added that he was not a member of the party, querying how giving ‘instructions’ could become his role.
Soyinka said, “On a minor note, I remain concerned by the alleged complaint by me of people not following ‘instructions’. If words are garbled in recording, the speaker can be reached for clarification – else, simply leave out the unclear section completely to avoid misrepresentation. After all, piecemeal transmission is legitimate proceeding, as long as a part is not presented as the whole. I am not a member of the Labour Party, so how can giving ‘instructions’ become my role? Like a number of others, I have admittedly contributed to the making of this moment – going back several years – and it is painful to have the followers of such a movement send it slithering backwards and down the fascistic slope.
“What I have read – at least, thus far – this morning, extracted from a one and a half long interview, conducted a week ago with CHANNELS Television, brings once more to the fore, the critical responsibility of the media in transmitting the spoken, even recorded word to the public. This is especially crucial in a time of civic uncertainty. When remarks are taken out of context, spliced into a new one, provided a sensational headline, distortions become stamped on public receptivity, and the central intent of one’s remarks becomes completely unrecognisable.’’
Soyinka added that he denounced the menacing utterances of a vice-presidential aspirant as unbecoming, noting that it was a gladiatorial challenge directed at the judiciary and, by implication, the rest of the democratic polity.
Soyinka added, “But what on earth has happened to my even more urgent condemnation of the physical violence inflicted on those designated ‘strangers’ in Lagos in the lead up to and during governorship elections?
This prejudicial selectivity is a betrayal of trust, and I find it contemptuous of public deserving. My critique of incipient fascism in the movement remains grounded in indisputable evidence.
Throughout the interview, I continued to stress that the final word had yet to be pronounced on the elections – that omission renders the full message tendentious!’’
Stating that his rejection of fascism was not nothing new, the elder statesman explained that on three occasions, he was able to send a message to the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi that, if he lost the election, it would be his followers who lost it for him.
He stated, “It was depressing to watch his lieutenant, a crucially positioned voice of a movement that has ‘broken the mould,’ threaten the totality of social existence. Whatever our ideological leaning, is Donald Trump the ideal template for a burgeoning democracy in the nation?”