21 July 2010
After years of vehemently criticising the corruption and mismanagement that he perceives to dog his native Nigeria, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka made clear his intentions to venture from the observational literary circles in which he is most familiar and into the political arena.
At an event to celebrate the 76th birthday of the "The Swamp Dwellers" author on Tuesday, Soyinka announced his wishes to found a party of "progressives" in time to do battle in the elections next year.
He levelled criticism at current leaders for failing to provide the population with sufficient basic services - 150 million people are without or have very little electricity - despite the country's income from its plentiful oil supply.
Soyinka vowed that he would launch his proposed "organ of collaboration for progressive forces" in September.
Urging Nigerians to join the new party, the famous writer said that he hoped that with enough people behind him they would be able unseat the ruling People's Democratic Party, which has been in office since May 1999 following the country's return to civilian rule.
No comments:
Post a Comment