Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, on Thursday, disclosed that he would not vote and would not encourage anyone to vote for the continuation of President Goodluck Jonathan-led government.

At the 2015 edition of the annual Vision of the Child (VOTC) programme held in Lagos, he said his position was informed by Jonathan’s alleged indifference to the cries of the Chibok girls kidnapped in April 2014.

“I will not vote and I will not encourage anyone to vote for the continuation of this government, simply because your colleagues numbering over two hundred were kidnapped,” Soyinka told students at the event,” he said.

Soyinka lamented that the Chibok girls kidnapped on April 14 of last year were sent on a mission to acquire education, but ended up being kidnapped.

“And the government of this nation failed to show leadership. So, anyone who says after that event that I will vote or cast my vote or encourage anyone to vote for this regime must be living in Sambisa Forest,” he said.

He also noted that it took the Jonathan government 10 days to even accept that the Chibok girls were missing.

“There has been a failure of leadership. Our children whom you represent today have been betrayed. After that dereliction of duty, after that failure of leadership, after that betrayal for our future, for anyone to think or to put words in my mouth suggesting that I will vote or encourage anyone to vote for this regime is a travesty of intelligence,” Soyinka said.

He laughed off those who had claimed on the social media that he was dead, telling journalists at the event that they should not misquote him, adding that if they did, he would rise from the dead to correct them.

A total of 250 student participants from 60 primary and secondary schools within Lagos attended the interview, of age bracket nine to 12 years.

•Adapted from a Nigerian Tribune report. Photo shows Soyinka.

Update news