From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, has launched a blistering attack on those accusing him of parading doubtful credentials with a declaration of 30 days ultimatum to submit their findings to relevant security agencies for a probe.
Soyinka in statement entitled, ‘A Moral Call to Amoral Conscript,’ personally signed by him, said that he had sent the document to his lawyers and is awaiting their advice whether to file a legal action or not, adding that he is, however, waiving all rights of protection for his academic credentials to be probed.
He described the allegation as a “document of unmatchable scurrility’’ circulated as part of a global campaign of calumny spearheaded by the military dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha against pro-democracy campaigners in Nigeria, which is back in circulation ironically under the auspices of a democratic political party.”
Soyinka said that copies of his statement have been made available to the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Pan-African Writers Association, Accra, Nigerian Association of Authors, the Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, the University of Leeds, the alleged Bristol Primary Source and his school, and the media.
The statement reads in part: “I wish to state in advance that I voluntarily waive all protection under the statute of limitations, and insist that the laws that govern fraudulent academic claims be invoked and applied to these allegations to the uttermost limit. I also declare, in advance, that, if found culpable, I shall strip myself of any titles and honours I may have garnered in my entire career, from the most obscure to the most coveted.
“In return, I expect the purveyors of this sordid material to submit all evidence however minuscule, to the nation’s investigative agencies – Directorates of Prosecutions, EFCC, ICPC, plus affected institutions and others – within the next 30 days. Failing this elementary service in public interest within the stated time, and/or if such allegations are yet again proven worthless, thus indicating that their sponsors can boast of neither honours to their careers nor honour to their births and origins, then, as a token of moral recompense, they should undertake to jump off the bridge of the symbolic River Niger, provided with life jackets to ensure a life of remorse after this ritual purgation, but chained to one another in a commendable unity of purpose.”