Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has challenged those disputing his academic records to submit their proof to the nation’s investigating authorities in 30 days.
He urged them to submit their claims to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, Independent Corrupt Practice Commission, ICPC, and the Directorate of Prosecutions so that they can probe him.
Soyinka made the remarks in reaction to an online publication which disputed his academic claims.
One Joseph Dahip had in a 1998 article referenced a 1996 report in which a scholar, Prof James Gibbs, was quoted as unravelling some claims allegedly made by Soyinka.
The 1996 article partly read: “The claim by Professor Wole Soyinka that he obtained a first-class bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Leeds University has been challenged. Instead, what the Nobel laureate actually obtained from Leeds was a second-class degree. This startling revelation was made by Professor James Gibbs who has closely monitored the activities of former Leeds students in English literature”.
The report quoted Gibbs as saying that he relied on a variety of sources, including contemporary Leeds publications, archival material, Soyinka’s work and “interviews I had with him” in arriving at the facts he had on Soyinka’s academic records.
Reacting, Soyinka in a statement titled: “A Moral Call to Amoral Conscripts”, on Friday, said he would voluntarily waive all protection under the statute of limitations, and insisted that the laws that govern fraudulent academic claims be invoked and applied to these allegations against him to the limit.
He declared in advance that, if found culpable, he will strip himself of any titles and honours he might have garnered in his entire career, from the most obscure to the most coveted.
He said: “A document of unmatchable scurrility, last encountered during General Sani Abacha’s global campaign of calumny against opponents of his despotic, infernally venal and homicidal reign, is back in circulation.
“Duly modified to suit a debased internet culture, it is making its grimy rounds ironically under the auspices of a democratic political party, supposedly dedicated to an ethos of freedom of opinion and expression.
“The contents of that script are attributed, as before, to the scholastic industry of a Bristol school teacher.
“While awaiting a decision from my lawyers whether or not to dignify the current sponsors of this mouldy tract with legal action, 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 thirty days.
“Failing this elementary service in public interest within the stated time, and/or If such allegations are yet again proven baseless, 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”.
The Nobel Laureate said he had copied his statement 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, his school and the infested media.
