My Generation Has Failed Nigerians – Wole Soyinka

Wole Soyinka, who spoke about Hard Talk, a BBC program, said his generation failed Nigerians as his generation’s dreams about the country had not materialized.

Wole Soyinka gave the above answer when a program anchor, Zeinab Badawi, asked him, “Has your generation of older Nigerians failed the people? “The laureate of the Nobel prize said;

“Yes, I believe so. I compare today with the dreams and aspirations we had when we all rushed home after studies abroad. We considered ourselves the renaissance people that were going to lift the continent to world standards, competitors anywhere. It hasn’t happened.”

Asked to comment about the 2019 presidential election, he said, “The 2019 election is one of the most depressing elections we’ve been through. Talking for myself, it wasn’t possible for me to make a choice for the simple reason that both candidates (President Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar) had histories – one immediate, one past – which made one look for alternatives.”

The Professor who further revealed why he was soft on Buhari in 2015 when he referred to the president as a born again democrat, stated that Buhari did not win the 2015 election because the people were endeared to him but for the fact that Nigerians could not continue with former President Goodluck Jonathan in office.