“He (President Goodluck Jonathan) could have easily tried to do a Gbagbo.”
That was Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, speaking on President Jonathan’s decision to concede defeat to General Muhammadu Buhari after Saturday’s presidential election.
He spoke in an interview with Bloomberg TV Africa on Wednesday
Former Cote d’Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo, it would be recalled, sparked post-election violence in his country when he refused to step down after an election defeat in 2010.
On Buhari’s victory, the 80-year-old said, “There is a moment when we must put the past aside, most especially when what presumes to the present becomes intolerable and continues and threatens to prolong itself, then we have to be more pragmatic.”
Soyinka urged Nigerians to show a Nelson Mandela-like ability to forgive Buhari’s past as a military dictator.
“I criticised him for certain acts during his stint as a military dictator,” the playwright said.
“But I also insist that it’s about time we try our best to be mini-Mandelas, to learn there’s a moment when we must put the past aside.”
He went on: “There’s a moment when we must put the past aside, most especially when what presumes to the present becomes intolerable and continues and threatens to prolong itself, then we have to be more pragmatic.”
