Founding Member, Elder Statesman, Wole Soyinka Speaks on Viral Pyrates Confraternity Video

Prof Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate, elder statesman and founding member of the National Association of Seadogs, also known as Pyrates Confraternity, has reacted to a viral video where some purported members were mocking the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

The 1-minute video captured the Confraternity members dressed in red and white dancing and chanting: “Hand dey shake, leg dey shake, baba wey no well he dey shout Emi Lokan.”

Translation: “With an unstable hand and leg, a man with a frail health is sounding off that it’s his turn to be Nigeria’s president.’’

The Nobel laureate, in a statement on Monday titled, ‘Interim statement on a dubious political outing,’ said that his attention was drawn to a video clip making internet rounds, of a dancing and chanting group of people, in red and white costume, purportedly members of the Pyrates Confraternity.

He said, “The display acidly targets a presidential candidate in the awaited 2023 elections. Since the whole world knows of my connection with that fraternity, it is essential that I state in clear, unambiguous terms that I am not involved in that public performance nor in any way associated with the sentiments expressed in the songs.

“Like any other civic group, the Pyrates Confraternity is entitled to its freedom of expression, individually or collectively. So also, is Wole Soyinka in his own person. I do not interfere in, nor do I attempt to dictate the partisan political choices of the Confraternity. I remain unaware that the association ever engages in a collective statement of sponsorship or repudiation of any candidate. This is clearly a new and bizarre development, fraught with unpredictable consequences.

“In addition, let me make the following cultural affirmation. I have listened to the lyrics of the chant intently and I am frankly appalled. I find it distasteful. I belong to a culture where we do not mock physical afflictions or disabilities. Very much the contrary. The Yoruba religion indeed designate a deity, Obatala, as the divine protector of the afflicted, no matter the nature of such affliction. This sensibility is engrained in us from childhood and remains with us all our lives. It operates on the principle of mortal frailty to which all humanity remains vulnerable.

“One of my favourite authors, about whom, by coincidence, I had cause to write quite recently, was CLR James, author of The Black Jacobins, Beyond A Boundary etc. I called him my ideological uncle. He suffered from Parkinson’s Disease, but remained alert, lucid and combative for decades after the onset of the disease.

“We interacted politically at the Tanzanian pan-African Congress, the Dakar Festival of Negro Arts, and a number of other cultural and political fora. We met frequently in his lifetime, dined together in restaurants, despite his challenge. It would be unthinkable, and a desecration of his memory to be part of any activity that mocked his affliction.”

Wole Soyinka noted that another statement would be issued on the development after he makes further enquiries.