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Election: Why I support Moghalu for president –Soyinka

David Adenekan
David Adenekan
Election: Why I support Moghalu for president –Soyinka
Moghalu and Soyinka

Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has expressed his support for the presidential candidate of the Young Progressive Party, YPP, Kinglsey Moghalu, in the coming general election, giving the reasons for that.

He pointed out that Moghalu got his support, having satisfied the thorough test carried out to arrive at the choice of a competent individual best suited for the country’s leadership.

Moghalu, who he said, was his choice incidentally was the choice of the Citizens Forum which he said was “pulled out of retirement to join the efforts by some other groups to arrive at peer consensus.”

He however warned that neither he nor Citizen Forum was part of the Third Force or other Consensus seeking councils by any other name.

Soyinka’s verdict is contained in a statement he issued and titled, New Directions In A Time of Decision.

His words:  “Let me reiterate: there is over-abundant, but stifled leadership material, and there can be no excuse, now that that potential of high quality is being manifested, for constricting the political space in a population that is nudging two hundred million. And that statement is of course specially addressed to those who took part in this exercise, those who deliberately opted out of it, some of whom were assessed anyway. Such potential compelled us to exercise utmost rigour in what proved to be a most daunting exercise. The final determination however is – the flag-bearer of the Young Progressive Party – KINGSLEY MOGHALU.

Giving details of how the choice of Moghalu was arrived at, the Nobel laureate said among other things, the careers, experiences and track records of most of the presidential aspirants, and most intensely those actually short-listed by the opposition parties themselves were considered.

He said besides, he physically interacted with some of the acknowledged top contenders, in some cases several times.

“We participated in HANDSHAKE ACROSS NIGERIA, where some candidates presented their briefs. Among others, I delivered a keynote address. We watched television interviews. We have exchanged notes with highly respected international Civil Servants. The drive towards Consensus among these dedicated groups sometimes took the form of test questionnaires to the aspirants, including items such as: ‘Who among the contestants would you choose, if you did not emerge as the ultimate preference?’,” he said.

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