A social media post circulating in Nigeria claims that Nobel Prize-winning author Wole Soyinka asked Nigerian president-elect Bola Tinubu to step down within two days and return the certificate issued by the electoral commission declaring him as the winning candidate. Some posts also claimed that Soyinka told Tinubu to hand over the presidential certificate to Peter Obi, the Labour Party candidate who came in third place during the February election. But these posts are misleading: During an April interview with a local TV station, Soyinka said he had spoken with Tinubu before the election, and at that time had asked him to step down and allow for the “infusion of fresh blood into the system”. At no point during the interview did he ask Tinubu to return his presidential certificate nor to give it to Obi.
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“Soyinka Gives Tinubu 48 Hours To Step Down And Return Certificate… (sic)“, reads a Facebook post published on April 5, 2023, and which has since been shared more than 6,000 times.
The clip was published by an account named “mamasojvlog” that regularly shares content related to political events in Nigeria.
The first part of the eleven-minute-long video shows a woman narrating the video alongside pictures of Tinubu, Obi, Mahmood Yakubu, the head of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and Soyinka.
After a brief introduction by the narrator, the video switches to a clip of Soyinka speaking during an interview.
Born in western Nigeria, Soyinka is well-known in his home country as an author and political activist.
He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986 — the first African writer to win the award.
In the clip, Soyinka said he sought audiences with both Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), urging them to shelve their presidential ambitions for a more youthful candidate.
The clip was also shared elsewhere on Facebook with claims that Soyinka gave Tinubu 48 hours to hand over his presidential certificate to Obi.
But the claim that Soyinka told Tinubu to step down and give his presidential certificate to Obi is misleading.
Soyinka’s interview
By searching on YouTube for keywords like “Soyinka”and “Tinubu”, AFP Fact Check found the original version of the television interview (archived here). It was uploaded on the YouTube channel of Nigerian broadcaster Arise News on April 5, 2023 — the same day the misleading claim was made.
In the 29-minute-long interview, Soyinka spoke extensively about his role in trying to convince Tinubu and Abubakar to step down prior to the February elections.
“I told former vice-president Atiku when he was contesting, and he came to see me in my office in Ikeja some years ago, I said to him, listen, it’s about time you people left the stage, why don’t you just go away, we need an infusion of fresh blood into the system,” Soyinka said.
Soyinka said he also discussed the same issues with Tinubu.
“I sought out the current president-elect Ahmed Bola Tinubu and gave him the same message that whatever you people are planning, I am convinced that we need a young generation, new thinking, new sensibilities, new energies,” Soyinka said during the interview.
Soyinka said he suggested Tinubu use his influence to “catapult” a brilliant young candidate to power.
“We spoke for about an hour and half; in the end Bola Tinubu said no and that there were some things he felt he could contribute,” Soyinka added.
At no point in the interview did Soyinka order Tinubu to step down within 48 hours and give his certificate of return to Obi, as claimed by the post.
