Veteran entertainer Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, has criticized Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka for remaining silent during the ongoing hardships faced by Nigerians.
In a video posted on his verified X microblogging account, Charly Boy recalled how Soyinka led a mass protest against former president Goodluck Jonathan when he removed fuel subsidies, causing petrol prices to rise from ₦87 to ₦120.
He questioned why Soyinka has chosen to stay mute amid the current challenges, accusing the Nobel Laureate of being a “tribalistic bigot.”
“There was a time when Uncle Wole Soyinka cared deeply about Nigeria and Nigerians. He criticized leaders and personalities who seemed anti-Nigerian.
“As a social engineer myself, he was one of my heroes and I saw him as a mentor. But today, I look at him as a tribalistic bigot and I have lost all respect I once had for him.
“I remember back in the days, Uncle Wole paid the price for his radical activism, imprisonment and even exile at the hands of military dictators.
“Recently, I’m not sure where his loyalty lies because he has remained mute about this government.
“Uncle, was this recent renaming of the national theatre a reward for your muteness? I remember Wole led a protest when Jonathan removed the subsidy, and petrol prices increased from ₦87 to ₦120.
“He called President Jonathan a terrorist and his wife a ‘hippopotamus,’ saying that Jonathan almost damaged the economy beyond repair. That was when $1 was N190.
“Last December, Wole called Peter Obi unfit to lead this country and recently said that Obi must not run in 2027, a person who is not even in power.
“He maintained that he would not criticize Tinubu until a year after. It is now a year and a few months, but he remains mute.”
This is coming few weeks after saying he will no longer regard the Nobel Laureate, Professor Olúwọlé Akinwande Sóyinká after he accepted the renaming of the National Theatre in Iganmu, Lagos by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
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