By Gbenga Adeniji
Elder statesman, Prof Wole Soyinka, has expressed disgust at a viral video showing some purported members of the National Association of Seadogs, otherwise called Pyrates Confraternity, mocking the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in a song.
In the one-minute video, the members dressed in red and white attire danced and chanted thus, “Hand dey shake, leg dey shake, baba wey no well he dey shout Emi Lokan,” roughly translated to mean “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 phrase, “Emi Lokan,’’ sneaked into the nation’s consciousness on June 3, 2022, during a meeting with the party delegates in Abeokuta, Ogun State, where Tinubu expressed frustration over the non-support of his ambition to win the party’s presidential ticket.
This, he noted, having worked for the emergence of Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) as President in 2015, including Mr. Dapo Abiodun as Ogun State governor, who he referred to as ‘Eleyi’ (this one).
In a statement on Monday titled, ‘Interim statement on a dubious political outing,’ the Nobel laureate said that his attention was drawn to a video clip making internet rounds, of a dancing and chanting group, in red and white costume, purportedly members of the Pyrates Confraternity.
According to PUNCH, Prof Soyinka said, “The display acidly targets a presidential candidate in the awaited 2023 elections. Since the whole world knows of my connection with that fraternity, I must state in clear, unambiguous terms that I have not been involved in that public performance nor in any way associated with the sentiments expressed in the songs.
