Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, has distanced himself from a video showing members of the Pyrates Confraternity mocking the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu.
In the one-minute video which has gone viral on social media, some members of the confraternity, clad in red and white, are seen dancing to an anti-Tinubu song, using his trending slang, "emilokan".
Emilokan is a Yoruba word meaning "it's my turn" attributed to Tinubu, while saying it is his turn to be president in 2023.
Members of the confraternity, in the video clip, chanted: "Baba wey no well e dey shout emi lo kan (Baba that is sick is saying it's his turn)", and "Hand dey shake (hand that shakes)."
Soyinka, in a statement yesterday, said the group's performance was distasteful.
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.
"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."
