Nobel Laureate Soyinka Meets His Student

Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate, meets with Remi Sonaiya, the presidential candidate from the KOWA party in the forthcoming election. 


While thanking Professor Soyinka for making time to receive her, Professor Sonaiya reminded him that their last face-to-face meeting had taken place several decades ago at Cornell University, USA, while Mr. Soyinka was a visiting professor at the institution and Mrs Sonaiya herself was undergoing her postgraduate studies.
As two professors had already met several decades ago at Cornell University, USA, it was a happy ‘conjugation’ and a meeting of intelligence as Professor Peyi Soyinka-Airewele, daughter of the Nobel laureate, was also present.
Ms. Sonaiya, the first woman to ever measure up as a presidential aspirant in Nigeria, used the visit to truly thank Mr. Soyinka for his huge contribution to Nigeria over the years and the personal forfeit he had made on account of the nation.
She also presented to the Nobel laureate three of her books.
The short visit was finished with Mr. Soyinka organising the walk with the presidential aspirant and her team around the Freedom park, once the actual site of a colonial prison, and where a very significant part of our national history is now preserved.
Mr. Soyinka pleasing Governor Babatunde Fashola, who readily accepted the proposal to transform that historical space into a memorial and meeting place of ideas.
“Although the tour lasted only a few minutes, its impact on all who were present may well last a lifetime,” Jahman Anikulapo, a culture advocate, said.
It should be noted that Professor Wole Soyinka has recently criticized the federal government over the inadequately slow action against the horror Boko Haram sect, and not only.