PLANE SITTING POSITION; WOLE SOYINKA GOOFED--Onuesoke

"Any Diligent Reader Of Wole Soyinka Will Know That He Would Have Insisted On His Seat As A Young Man", Onuesoke.

"It was wrong for Wole Soyinka  not to have sat on the seat allotted him, while, it is technically right for the young man to insist on sitting on the seat allotted him". 

"Our culture demands respect for elders, but undue entitlement by senior citizens, especially when the premise is wrong should always be resisted", Onuesoke Insists.


Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Chieftain, Chief Sunny Onuesoke has faulted Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka action for leaving his plane seating position, to occupy a young man’s seat on a commercial  flight.

Onuesoke, who was reacting to a post by former Group Executive Director of Sahara Group and Energy and All Progressive Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in Rivers State, Tonye Cole, on his Instagram page on how Prof. Wole Soyinka was asked to vacate a seat by a young Nigerian passenger onboard the plane, said the gentleman had every right to ask Wole Soyinka to vacate his seat irrespective of social standing, but morally, he could have let him have the seat.

He, however accused Tonye Cole of being the biggest loser for cashing in on an opportunity to use the situation to propel himself to national reckoning.

Onuesoke who made the statement at Asaba, Delta  while responding to questions from journalists on the incident, stated that he "totally adores Wole Shoyinka, loves his literary works and respect his contribution to our democracy over the years", but, quickly added that this noise about a seating arrangement strikes him as meaningless.

The former PDP Governorship aspirant argued that it was wrong for Wole Soyinka  not to have sat on the seat allotted him, while, it is technically right for the young man to insist on sitting on the seat allotted him.

He pointed out that Wole Soyinka had been a scholar and examiner of several years standing, who should be expected to be a stickler to rules and regulations, stressing that any diligent reader of Wole Soyinka will know that he would have insisted on his seat as a young man.

Onuesoke disclosed that although our culture demands respect for elders, but undue entitlement by senior citizens, especially when the premise is wrong should always be resisted.

"This is the problem we have in this country.  Why did Wole Soyinka not sit at his allocated seat in the first place? This is why our so called leaders and elders create confusion in our country and treat us with lack of respect. Let’s call a spade, a spade".

"This is simply an abuse of power. He advocates human rights, but he broke the code because he wanted to take advantage of the young man".

"His action is not different from that of  our past  leaders which had led this country to the present predicament. The lack of respect of many of our people including our so-called elders for rules, regulations, processes and procedures, is why our country is where it is today".

"When former President Goodluck Jonathan wanted to deregulate the oil sector and raise fuel pump price, the likes of Soyinka, Femi Falana, Joe Odumakin, Pastor Bakare, Prof. Pat Utomi and others who claim to be activists and defenders of the masses, protested. They shut down the country for six days. Then, they claimed they were fighting for the interest of their generations".

 "But when this present government which promised to reduce fuel pump price during campaign removed fuel subsidy and increased fuel pump price, from N87 to N145 per litre, none of them raised an eye brow. They pretended as if they were not aware of the astronomical increase of fuel pump price by President Muhammadu Buhari’s government".

"That is the hypocrisy of those who claimed to protecting the interest of the  people", he  stated.