"Soyinka is a Nobel Laureate: a man whose shoes Buhari is not fit to lick” - Fani Kayode

Critic, Femi Fani-Kayode has lashed out at President Muhammadu Buhari for attacking Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka over his comment that the president’s declaration of total lockdown in Lagos and Ogun was illegal.

The presidency, in a statement issued by Garba Shehu, had said “Professor Soyinka is not a medical professor. His qualifications are in English literature, and his prizes are for writing books and plays for theatres. He is of course entitled to his opinions – but that is exactly all they are: semantics, not science. They cannot – and should not – therefore be judged as professional expertise in this matter in any shape or form.

“Across the world – from parts of the United States and China, to countries including the United Kingdom and France, government – mandated lockdowns are in place to slow and defeat the spread of coronavirus. 

All have been declared, and all have been made necessary, based on medical and scientific evidence. The guidance of the Nigerian Government’s medical specialists is to advise the same.

“Professor Soyinka has also declared, doubtless based on his specialism as a playwright, that: “We are not in a war emergency.”

But Fani-Kayode, in a tweet said Buhari was not fit to lick the shoes of Soyinka, adding that when Soyinka supported Buhari in 2015, he was hailed.

“When he supported you in 2015 you hailed & praised him. Now that he has criticised you publicly about your handling of the Covid 19 pandemic you call him a “mere fiction writer” that “no-one should listen to”.

“That is a Nobel Laureate: a man whose shoes you are not fit to lick,” he tweeted.

When he supported you in 2015 you hailed & praised him. Now that he has criticised you publicly about your handling of the Covid 19 pandemic you call him a "mere fiction writer" that "no-one should listen to". That is a Nobel Laureate: a man whose shoes you are not fit to lick.

— Femi Fani-Kayode (@realFFK) April 1, 2020