The Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has dismissed calls for him to assess President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
The playwright, who spoke on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Monday, clarified that he does not operate on external timetables, pushing back against expectations that he should deliver a formal assessment of Tinubu’s government at the one-year mark.
Soyinka insisted that he would offer his evaluation of the current administration at his own discretion.
“People should stop trying to work on my timetable for me,” Soyinka stated, in response to demands that he fulfill his earlier promise to evaluate the administration after its first year in office, which elapsed on May 29, 2024.
“I had not swallowed an alarm clock. I don’t see why I should put my alarm on and say: ‘One year has passed, now, I must make an assessment’ if there is nothing I feel like talking about and if I am busy elsewhere.”
Soyinka had previously visited Tinubu at his Lagos residence in December 2023. At the time, he deferred commenting on the administration’s performance until after one year.
With the government now past that milestone, public expectations for his assessment have grown, particularly amid mounting criticism over economic hardships, inflation, and cost-of-living concerns.
However, the literary icon downplayed the idea that he alone holds the responsibility for such evaluations, noting that many voices in civil society are actively speaking out.
“This business of ‘you haven’t come to do this,’ I don’t understand it. Other people are doing the same; this is a collective effort,” he said, referencing the activism of figures such as human rights lawyer Femi Falana, journalist Dapo Olorunyomi, and political activist Omoyele Sowore.
He further argued that he has never adhered to a ritualized schedule of government assessments, pointing out that he did not do so under past administrations, including those of former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan, Muhammadu Buhari, and Olusegun Obasanjo.
“The one year is up, which means you have a right and I have a responsibility to respond when you call me on certain issues. But if you are saying that I would call a press conference and say: ‘One year is up, let us now make an assessment’—the only question I’d ask you is: ‘Did I do that with Jonathan? Did I do that with Buhari? Did I do that with Obasanjo? Did I do that with anybody?’ So why is it expected of me now?”