Nollywood actor and prominent member of the Labour Party, Kenneth Okonkwo, has taken issue with recent statements made by renowned Nigerian playwright and Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka.
Okonkwo questioned the coherence and logic behind Soyinka’s comments regarding the LP’s presidential candidate and former Anambra governor, Peter Obi.
Speaking during a televised interview on Wednesday, Okonkwo began by addressing the issue of age and mental acuity, suggesting that as individuals age, their cognitive abilities may decline, leading to inconsistencies in reasoning.
He implied that this phenomenon could be observed in Soyinka’s recent statements, insinuating a potential decline in mental sharpness.
“In my place, when a man gets to a certain age, his children and his relations always watch him meticulously,” Okonkwo remarked.
“It’s not unusual for a man of that age to start witnessing what I will call degenerating mentality in his reasoning capability.”
He criticized Soyinka’s apparent contradiction in his stance on criticizing individuals in power versus those out of power.
“I find what he is saying of late a bit contradictory and illogical,” Okonkwo asserted.
“First of all, he went to see Tinubu and he said he made it as a policy that he doesn’t criticize anybody in power except after one year.”
Okonkwo highlighted what he perceived as inconsistencies in Soyinka’s arguments, suggesting that the Nobel laureate failed to identify the core issues at hand before making assertions about competence.
“In law, if you miss the issue, every other thing you are arguing goes to no issue—that is, no one,” Okonkwo explained.
Furthermore, Okonkwo criticised Soyinka’s reliance on peripheral factors, such as personal interests and social media activities, to assess competence.
“You’re saying Peter Obi is not competent to govern Nigeria because of the actions of some of his fans on social media whom he doesn’t even know and have never met,” Okonkwo stated incredulously.
“How does it affect my competence as an actor for the defense that my fans, who I didn’t know and who are personally attached to me, take on social media?”
In conclusion, Okonkwo urged restraint from Soyinka’s family members, suggesting that they should limit his public appearances to prevent further exposure of what he deemed as a decline in cognitive abilities.
“So, I think he needs pity, and then, I think his children should try and restrain him the more,” Okonkwo remarked. “So that he doesn’t continue to expose his lack of cognitive abilities to articulate reasoning at that age, which is not too abnormal.”
