Charly Boy: Soyinka’ve reduced himself to errand boy for politicians

Popular Nigerian singer, Charles Oputa, well known as Charly Boy, says Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has reduced himself to a “boyiboyi” (errand boy) for corrupt politicians.

Charly Boy, fondly called Area Fada, said many Nigerians who held Soyinka in high esteem are disappointed by his recent political comments.

The entertainer said the respect he used to have for the renowned playwright was almost the same he had for his late father, Justice Oputa, adding that Soyinka could never be the man the late literary icon, Chinua Achebe, was.

He said this via a series of tweets on his Twitter account on Saturday, April 8.

Charly Boy wrote: “The kin respect I had for dis man, was almost the kind of respect I had for my stainless father, The Socrates of the Supreme Court.

“It has finally dawned on me that Soyinka can never be the man Chinua Achebe was.

“Look at a man many Nigerians put on such a high pedestal reducing himself to a boyiboyi for criminal politicians.

“What a f..king big shame.”

Soyinka has been involved in political turmoil after he condemned the recent interview of the Labour Party (LP) vice-presidential candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, with Channels TV.

Soyinka had, in an interview with Arise TV, accused Baba-Ahmed of denigrating the country’s judiciary, saying: “I’ve never heard anyone threaten the judiciary on TV the way Datti did.”

The Nobel laureate, on Friday, April 7, described ‘Obidients’, the supporters of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the just-concluded presidential election, Peter Obi, as the “most repulsive, off-putting concoctions” he has ever encountered in politics.

Soyinka said Obi’s supporters always refuse to entertain corrective criticism, noting that this has become their “badge of honour and certificate of commitment”.

Charly Boy endorsed Obi in the build-up to the 2023 general election.

The Star