According to a South African newspaper (timesSAguardian.com) Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has launched a new political party on Saturday in Nigeria ahead of upcoming presidential elections, saying he wanted to take aim at corruption and give hope to young voters.
The Democratic Front for a People’s Federation would be not only a political party, but also at the “forefront of the watchdogs of democracy”, Soyinka told a party convention.
“I wish to emphasise that function, and it is clearly meant both as a warning and exhortation,” the Nobel laureate in literature said.
“Above all, the DFPF is a party for frustrated youth and uncomfortable ideas.”
Soyinka (photo) said the movement was intended to pose the question in Nigeria, an oil-rich country long held back by corruption: “Is it really impossible to have a voice unless you are swimming in billions?” “Institutions are pauperised and degraded,” he said. “The gutters run with filth while the legislators run with the money.”
Wole Soyinka, whose politically engaged plays and books have earned him wide acclaim, was elected chairman of the party, though the 76-year-old said he would not run for office. “No, no, no - candidate my foot,” he said when asked about the possibility. “I intend to take a back seat.”
Soyinka has been a harsh critic of the military regimes that have ruled the West African country on a number of occasions since independence from Britain in 1960.
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