...My Father's House Not Attacked - Soyinka's Son, Olaokun
Ayobami Ife, Abeokuta
A voice in a video making the rounds on social media on Wednesday did insinuate that the home of Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, had been attacked by suspected herdsmen, who also wanted to harm him.
But checks by The Daily Crucible reveals that a lone herder looking for a stray cow, roamed into Prof. Wole Soyinka's vicinity but the trespasser was stopped by the playwright himself from making further trespassing.
But that was not the first time. On April 15 , 2017, herds of cattle grazed as far as into Wole Soyinka's lawns, almost hitting the house entrance door, before the domestic staff saw them and chased the herders and their cattle away.
And prior to that fateful April 15, it was the vigilant Professor that first observed that herdsmen were coming to his compound to graze, having spotted the foot marks of the herders and the cows on the shore side of a shallow stream that courses through the compound that is ringed round by a forest of trees and shrubs.
He alerted his staff to it and instructed them to be more watchful.
The serene home is tucked inside 'Jegba Republic,' with natural ambience of luscious green vegetations and sited between the margin of Kemta Housing Estate and Ilugun - Itoko community - both in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
However, regarding the Wednesday incident, his son, Dr. Olaokun Soyinka has dismissed the viral video as fake.
Olaokun, who was former Health Commissioner during the first tenure of Governor Ibikunle Amosun - led administration in the Gateway state, urged Nigerians to discountenance the viral video and the fake news in a statement.
He said : "this is not true, please do not circulate further and help to debunk it".
"It is an attempt to encourage discord. Although some cows were spotted, neither Prof or his house was attacked by anyone.
"I have confirmed this today (Wednesday 10th) directly myself from him".
"Kindly do not fall for this attempt, whatever the motive, to further inflame this problematic situation," he concluded.
Also, the Ogun State Police Command refuted contents of the viral video, saying Professor Soyinka's s was neither attacked nor invaded by herdsmen as alleged by mischief makers on social media, whom it accused spewing fake and false information to the public.
Reacting on behalf of the Command, the Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said Prof Wole soyinka personally saw a lone herder and accosted him with some of the cows and afterwards, asked the fulani herder to leave the vicinity with his animals.
Abimbola added that the police had investigated it and discovered that there was no attack on the house and that nothing was trampled upon or destroyed.
He noted that though the herder was a Fulani man but the cattle belonged
He stated : "The attention of Ogun state police command has been drawn to a video circulating on social media about a purported attack of Nobel Laurete Prof Wole soyinka's house by Fulani herdsmen and the command wishes to set the record straight as follows.
"Yesterday Tuesday 9th of February 2021, one Kazeem Sorinola an indegine of ijeun Abeokuta who is into cattle business said to have been informed by a young fulani man Awalu Muhammad who is taking care of the cattle that one of the cows had got missing.
"While the Fulani man was searching for the stray cow around kemta estate where the Prof Wole soyinka's house is located, the Prof. himself who was going out then saw the fulani man with some of the cows and he came down to ask where the man was heading to with the cows. He there and then asked the fulani man to move the cattle away from the vicinity.
"The DPO Kemta division, who heard about the incident quickly moved to the scene with patrol team and the owner of the cows was invited to come with the Fulani man in charge of the cattle. The duo were questioned and properly profiled. The entire place was inspected by the DPO and it was established that it was just a case of stray cow as nothing was damaged or tampered with.
"It was therefore a thing of surprise to see a video trending on social media that the respected Professor wole soyinka's house was invaded by Fulani herdsmen with the view to attack or kill him.
The video is nothing but a calculated attempt by mischief makers to cause panic in the mind of people. There is nothing like invasion of Prof Wole soyinka's house or any form of attack on his person.
"The commissioner of police CP Edward Awolowo Ajogun has been to the scene for on the spot assessment, and he personally interviewed the owner of the cattle Kazeem Sorinola, as well as the Fulani man who is in charge of the cattle and their statements show clearly that the mischievous narrative of invation is nothing to take serious.
"The command hereby wishes to warn the fake news peddler to desist from it as they may be made to feel the weight of the law. It is an offence for anybody to originate or help in circulating fake news, the command will therefore, henceforth be tracing and fishing out those deliberately dishing out fake information to members of the public especially the one that cause panic in the mind of innocent people."
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