{"id":29834,"date":"2019-02-08T14:07:52","date_gmt":"2019-02-08T13:07:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/?p=29834"},"modified":"2019-02-08T14:08:33","modified_gmt":"2019-02-08T13:08:33","slug":"presidential-election-soyinka-endorses-moghalu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/presidential-election-soyinka-endorses-moghalu\/","title":{"rendered":"Presidential Election: Soyinka Endorses Moghalu"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has endorsed the candidacy of the presidential candidate of Young Progressive Party (YPP) Professor Kingsley Moghalu.<\/p>\n

Soyinka through his Citizen Forum made his stand known Friday in a statement.<\/p>\n

According to the Nobel laureate he and his forum decided to support Moghalu because they have \u201crejected retrograde propositions of a political merry-go-round, which urge the electorate to choose this or that candidate in order to ensure \u2018our turn\u2019 at the next power incumbency.”<\/p>\n

He added that, \u201cOver the past few months, we studied the careers, experiences and track records of most of the presidential aspirants, and most intensely those actually short-listed by the opposition parties themselves. Like millions of Nigerians, we watched the debates. I physically interacted with some of the acknowledged top contenders, in some cases several times.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me reiterate, there is over-abundant, but stifled leadership material, and there can be no excuse, now that that potential of high quality is being manifested, for constricting the political space in a population that is nudging two hundred million.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch potential compelled us to exercise utmost rigour in what proved to be a most daunting exercise. The final determination however is \u2013 the flag-bearer of the Young Progressive Party\u2013 Kingsley Moghalu.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soyinka in his statement said, \u201cThe Citizen Forum \u2013 last heard of during the time of the dictator, Sani Abacha \u2013 was pulled out of retirement to join in their effort to arrive at peer consensus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe forum worked peripherally with them. It made no attempt \u2013 I stress this \u2013 no attempt whatsoever to impose its own preferences, but utilised material from the deliberations of at least four such selection groups. It remained on the fringe, except on invitation.<\/p>

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Advertisement<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\r\n \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

\u201cOur mission today is simply to present the result of that effort by Citizen Forum which, I am especially gratified to reveal, coincides with my own personal preference.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past few months, we studied the careers, experiences and track records of most of the presidential aspirants, and most intensely those actually short-listed by the opposition parties themselves. Like millions of Nigerians, we watched the debates. I physically interacted with some of the acknowledged top contenders, in some cases several times.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe forum rejected retrograde propositions of a political merry-go-round, which urge the electorate to choose this or that candidate in order to ensure \u2018our turn\u2019 at the next power incumbency. Overall, the exercise was exacting but also \u2013 therapeutic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt proved yet again that there is over-abundant leadership quality locked up in the nation, and that it is a collective shortcoming that the political space has not been sufficiently opened up to let soar such potential. Well, to cite the Chinese proverb: a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me reiterate, there is over-abundant, but stifled leadership material, and there can be no excuse, now that that potential of high quality is being manifested, for constricting the political space in a population that is nudging two hundred million. And that statement is of course specially addressed to those who took part in this exercise, those who deliberated opted out of it, some of whom were assessed anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch potential compelled us to exercise utmost rigour in what proved to be a most daunting exercise. The final determination however is \u2013 the flag-bearer of the Young Progressive Party\u2013 Kingsley Moghalu.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has endorsed the candidacy of the presidential candidate of Young Progressive Party (YPP) Professor Kingsley Moghalu. Soyinka through his Citizen Forum made his stand known Friday in a statement. According to the Nobel laureate he and his forum decided to support Moghalu because they have \u201crejected retrograde propositions of a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":22423,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,1593,17,624],"tags":[3837,614],"coauthors":[2391],"class_list":["post-29834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-business","category-metro","category-news","category-politics","tag-moghalu","tag-wole-soyinka"],"yoast_head":"\nPresidential Election: Soyinka Endorses Moghalu - National Wire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has endorsed the candidacy of the presidential candidate of Young Progressive Party (YPP) Professor Kingsley Moghalu.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/presidential-election-soyinka-endorses-moghalu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Presidential Election: Soyinka Endorses Moghalu - 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