Stop the Rumour, Herdsmen did not attack Prof. Wole Soyinka….. Former Minister, Olu Agunloye

Contrary to the misinformation making the round on social media with a video recorded by an anonymous person, claiming that; herdsmen attacked Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka is fake. According to sources, there were stray cows that encroached his Kemta Forest house, but there was never a confrontation between the Professor and the herders. Professor Wole Soyinka is fine. 

Confirming the authenticity of the viral video making the round, and countering the fake news being peddled in the media space, Professor Wole Soyinka’s son, Dr Olaokun Soyinka averred that;  ”If you know this Koiki Media who took the videos. Spreading such disinformation is dangerous. To repeat, I have confirmed that while cows did stray onto his land yesterday, there has been no attack, no violence and no attempt to enter the house. Kindly debunk this information where you can. We do not need confusion added to the already tense situation in the country”.

Dr Olu Agunloye

To further buttress on the claim by the video making the rounds, Dr. Olu Agunloye, former Minister of Power and Steel, former Minister of State for Defence and right hand man to Prof. Soyinka also disclosed that; ”The trending story that herdsmen went to attack Prof Wole Soyinka in his house in Abeokuta is not true. Herdsmen did not break into his house. There were no attacks and no attempts to attack the Nobel Laureate. What happened was that herdsmen led their cattle to graze in Prof Soyinka’s unfenced compound again yesterday despite his strong warnings to the herdsmen. Prof Soyinka has been living in the forest at the outskirt of Abeokuta in Area designated as GRA since late 1980s. However, in recent times cattle herders have desecrated the grounds of Professor Soyinka’s compound by flooding it with cows. The Professor summoned the herdsmen and sternly warned them to stop the ugly practice. He told them in very clear terms that it was unacceptable. However, the herdsmen broke the rules yesterday thinking that Prof Soyinka was not home. When the Prof accosted them, they fled into the bush leaving their cows behind. Prof Soyinka reported the incident to the Police which later arrested the herdsmen and their cows. We can say categorically that Prof Soyinka and his house were not physically attacked but his compound was violated by recalcitrant herdsmen who wanted to turn his compound to a grazing field. Prof Soyinka and his family remain okay in their Abeokuta home”.

This claim is coming days after Prof Soyinka addressed the issues of killer herdsmen on BBC, where he shared his thought on the menace and also proffered a solution to the issue. All news currently trending are fake and should be disregarded.