When Nigerian business tycoon, Tonye Cole shared his experience about a young man who ‘disrespected’ the revered Wole Soyinka by asking for him (Soyinka) to leave his allotted seat which the professor sat on, little did he know that it was going to create stir on social media
Cole had shared a picture that showed Soyinka and the young man, accompanied by a lengthy caption describing the incident.
“@professorwolesoyinka #celebrategreatness #relationshipsmatter met one of the greatest Nigerians walking the earth today and as with other times, he was genteel, witty, forthright and humble. My smile gives me away as he permitted the picture whereas he would have preferred to get back to his newspapers. Then we boarded the flight and after assisting him with his bags, he took the window seat and promptly started reading again.
A few minutes later this young man, baseball cap, t-shirt to show his muscled chest and tattooed biceps boards the plane and tells Prof he is on his seat (which he was). Those of us including the cabin crew tried to reason with Bobo Fine to let the old man be but the chap refused. He insisted Prof should vacate his window seat, which the old man quietly did for his original aisle seat next to him.
I couldn’t understand how we got to this point where we no longer have respect for elders, even if are so ignorant of the great global personalities in our midst. Is it too much to ask that an elderly man be allowed to remain in a seat allotted to you in the same business class cabin and the same row?
Na wa o!”’
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzDmp–F5dW/
The trending subject matter has garnered a myriad of views from Nigerian celebrities.
Reacting on the issue, Mo Abudu wrote:”So so sad. That young man will get what he truly deserves. That is definite”.
Ace comedian, Alibaba noted that the same guy will give up his sit for a militant who has been enriched with amnesty funds.
“That same guy will give up that seat and go sit in economy, just for a militant who has been enriched with amnesty funds. He may not even know who WS is. Or does and since he has no values, doesn’t care”.
Popular comedian and host of ‘Laffmattaz’, Gbenga Adeyinka said the young man’s refusal to forego his sit for Wole Soyinka is a sad reflection of who we have become.
“It’s a sad reflection of who we have become. Let’s even forget who Prof Wole Soyinka is (although thats hard to do). Consider his age. If that is where he feels comfortable, it behoves the young man to allow him sit there considering his age. It’s like me telling my father to stand up from where I sit normally when he comes to visit. We were brought up to stand up for the elderly, women (pregnant or otherwise) but I guess that is no longer the NORM”.
Nollywood actress, Kc Ejelonu in her opinion stated that old age doesn’t give Soyinka the right to take what doesn’t belong to him.
“The right thing would have been to stay at his seat, when the young man gets there, simply ask nicely if he could swap seats….SIMPLE….OLD AGE, ALL THE QUALIFICATIONS IN THE WORLD DOES NOT GET YOU A PASS TO TAKE WHAT IS NOT YOURS PERIODDDDD, REGARDLESS OF WHO YOU ARE….ASK. And the profiling of the young man, what da hell has that got to do with anything??? Now what makes such profiling any different from the animals we have on our streets called SARS. The older generation NEVER want to be held accountable under the guise of RESPECT. No Public figure should be anyone’s role model because we don’t know them behind closed doors. Can i also add that the seat is not a “PRIORITY SEAT” for the elderly or pregnant women”