Young man who told Wole Soyinka to get up from his seat, shares his own story

An argument ensued on social media yesterday after a businessman, Tonye Cole shared a story of how a young man bounced Wole Soyinka off his seat aboard a plane.

Meanwhile, the young man is Tosin Odunfa and he has his own story to tell.

In Tonye Cole’s narration of the incident, he said Soyinka was disrespectfully told to get up by the young man but Tosin Odunfa said he never disrespected the 84-year-old Nigerian playwright.

Tosin Odunfa told his side of the story on Instagram thus:

“I am the young guy! Yes, the one in question with a baseball cap and t-shirt, I am unashamed to be at the prime of my youth, in fact, I blushed a little bit after reading your description of my chest and muscles. Is thank to strong discipline that I live a fit life and I am able to go to the gym o my tight schedule.

“Prof. didn’t mind getting up and in fact, he confided in me as we chatted later on the flight that he would have done the same and that he was more embarrassed by the undue attention. Prof and I actually have few things in common, we are both in academia, I have a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering and teach Nano Electromagnetic Theory at the University of Mannittawiw.

“He said to me that he thinks that Nigerian youths need to stand up more for themselves than we do and he spoke to me about the ideals they tried to promote when he co-founded a secret society in his youth. I have read up on him now and know for sure that Wole

Soyinka is a great man but I sadly was not taught about him in school. We exchanged contact information and I will certainly stay in touch. “Please, note that I am on the Autism spectrum and need the view from the window to keep me from getting sick on the plane, hence my insisting on taking the window seat. Finally, Brother Tonye, the words on your lap are very inspiring, “everything you want is on the other side of not giving up,” he explained.