Businessman turned politician, Tonye Cole could not hide his anger today when a youngman asked Nobel Laurette, Prof. Wole Soyinka to vacate his business class on a flight.
Soyinka had arrived earlier and took the window seat already allocated to the guy and when he came he ordered Professor Soyinka to move despite entreaties from other passengers and the cabin crew.
Taking social media, Cole who was the All Progressives Congress (APC) Gubernatorial aspirant in Rivers State wrote:
I 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 we 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!”
My take is, even if he decides not to give his seat away to an old Man, he should at least respect and honor the grace of sitting next to a Nobel laureate! This is a living literary patriarch to whom a whole Department was named after in the #Universityofibadan. No matter your status in life, there are things you cannot buy with money and there are unforgettable personalities that have gone ahead of you.
I honestly love to sit by the window in a flight but I’ve had to leave my seat for others many times on the grounds that they got there before me, they are aged, they have kids etc.
I don’t know where this chap is from or whether he knows who he “stood up” but may we all grow old🙏
#standoutforgood #standoutwithpat #standoutglobal #celebratingyou #humility #respect #elders #tonyecole #profwolesoyinka
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