Tonye Cole, Nigerian billionaire politician, recently took to his Instagram page to share his flight experience about a young passenger who in his opinion disrespected Professor Wole Soyinka by asking for his assigned seat.
Cole shared a picture that showed Professor Soyinka and the man in question accompanied by a lengthy caption detailing the ordeal that read;
“@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!”
The post has gained a lot of traction on social media with different people expressing multiple views and taking sides. At this time, neither Wole Soyinka or the man in question have addressed the encounter publicly.
