On Sunday, April 9, 2023, a Twitter User with the handle @MosesEssien16 tweeted that Prof. Wole Soyinka made 3rd class degree at the University of Ife.
The full text read thus: “Prof. Wole Soyinka made 3rd class degree in university of Ife. Got noble prize when Africa’s best boycotted it for discrimination he was awarded for betraying others not bc his work was credible. WS is a man of questionable intellect.Not so with Obidients.”
The University of Ife mentioned in his tweet is now known as Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). This tweet has generated 796 comments, 1,691 retweets, 2,775 likes and it has been viewed by 899,000 Twitter users.
VERIFICATION
N-VA extracted the claim, “Prof. Wole Soyinka Graduated with a Third Class at Obafemi Awolowo University.” The researcher went on to fact-check and verify the authenticity of this claim.
According to a news story published on CKN News on July 15, 2013, Prof. Wole Soyinka has debunked the news that he graduated with a third class at the OAU.
Soyinka said he graduated with Second Class Upper Division and not Third Class Honour from the University College, Ibadan, as widely believed.
He disclosed this while fielding questions from 79 secondary school students drawn from different parts of the country, in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, as part of the 2013 Open Door Series project, “Memoirs of Our Future,” an international cultural exchange programme organized to mark his 79th birthday.
CONCLUSION
The claim that Prof. Wole Soyinka Graduated with a Third Class at Obafemi Awolowo University is FALSE as he never attended the university as a student.
