Soyinka resigns from Centre for Black Culture

Professor Wole Soyinka has resigned from Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding (CBCIU) in Osogbo, Osun State, western Nigeria.

The announcement was made in a statement Saturday but gave no reason for the action of the Nobel laureate.

However, there have been disagreements between Soyinka and Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola over the chairmanship of the organization.

The Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding was set up in 2009, with the administrative building officially commissioned on January 7, by Koichuro Matsuura, the then Director-General of UNESCO.

But the grand opening ceremony had been preceded by years of planning and by several visits by UNESCO officials to both Osogbo and Sydney, Australia; as well as by Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the Chairman of the Organisation and the then governor of Osun State, to Paris.

The establishment of CBCIU was fully backed by the Federal Government of Nigeria.