NOBEL Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka has resigned as chairman of the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding (CBCIU) in the Osun State capital Osogbo in response to the ongoing dispute over its operations.  

Set up in 2009, with the administrative building officially commissioned on January 7, the CBCIU ass designed to be United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) site. Its building was opened by Koichuro Matsuura, the then director-general of Unesco and Osun State governor Rauf Aregbesola appointed Professor Soyinka as its chairman. 

However, since the centre opened, it has been plagued with infighting with former Osun State governor Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola opposed to Professor Soyinka's appointment. Tired of the constant bickering, Professor Soyinka said he is quitting to express his frustration and embarrassment at the persistence of sectors of the media in designating the situation as some kind of hustle for position between two individuals.

 Professor Soyinka added: "This is painful reductionism. In any case, I am left with no choice but to openly demand of the governor of Osun State the immediate and formal acceptance of my resignation letter from CBCIU chairmanship.

 “I undertook this assignment on principle, quite apart from my sentimental attachment to the political constituency of my late friend, Bola Ige, assassinated by those very forces against which CBCIU must remain resolutely embattled. More relevant however is that I have always found it despicable conduct when an elected individual diverts the resources of the people over whom he presides to carving out for himself a sinecure."

Prince Oyinlola had kicked against the appointment of Professor Soyinka, saying it was wrong and there are legal challenges to his appointment currently in court. Professor Soyinka added that since he was out of the country, he found it necessary to resign so as not to accused of contempt of court in a case which he was not even aware was in court.