The Osun State government yesterday has appealed to Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka not to resign as the chairman of the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding (CBCIU), Osogbo.

A statement signed personally by governor Rauf Aregbesola said the public interest is supreme in all matters. The governor called on stakeholders to prevail on Soyinka not to go ahead with his decision to resign.

“In the interest of the public and the culture of our race to which Soyinka is passionately committed, he must continue in his capacity as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Centre.

“Yes, Wole Soyinka has resigned but himself has conceded the fact that the governor must accept it. We cannot accept the resignation even though we hold him in high esteem, because of the responsibilities attached to his chairmanship of CBCIU, which is beyond him and even beyond us.

“It has to do with the culture and tradition of our race, which we believe that the CBCIU is meant to preserve and promote.

“We call on people of goodwill to prevail on Prof Wole Soyinka, an international personage of culture, in the interest of our race, not to go ahead with his decision to resign,” it read.

Aregbesola added that “there is no way the constitution will permit any individual to, in his individual capacity, head at that level, public institutions in perpetuity. It is not done. It offends the constitution. No matter how powerful you may be, no individual can put himself in perpetual role in a public institution,” reacting to insinuations that a former governor of the state was interested in the vacant position.

The statement added that the law, which vested that perpetual chairmanship in the former governor had been amended. It said: “The law, which vested the perpetual chairmanship of the Centre on the former governor, has been amended through the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding (Amendment) Law 2012.

“To that extent, as far as the CBCIU is concerned, the obnoxious section, which gives the perpetual chairmanship of the Board of Trustees to any individual is no longer there. It is null and void and cannot be the point of reference for anybody. Whoever therefore still sees himself in that light is not in any way acting on the legal instrument today in force on that centre," it concluded.