Mo Abudu, Wole Soyinka React To Viral Plane Seat Saga

Due to the mixed reactions trailing the conversation about the incident where a young Nigerian man 'ordered' Wole Soyinka, out of his seat onboard a flight over the weekend and Mo Abudu's initial reaction to the story also made her a target online.

In her reaction a few minutes ago, she said, 'good morning beautiful people. Its 6.30 am here in Los Angeles. Quite a bit has been said about me making certain comments about the young man that refused to give up his seat for Professor Wole Soyinka'.

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@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!

A post shared by Tonye Patrick Cole (@tonyepatrickcole) on Jun 23, 2019 at 7:52am PDT

She went on to add that, 'I will not comment further on this, however as you all know I LOVE and RESPECT Professor Wole Soyinka dearly. Based on this incident, I did receive an email from Professor Wole Soyinka this morning'.

Below is Professor Wole Soyinka's reaction to the whole saga as shared by Mo Abudu;

Hello Mo,

Someone sent me Patrick Tonye's comment on the plane incident, and I saw your brief comment. It was a very minor thing and I'd forgotten all about it. However, after reading the boy's response, I became curious.

First, I never exchanged a word with him throughout beyond inviting him to take his allotted seat. Never spoke a word to him after that. Certainly never exchanged contact. So of course, I wonder if it's the very individual who's posted this or a total fake.

The phenomenon of stolen identities takes very strange dimensions and has become a source of worry. I wonder if this is one such. Any way of your finding out. I don't operate in the social media as you probably recall.