Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has
described the state of the nation as a war situation going by the
incessant killings of innocent people by the Islamist sect, Boko Haram.
Soyinka also decried the way and manner
the Federal Government was handling the insurgency, saying it was
looking at it as a short term phenomenon that could be tackled with
short-term solutions.
He spoke on Wednesday via a video
conference with privately owned television station, Al Jazeera, on the
programme, The Stream, which focused on ‘Bringing Down Boko Haram’.
The programme also featured the Senior
Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe,
and publisher of online news portal, Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore.
He said, “Nigeria is in a war situation
and the entire population of Nigeria must consider itself as being in a
war situation and that means the Boko Haram phenomenon should not be
regarded as been limited to the Northern region alone or Borno and Yobe
states.
“No, its is something that affects the
entire country because these people have declared categorically that
they would not be satisfied with nothing less than not only the
islamisation of Nigeria but islamisation in their own very narrow,
distorted and vicious mode; and they will not be satisfied.”
Soyinka linked the proliferation and
availability of foot soliders to the Islamist sect to corruption,
misgovernance and massive youth unemployment.
He lamented that he was often at a loss on whether to describe the sect as human or not.
He said, “The nation, the government are
responsible for the proliferation and availability of foot soldiers and
this is due to corruption, mammoth corruption, misgovernance,
alienation, the level of unemployment, the distinct feelings –
impressionable youths – of not being part of the entire polity.
“What makes it possible for a human
being to behave in a way that we look for a new definition of humanity?
Even many of our politicians got their (to power) by violence.”
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Very nice summarize, but I wonder where were you when the Prof made it clear, and said to the entire world, : " Whatever this sect are doing is not part of Islamic teaching" ? Or because this is not sweet to you, therefore you prefer to ignore it. You have to be fair and just. Try to learn from our great Professor how to be neutral.
ReplyDeleteWELL SAID Ahoy
ReplyDeleteWole, you as usual, have not said any thing! Profer solution and not academic giberish. Any time army fight Boko Haram, you people will start flaunting Human Rights violations. So, Soyinka, tell us how to arrest these Boko Haram people without harming the civilian populace whom they uses as human shields and atimes, as spys!
ReplyDeletemr anonmous above u wrong for calling people idiot.everybody is entitle to his or her own opinion.
ReplyDelete