Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole
Soyinka, has described President Muhammadu Buhari’s alleged refusal to obey
court orders, as a national embarrassment.
The iconic writer spoke at the
‘Handshake Across Nigeria’ summit titled, “Nigeria beyond oil,” organised by
Nzuko Umunna and The Core Federalists, which took place in Lagos yesterday.
The summit witnessed the presence
of many prominent Nigerians including the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo,
Chief Nnia Nwodo; former Foreign Affairs Minister, Maj-Gen Ike Nwachukwu
(retd); Afenifere chieftain, Chief Ayo Adebanjo; Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe,
Prof. Anya O. Anya, Young Progressive Party, YPP, presidential candidate, Prof.
Kingsley Moghalu and many others.
Soyinka lampooned President
Buhari for refusing to obey court orders particularly on the cases involving
Shi’ite leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzakky and former National Security Adviser, NSA,
Col. Sambo Dasuki, retd.
Soyinka said, “Forgiveness is a
virtue. Although, I have the same temperament with my late friend, Tai Solarin,
but it is a national embarrassment that our President has refused to obey laws.
Citizens should not be the one to choose the laws to obey.
“We want the government to
understand that they are part of the community and have been given a mission of
carrying out the will of the people.
“When we talk about governance,
we are talking about an instrument for the execution of people’s policy.
Insecurity has reached a certain level that even when we bring experts in they
wonder what exactly they have come to do.
“They are given a certain problem
to solve, and when they arrived here they meet another problem.
“One way of stopping the
bloodbath is to reconfigure the nation. States must be given maximum control
over their resources.
“There are some, who prefer to
grow rice, there are others who prefer to grow religion and we know where
religion has taken us today.
“Some people will like to say, it
is not really religion that has gotten us to where we are, I agree with you;
but some people have manipulated religion to suit their purpose.
“The effect of those who
manipulated it is disastrous. If some people prefer to grow rice, and others to
grow Sharia, then, both sides should be given the means to develop.
“Those insisting on restructuring
do so because they know that there is something wrong with the state of
Nigeria.
“Many times, Nigerians have come
together to proffer solutions and the way forward for the country, but after
spending so much time and effort, nothing ever comes out of it.
“The recommendations are left to
gather dust. How much longer shall we continue like this?”
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