Wole Soyinka

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Religion will kill Nigeria if not tamed – Wole Soyinka

Nigerian playwright and poet, Professor, Wole Soyinka, has has condemned the manner President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State have handled the extra judicial religious killings in Southern Kaduna. More than 800 people have been gruesomely murdered by suspected herdsmen and little or no efforts have been made to stop the perpetrators.  Speaking at the launch of the book, Religion and the Making of Nigeria, in Abuja, few days ago, the Nobel Laureate warned that If we do not tame religion in this nation, religion would kill us.

“Religion in the history of this continent has been a disastrous venture, a disaster in many zones and continues to be even so today. In this very nation in Southern Kaduna, over 800 souls were brutally extinguished suddenly. “While the issue of grazing lands versus farming is unquestionably part of the conflict, it is equally undeniable that religious differences have played crucial role in the conflict. “And yet some weeks before the latest outrage, the governor of that state was quoted to have claimed that peace was nigh since he had sent funds to the earlier wave of killers and they had agreed to end their killing spree. “What astonished me was not the admission by the governor, but the astonishment of others at such governmental response to atrocity. There was nothing new about it. Has appeasement to religious forces not become a Nigerian face of justice and equity? “First lethargy and then appeasement. Wasn’t Boko Haram’s Muhammed Yusuf not a beneficiary of appeasement in a similar fashion? “Southern Kaduna has reminded us once again that the monster is always lying waiting to pounce under the guise of religion. “If you ask why General Buhari did not act fast enough when these events take place, which degrade us as human beings, well it is perhaps he has been waiting for the governor of that state to send money to the killers first for them to stop the killing.
“The sitting President of this nation, General Buhari, once said ‘If you don’t kill corruption in this nation, corruption would kill us’. I would like to transfer that cry from the moral zone to the terrain of religion. If we do not tame religion in this nation, religion would kill us. I do not say kill religion though I wouldn’t mind a bit if that mission could be undertaken surgically, painlessly perhaps under anesthesia effectively spayed all over the nation or perhaps during an induced pouch of religious ecstasy However, one has to be realistic. “Only the religiously possessed or committed would deny the obvious. The price that many have paid not just within this society but by humanity in general makes one wonder if the benefits have really been more than the losses.”

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I can spend the whole night proving that Obasanjo is a liar- Wole Soyinka


The war of words between Professor Wole Soyinka and ex President Olusegun Obasanjo isn’t ending anytime soon.  The award-winning writer when asked to respond to the 3-time President’s assessment of him in his book, My Watch reiterated that he has no iota of respect for him. The Nobel Laureate said this in a programme tagged: ‘An evening with Wole Soyinka’ organized by Globacom yesterday 28th August 2015. Recall that Obasanjo described the literary icon as a political illiterate who is better at wine connoisseur and a more successful aparo (guinea fowl).  Soyinka in his reply said he couldn’t be bothered because Obasanjo is a liar and an economic illiterate. He also dislosed his intention to feature him in his new book, ‘The Republic Of Liars.’
“Obasanjo is entitled to his opinion. But the question is: ‘Who respects the opinion of a liar? I can spend the whole night proving that he is a liar. Obasanjo was once described by an economist, the late Prof Ojetunji Aboyade, as an economic illiterate. They nearly ‘went into blow’ that night. It was Prof. Mabogunje who separated them. So, if an economic illiterate calls somebody a political illiterate, no problem at all. In ‘ My Watch’, Obasanjo told the first lie when he said he deplored lies. Anybody who said he never plotted to have an unconstitutional third term in office, even as a writer, I need a word to describe him.”
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Why We Must Pray For Wole Soyinka | By: Otunba Gbenga Daniel

We have read with disappointment and mixed feelings some of the uncharitable statements credited to the Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka in Zero Tolerance, a publication of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). In the said interview, we noticed what has now become character about the respected literary Icon, the disparaging reference to Otunba Gbenga Daniel, former Governor of Ogun State.
We need to state unequivocally that we are disappointed because by training, conduct and culture, a younger man is disadvantaged to respond to elders in this part of the world, and we relate to this statement with mixed feelings because, Professor Soyinka is somebody Otunba Gbenga Daniel holds in high esteem as a great Ambassador of Africa, part of the reason why his 70th birthday was celebrated with pomp and ceremony during the administration of Otunba Daniel.
However we need to set certain records straight on some of the issues raised so that the unsuspecting publics would not continue to be misled and misguided by the misrepresentation of facts on our recent history especially coming from someone of Professor Soyinka’s standing.
1. Perhaps, Prof needs to be reminded that the police institution had never been, was and is not yet in the hands of any state’s governor to use at his whims and caprices as suggested by Professor Soyinka. For clarification, State police commissioners are appointed by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), who in turn is responsible to, and takes his ‘order’ from the President and Commander in Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces. So, accusing Otunba Gbenga Daniel of putting the Ogun State House of Assembly under lock with “Mopol guiding it”  is totally out of place and reprehensible. It is also instructive to note that Otunba Gbenga Daniel was one of those who believe in the idea of State Police as a veritable way of curbing crime, but the reality is that it is still a Federal Government institution.
2. In case it might also not have crossed the mind of Professor Soyinka, what transpired in the Ogun State House of Assembly in the period under reference was taken to court, before Justice Onamade, and one would wonder what line of argument would Professor advanced had OGD interfered again in an issue which was already taken before another arm of government competent enough to decide on such sensitive matter and contradictions in affairs of government. That judgment has not been appealed by anyone, including Professor Soyinka even after five years.
3. We also need to remind Professor Soyinka that the ruling of the court recognised the Soyemi Coker- led House of Assembly which Prof and some others who took same line of thoughts with him decided to deride and condemned using only ‘abstract’ knowledge to interpret. We are well aware that Professor Soyinka is too intelligent to know that not everything that “looks” morally permissible can be constitutionally right.
Except of course, Professor is advocating the abrogation of our secular state for an ecclesiastical style of government where affairs of government will be conducted on spiritual morality. The facts of what transpired in the Ogun State House of Assembly are well documented, including the personal accounts of Otunba Gbenga Daniel in his Autobiography “Daniel in The Lion’s Den”, a follow-up edition which is in due course.
4. We frowned at the ‘selective’ advocacy Professor Soyinka had recently descended to in his version of ‘activism’ as if the whole world should be made to look at political issues ONLY from the ‘selective’ prism and perspective of Professor Soyinka. We think not. The world had moved on with a lot of sophistication which Professor should endeavour to relate to with open minds. We recall that Professor Soyinka, with some known members of the Opposition to our government in 2010 had stormed the Ake Church Cathedral for what they claimed was a “Town Hall Meeting”. We do not want to believe Prof is still smarting from that failed political encounter which was obvious to all discerning minds was politically motivated, ostensibly aimed at promoting the interest of other political parties and interest in which the son of Professor Soyinka was already slated to serve, as follow-up event eventually proved.
5. We would rather think in consonant with age, status and accomplishments and respects which go with all these, Prof should wake up to the reality of the law of diminishing returns and be circumspect in speech and public utterance, especially as he has the latitude of personal intervention on matters of conflict in Ogun State; he could simply call and seek audience with Otunba Gbenga Daniel and or any of the other principal actors involved then to make an unbiased judgment.
6. We have followed the rather condemnable reference to Professor Soyinka by a former President of Nigeria (a member of the same generation with Prof) referring to him in as a “respected wine connoisseur” whose political judgment is suspect. While not subscribing to this derisive comment, it remains for Professor Soyinka to prove this wrong with his well researched and highly informed judgment and comments on issues of politics. He should endeavour to ask what ACTUALLY transpired and Why.
7. We also need to put on record, that despite of the various attempts to demonise the Otunba Gbenga Daniel administration by Professor Soyinka and some others who constituted themselves as Opposition to the government, in contrast to the experience in other parts of the country, while the opposition simulated crisis lasted in Ogun State, no single soul was lost under the watch of His Excellency Otunba Gbenga Daniel and no single act of violence was recorded contrary to the Propaganda they painted to the outside world.
8. We believe that while it lasted, OGD have proven to have a better democratic credentials than most people, especially politicians that Professor Soyinka had chosen not to cristicise in his self-styled social activism.
9. Let us also place on record that President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Otunba Gbenga Daniel as his Campaign Coordinator for the South West in 2011 (and not 2015 as misrepresented) and he delivered overwhelmingly; and despite the strong wind of change and the very unusual circumstances in 2015 Otunba Daniel still delivered his Federal and Senatorial constituencies for President Jonathan.
We implore those who have been so misguided by the orchestrated falsehood, lies and deceits and misrepresentations spurned out to encourage Professor Soyinka to do critical review of the performances of some of the governments and political actors he had promoted, supported and helped installed in relation to the commonwealth and improvements of the living conditions of the average citizens.
Signed:
Steve Oliyide
Media Aide to Otunba Gbenga Daniel.
Governor, Ogun State (2003-2011).
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The Wonder Known As Wole Soyinka |By: Professor Okey Ndibe‎

Wole Soyinka turned 81 today. For many, that milestone must seem incredible. He looks scandalously young and vibrant, his physique trim, his mind ever engaged with some of the major literary and political issues of our time. He’s the kind of man who provokes the question, “What is the secret…?”
The 1986 Nobel Prize for literature often strikes me as a kind of birdman. The metaphor is inspired by his amazing restlessness, his constant trips around the world in the service of the arts and ethics.
An old joke among his friends and close admirers is that the man lives in the air. The joke is far from an exaggeration. Soyinka maintains an itinerary that would daunt many people half his age. I have had the privilege of being present as he gave a public lecture in Nigeria or the United States, often in an academic setting. 
I have also run into him at several airports in different parts of the world—New York, Atlanta, London, Amsterdam, Lagos. He’s easy to spot because he stands out in any crowd. There’s that signature dome of hair, a puff of white, as regal as halo. There’s that sartorial air all his own, a sleeveless vest often hanging over a band collar shirt. And there’s that briskness of movement befitting a man who is called, again and again, to attend to some fire in his country or around the world.
It’s as if Soyinka’s patron deity, Ogun, prepared him well—in mind and body—for his tough assignment as artist and activist. In fact, the implied dichotomy between artist and activist is often erased in Soyinka. His art frequently embodies his ethical outlook and concerns, which is not to say that his art is reducible to his politics.
The constant seeking of a balance between art and political engagement has been Soyinka’s inescapable burden and boon. One suspects that more Nigerians have encountered Soyinka through his unceasing interventions on political issues than in his artistic enterprise. It’s something of an odd situation, but wholly understandable. Soyinka’s language is, as a rule, stylistically and structurally challenging.
His language is far above the diction quotient of most users of the English language in the world. That conjuncture—the rarefied register of Soyinka’s language and the fact that most readers have relatively modest linguistic funds—accounts, in part at least, for the often-levied charge that the Nobel laureate’s art is elitist and that he delights in esoteric speech.
For me, the seeming legitimacy of that charge is mitigated by the fact that Soyinka is the closest contemporary example in Africa of what—for want of a better word—I would describe as a total artist. I know of no African writer—and few in the world—who has approached the sheer breadth of Wole Soyinka’s artistic arsenal. He is, quite simply, Africa’s preeminent artist par excellence, a catholic entrepreneur of the expressive arts.
By catholic, I allude, of course, to his insistence that no artistic form would be foreign to him. He has worked in such varied genres as drama, poetry, fiction, memoir, cultural theory, music, film, criticism, journalism, and translation. He has most excelled as a dramatist, several of his world-class plays commanding critical praise for their dramatic tension, their resonance of language, their equal evocation of the social and the mythic, and for the playwright’s flair for plumbing the depths of his characters’ psychology. His achievement in the other areas, including his two highly unique novels, is significant.
I’m often curious how Soyinka has been able to maintain such a remarkable, if not unsurpassed, level of artistic productivity despite the incessant intrusion of the peculiar mess called Nigeria.
In 2006, shortly after the publication of his most comprehensive memoir, You Must Set Forth At Dawn, I had an occasion to broach the issue. In an interview sponsored by the Chinua Achebe Foundation, I asked Soyinka: “Your new book, You Must Set Forth At Dawn, has just come out. You are not only a writer, but also an activist, an agent provocateur…something of a conscience of the nation. How do you reconcile such diverse demands?”

Here’s how he answered that question: “I don’t know about being the conscience of the nation. I’m satisfied with being my own conscience, and perhaps that’s what drives me. I have never really separated the two functions, which means that I have never given myself the burden of trying to reconcile incompatibles. We are all, before anything else, citizens. We belong to an environment and have a sense of community. Being part of a community means enjoying the security of being part of a family, but at the same time, accepting responsibilities towards that family. I mean, a nation is an extended family. So I have never seen my function as being different from the functions of any other citizen, except, of course, that my profession happens to be that of the word. And so I use that tool in the interest of my responsibilities. There’s no contradiction, whatsoever. Okay, from time to time I resent it very strongly. Let’s say I’m in the midst of, or planning a particular creative project. I’ve become internally committed to it, and something external impinges—like, what you’ve just mentioned; the politics of one’s existence—and of such urgency, that I have to abandon my project. And then there come strong resentment: Oh my God, not again, not again. When will I be able to plan my life according to my immediate moods, and so on? But it’s only in terms of those periods that there is resentment.”

Some people criticize Soyinka for the frequency of his critical comments on Nigeria, for his jeremiads against what he might call the “anti-men/women” leading Nigeria to ruination. Yet, I greatly admire Soyinka’s stipulation that we are, above all, citizens. As citizens, as Soyinka reminded us in his prison memoir, The Man Died, we cannot afford silence in the face of tyranny. As citizens, we must abhor the climate of unreason that darkness our space and deadens every facet of our society. As enlightened citizens, we ought to challenge ourselves and summon our fellows to rise to a loftier imagination and achieve a vital, vitalizing community.
I am in Soyinka’s debt for modeling what it means to be an engaged citizen and committed artist, and for demonstrating that the two impulses are not incompatible. May he be granted many more years of service to society and the artistic muse.
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Sexual Offences Bill: Wole Soyinka blasts 'paedophile' lawmaker.

Dear Friends and Comrades,
Regretfully, I am unable to be with you tomorrow morning. However, I extend a warm embrace to you in your resolve to keep within Nigeria’s short memory the events that have been central to the attainment of our democracy – warts and all – enjoyed today by you and me. June 12 remains the true Democracy Day despite the unprincipled efforts of some prime beneficiaries of that struggle to expunge it from a people’s chronicle.
If I had been able to join you, I would most certainly have asked you for help. It has to do with the nation’s latest alleged legislative stance against sexual abuse – molestation, rape, paedophilia etc etc. I am only a layman, not a “learned brother”, so any help from the learned is earnestly solicited. The question on my mind is this: is that legislative reinforcement not merely a case of rubbing vaseline on leprosy?
In this supposedly progressive bill, sponsored by the respected Senator Chris Anyanwu. I could not help but notice a reiteration – as if to ensure that there is no ambiguity – of the word “child”, near superfluously. Well, we understand “child” as defined in most dictionaries. There is however also child as defined by the Nigerian legislature. This definition is contained in a prior Bill, sponsored, no less, by a notorious serial paedophile and cross-border sex trafficker, yet lawmaker – one Ahmed Yerima.
Does Yerima’s Bill, gleefully assented to by his peers, not simply vitiate this latter, supposedly humane concern for the protection of the child? Again, I confess to being only a ‘bloody layman’ in such matters. However, reading both bills, it strikes me that all the new bill does is empower the clique of paedophiles. All you need do is “marry” even a six-year old under any local laws, and do whatever you want with her. Through marriage, she is already an “adult”. Her “defiler” is now fully protected by this law. She is not. The current Bill is the ancient story of locking the stable door after the horse has bolted. End of story? Yerimah and his fellow perverts are having the last laugh.
This issue of child protection looms large all over the world – including bills passed or under debate. It is one that defines us in our own estimation and in global view as worthy to be counted among humanity, or as the basest kind of living species that exist solely for their sensual gratification, even at the cost of the emotional and physiological well-being of the weak and vulnerable of society. Our lawmakers have betrayed our children.
This latest addition of insult to social injury was tucked within a last-minute avalanche of bills that were passed at lightning speed during the tail-end of the last legislative assemblage – 47 bills in under 3 hours – surely one for the Guinness Book of Records. An accident? Or by design? This bill, subjected to wrong arguments, merely consolidates the reduction of female minors to sex objects. As long as you can afford a bag of rice or – as in the case of cross-border tastes such as Ahmed Yerima’s – ten thousand dollars, you are free To Molest a child to death. This, surely cannot pretend to represent the will of a people who care. Once you re-define female adulthood as marital status, all subsequent protection bills for the girl-child are worthless, cynical.
Neither culture nor religion is at issue here. It is, quite starkly, an issue of science, the science of the human body, one that demonstrably instructs us when the female human body is still at risk from conjugal rites. We should therefore call upon the Medical Association to take the lead on this, a human issue that affects all men and women of conscience. A nation should not be founded on the sexual exploitation of the fragile, and innocent. The debate must remain open.
President Buhari – and here I make my first imposition on his presidency – should never place his assent on such a nefarious distraction. Its implications doom the victim to afflictions that churn the stomach even to think of the human toll. Perhaps those legislators think that vaginal fistula is something thought up arm-chair critics with nothing better to occupy their minds. No matter, let those who profess a genuine concern declare their stand on this. On my part, I find unacceptable any effort to build a nation on perversions that merely minister to man’s sexual appetites. This is a sordid appeasement of a minority who actually require psychiatric help. President Buhari should not give his assent to the Bill without amendments that address the earlier Yerima gift to the nation. It’s a trap!
Let us learn from the heroes of June 12. Few people have done more for the cause of liberation than the Hero of this day. M.K.O.Abiola was an open polygamist. None of his wives was ever found to be below the only age of consent that is now needlessly under contention – the scientific. We cannot substitute science and observation for any spurious alibis that sacrifice the child to private lust!
The debate must remain open until resolved in favour of the child.
–Wole Soyinka‎
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Wole Soyinka, Tinubu, Mo Abudu, others attend Gov. Amaechi's "Dynamics Of Change'' book launch (Photos)

Accomplished writer/author, Prof. Wole Soyinka; top TV host and CEO, Ebony Life TV, Mo Abudu; Ex Governor of Lagos.State and APC Chieftain Bola Tinubu and many more distinguished guests attended Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi’s book launch.

The book which was titled the “Dynamics of Change: The Amaechi Years” was launched yesterday, Thursday 14th May, 2015 at the Civic Center in Lagos.

The outgoing Rivers State Governor while giving his speech at the event mentioned that he knew he was going to be in trouble if APC had lost the presidential poll.

“I knew I was going to be in trouble. Anything that would cause that change not to take place, I was ready to make that sacrifice. The federal government sent out a signal that if they won nobody should let me out of Nigeria from any airport. One day Asiwaju got angry with me. He was very angry. I went to his house with Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and knelt down, saying ‘please let’s not disagree, let’s win first and then we can disagree’. He added.

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Open Letter To Prof. Wole Soyinka | By: John Abraham Godson

Dear Prof. Wole Soyinka,
It is with deep sadness that I read your remarks made during you lecture titled ‘Predicting Nigeria, Electoral Ironies’ at the Harvard University Hutchins Centre for African & African American Research, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, where you referred to the Igbos as “greedy”.
During your lecture you were alleged to have said:

“The Igbos are probably the only group of Nigerians that you can predict with great accuracy whom they will vote for in an election, because they tend to put their votes where their stomachs take them; suffering as it were, from incurable money-mindedness, as they would stop at nothing in their quest for personal financial gain.”

 

Your statement is not only divisive based on ignorant stereotyping, it also is also racist, and capable of of flaring up tribal conflicts amongst Nigerians. Such a statement from a respected statesman and educated nobel laureate can cause unprecedented havoc in the very delicate unity of our nation – Nigeria. 
It is very alarming to hear lately of anti-Igbo rhetoric from the Yoruba elite and especially from people of your intelligence and calibre. It is very sad and disheartening.
For us Nigerians in the Diaspora,we cherish our fraternity and constantly strive hard to build our brotherhood not only as Nigerians but also as Africans. 
I am an Igbo, an elected member of the Polish Parliament. Many Nigerians in Poland, including Yorubas turn to me for help and support when they have problems. I treat them as my brothers and I am my brother’s keeper.
Your alleged statement, with all due respect, Professor Soyinka, is uninformed, infantile and stereotypical and is a heavy blow on Nigerian Unity. Every tribe or Nigerian nation has its perceived attributes- and yes, the Igbos, like the Jews, are industrious and entrepreneurial and this should be a source of national pride.
Wisdom is said to grow as we get older. It is therefore expected of you as an elderly statesman, Profesor Soyinka, that you will be a role model to the younger generation of Nigerians and indeed Africans. Many look up to you as an example to follow. It is therefore imperative that you show a good example by correcting the above mistake. And the only way you can make up for your mistake is to publicly apologize to the Igbos and to Nigerians for your unwise and tactless statement. May I also advice that you think twice before you make such blanket statements in future.
Thank you.

Yours sincerely,
John Abraham Godson, MP
Chair, Parliamentary Group for Africa
President, The African Institute
Source: Leadership Newspaper.
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Prof. Wole Soyinka denies insulting the Igbos.

Nobel Laureate and prolific writer, Prof. Wole Soyinka has debunked reports circulating around that he insulted the Igbos during the last elections. Find his post below.
I have just read a statement attributed to me on something called The Cable, a news outlet, evidently one of the Internet infestations. My lecture at the Hutchins Centre, Harvard University, was video recorded. Anyone who believes what I am alleged to have said must be a moron – repeat, a moron.

It is demeaning, sickening and boring to have to deal with these cowards who cannot fight their own battles but must fasten their imbecilic pronouncements on others. Only the mentally retarded will credit this comment attributed to me regarding the Ndigbo voting pattern in the last elections. 


I strongly suspect the author of this despicable concoction, and may make a further statement, once the source is verified.

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Ekiti Election Rigging Tape: Prof Wole Soyinka calls on INEC, EFCC, ICPC for probe.

In an article titled: The Silver Lining in the Cloud of Postponement. Accomplished writer, Professor Wole Soyinka has called on anti-corruption agencies – the EFCC and the ICPC to dig deep into the Ekiti State election rigging tape which was exposed by a military intelligence officer several weeks ago. Read his article below.
The “Advertorial” – full front page of a newspaper ” Feb 23, 2015 – sponsored by Mr. Ayo Fayose (aka “No Apology”) deserves to succeed in its aim of putting an end to all dispute surrounding the Ekiti elections of June 21, 2014.
After all, its entire page is dedicated to a Press Statement from the US Department of State, which purportedly endorses the results of that election, congratulates the electoral organization, the winner/loser duo, not forgetting the security forces – all for their laudable contributions.
The release could not be timelier, what with the governor’s own exhortations on the virtues of credibility, avoidance of violence, and its special appeal to “ALL THOSE WHO HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE”.
It is that last item in the advertisement to which I am especially drawn, in view of an audio recording that has now become the latest marvel of democratic exposes, internationally. For those who have nothing to hide, disrobing lies and forgeries and reinforcing truth is regarded as part and parcel of the obligations we owe democracy.
The audio could well be one of such forgeries. We are daily inundated with allegations, evasions, distortions, image plundering and image laundering, all under the permissive canopy of electoral proceeding.

Once in a while however, we encounter exposure of an exceptional dimension that appears to strike at the very root of Democracy, questions the validity of an entire electoral system and even erodes confidence in the integrity of the state.

Such an event need not be regarded as a repudiation of the formal mechanics put in place by an electioneering agency such as INEC, but nonetheless extends the scope of its responsibilities, including its projection of looming hazards of future electoral exercises.
This is why, in the absence of a Constitutional Court or its equivalent, one is left with no other course than to call on INEC to also take formal charge of the recorded incident of this alleged conspiracy to pervert the course of Democracy.
For those ‘who have nothing to hide’, it is a call that deserves unstinting support. They should not hesitate to assist in calling on the same US expertise to assist us in exposing a forgery.
We are speaking here of a development that implicates not only products, beneficiaries or would-be constitutional guardians of the electoral process – that is, an elected governor, a governorship aspirant, but also state agencies – the military, two serving ministers – that is, members of the Executive arm of government, one of them in charge of the nation’s defence portfolio – and others.
In addition to the logical role of the police, the nation’s electoral commission should undertake an independent investigation and make its findings known to the nation. Is this perhaps something INEC can undertake while the nation waits out its suspended electoral sentence? It only requires repudiation – or validation – of the findings of an already advanced forensic enquiry.
So also should the two anti-corruption agencies – the EFCC and the ICPC – since material corruption is also implicit in the present instance. At the fount of all electoral manipulation is the grim facilitator – Money! Here, for instance, is a lesson drawn from the travails of a former Inspector-General of Police in recent history.
That scandal happened to coincide with a barely concluded electoral exercise, considered by some as a strong contestant for one of the most blatantly manipulated election in the nation’s history. A number of bulging accounts had been traced to that Inspector-General.
During private discussions, I exhorted the then Director of EFCC to go beyond the sensational monetary finds and track each of them painstakingly back to source. “If you succeed in that”, I urged Nuhu Ribadu, “you would have done more than merely expose institutional police corruption, you would have done inestimable service to the cause of Democracy.
The I-G,” I insisted, “was a mere bag holder for electoral manipulators inhabiting the most rarefied levels of governance!” I therefore pleaded with him not to stop at the prosecution and conviction of the sacrificial face – in effect, a scapegoat, albeit most willing – of that operation.
This was equally my prayer to the Nigerian Bar Association during an Abuja lecture at the time. Anyone who disputes a robust connection between material and political corruption should reflect on the mild slap on the wrist that the I-G received for charges of misappropriation of such staggering dimensions.
Now it is the turn of the Army as facilitators for the alleged political crime. Allied to this elite criminal corps – again, as alleged – was a former Chairman of the Senate Appropriation Committee turned governorship candidate.
The evidence resides in the recording of a conspiracy against free and fair elections, later reinforced by a televised interview with the whistleblower – a military intelligence officer.
That recording has been heard by millions all over the world –governments, Human Rights Organizations, election monitoring groups, business individuals, even those merely seeking real-life variants on improbable Nollywood fare.
The alleged crime is in global domain.
Let no one attempt to facilitate the rampaging course of Impunity by brushing this aside as just another electoral malpractice – no, in my layman estimation, this approaches criminal subversion and treason.
The accusation is blatant and the demand for rigorous investigation must remain unrelenting. The accounts of the inculpated General and others should be subjected to the same scrutiny as those of the earlier cited Inspector-General of police. And so on, and so clamorous! Those who have nothing to fear can sleep easy.
If the formal agencies fail, then citizens must learn to assert their right of access to Truth. As is the practice in other societies, a Citizens Trial can be instituted, experts co-opted, and both accusers and accused invited to testify.

Even the venue does not have to be internal, since witnesses may require protection. Democracy does not begin or end with the ballot box, nor is it confined to national boundaries.
There is no assertion anywhere yet of a “Case Proven”, no rush to judgment, simply a craving – as urged in the said governor’s advertorial – to let “facts Speak for themselves!

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I have 60 reasons not to vote for Jonathan – Wole Soyinka

Multi award-winning writer and Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has implored Nigerians not to vote for the incumbent President, Goodluck Jonathan in the forthcoming Presidential elections.
The renowned author made the declaration yesterday while speaking to ‎students at the 2015 edition of Vision of the ‎Child (VOTC) programme.
Citing the kidnap of the over 200 Chibok school girls last year, Soyinka stated‎ that Jonathan’s leadership has failed in his duties and thus doesn’t deserve a second term.‎
 “I have ‎sixty reasons ‎not to vote for the Jonathan regime. ‎I will not vote and I will not encourage anyone to vote for ‎the ‎continuation of this government, simply because your ‎colleagues numbering over two hundred were kidnapped.” He said.‎
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He continued, “And the government of this nation failed to show leadership. ‎So anyone who says after that ‎event that ‎I will vote or cast ‎my vote or ‎encourage anyone to vote for this regime must be ‎living in Sambisa forest.‎There has been a failure of leadership. Our children whom ‎you represent today have been betrayed.‎”
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“After that dereliction of duty, after that failure of leadership, ‎after that betrayal for our future, for anyone to ‎think or to put ‎words in my mouth suggesting that I will vote or encourage ‎anyone to vote for this regime is a travesty of intelligence.”
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