Nobel
laureate, Wole Soyinka, has lambasted President Goodluck Jonathan for
allowing what he called a reign of impunity, the latest being police
siege on the National Assembly.
Mr. Soyinka said the latest
action of Suleiman Abba, the Inspector General of Police, against
members of the House of Representatives was an “unambiguous” declaration
of war against the people.
At a press conference in Lagos he
titled King Nebuchadnezzar – The Reign of Impunity, Mr. Soyinka said
that the battle line had been drawn and Nigerians must decide whether to
submit or resist to the current democratic dispensation.
“I
shall not insist that the biblical figure of Nebuchadnezzar is uniquely
apt for the pivotal figure of the ‘democratic’ history in the making at
this moment,” said Mr. Soyinka. “For one thing, Nebu was a nation
builder and a warrior. One could argue even more convincingly for the
figure of Balthazar, his successor, or indeed Emperor Nero as reference
point – you all remember him – the emperor who took to fiddling while
Rome was burning.
“However you should easily recall why I opted
for King Nebu – the figure that currently sits on the top of our
political pile himself evoked it, albeit in a context that virtuously
disclaimed any similarities, even tendencies. Perhaps he meant it at the
time when he claimed: ‘I am no Nebuchadnezzar.’ Perhaps not. One judges
leaders on acts however, not pronouncements, which are often as
reliable as electoral promises.”
Mr. Soyinka said that it was left for Nigerians to decide to revert to the ‘Abacharian status of glorified slaves.”
“The praetorian guards have been let loose – to teach the rabble their place,” he said.
“The
recent choice of a new leader for the guard was clearly no accident,
and this hitherto unknown enforcer, one Suleiman Abba, has wasted no
time in inaugurating a season of brutish power. When a people’s elected
emissaries are disenfranchised, cast out like vagrants and resort to
scaling fences to engage in their designated functions, the people get
the message.
“However, the choice is always there, and each choice comes at a cost. It is either we pay now, or pay later.”
Mr. Soyinka also said that President Goodluck Jonathan had continued to surprise Nigerians in ways “few could have conjectured.”
“Peaking
at his own personalised example where he set the law of arithmetic on
its head – I refer to the split in the Governors’ Forum, and his
‘formal’ recognition of the minority will in a straightforward, peer
election – democracy has been rendered meaningless where it should be
most fervently exemplified.
“Nothing is more unworthy of
leadership than to degrade a system by which one attains fulfilment, and
this is what the nation has witnessed time and time again in various
parts of the nation, the recent affront against the legislative chamber
being only the most blatant and unconscionable…
“It is a warning.
His choices for the occupancy of crucial public positions – such as the
protective arm of the nation – constitutes an even more immediate and
constant public alert. The signals are ominous – for and beyond 2015.”
Does this mean that he will soon eat grass???,just asking though....
0 comments:
Post a Comment