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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