Ime Akpan
Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has agreed with former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s comment that Boko Haram’s agenda is Boko Haram is no longer an issue of lack of education and lack of employment for our youths in Nigeria, which it began but “is now West African Fulanisation, African Islamisation and global organised crimes of human trafficking, money laundering, drug trafficking, illegal mining and regime change.’’
Obasanjo who made the comment in a keynote address at the 2019 Synod of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), held in Oleh, Isoko South council area of Delta State was thereafter criticised by the federal government and some northern politicians including the former governor of Jigawa State, Mr. Sule Lamido, former police chief, Mr. Abubakar Tsav, Second Republic senator, Dr. Junaid Mohammed and a horde of others.
However, on Wednesday, May 22 at the 2019 UBA African Day with the theme, ‘Africa’s history redefined: Our past, a path to the future’ held in Lagos, Soyinka deplored the federal government for ignoring the call for collaborative efforts to combat insecurity as suggested by Obasanjo.
He said Nigeria was descending into a horrendous abyss and “we should act fast to save the situation.”
“Those who expound history from our schools should be taken away from history.
“This country is undergoing a horrendous descent into abyss, spiritually, morally, ideally even in the thought system. We are watching a huge mass of people descend into a state of brutality in the like of which we have never experienced in this country.
“If you go into the street and you say Africa must unite, what a man on the street would say is Mr. Leader first get my people from kidnappers’ den, then come back to talk about unity,” he said.
He said although his relationship with Obasanjo had been anything but cordial, Soyinka maintained that “unity is possible even in the plurality of our languages.”
“However, everybody knows that my relationship with Obasanjo is not too cordial but at the same time, we should be very careful not to be dismissive. If there is a substance, the language must be put aside for a moment.
“I heard the minister of information, and I had the feeling that they are leaving aside the substance and worrying too much about the language. Obasanjo was calling for a meeting of stakeholders on a very serious aspect of social menace this country is undergoing.
“The perfect picture of Africa is what we must continue to uphold in view.
“As leaders, we have used the word ‘unity’ to destroy our people.
“The issue of Boko Haram is currently being discussed in the House of parliament in England in relation to Africa’s well-being,” he said.
He expressed worry over the future of the country, adding that Nigerian children were growing up truncated because of the lack of history in its schools’ curriculum.
“If we look back to history and see how we can re-introduce our existence without external help, we might find solutions to these horrendous issues whether its starvation, healthy, psychological sanity or liberation in the real sense of the word because right now, we are in many instances, re-colonised internally by a number of forces,” he added.
