Ime Akpan
Ahead of the commencement of the 2019 general elections on February 16, Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has said that neither the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), President Muhammadu Buhari nor his counterpart in People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Atiku Abubakar, deserves to be voted for.
Speaking at an interactive forum with the theme ‘Civic choice in a time of judicial penkelemes’ held in Lagos yesterday Soyinka announced that neither of the candidates would get his vote.
He said Nigeria was in an urgent need of a new direction.
He said with the plethora of opposition parties lining up to take over governance he found both parties “worthy of absolute rejection.”
He said there was no need for Nigerians to be enslaved permanently with the old discredited order of politicians. I find both of them worthy of absolute rejection.
“It is time for a totally new direction, and when an alternative emerges, we will give the candidate our backing.
“For the avoidance of doubt, let me make my position quite clear because I don’t want any ambiguity; I, Wole Soyinka, will not be voting for either the two so-called contesting parties. I find both of them worthy of absolute rejection.
“For a number of reasons which I will not go into here, I’m not interested in a comparative assessment. My position is simply that it is time for a totally new direction. And obviously, I’m not the only one, as I’m speaking, there is a coalition having its meeting in Lagos from which they hope to produce a consensus candidate.
“There is another group meeting in Abuja, also at the end would send us their consensus candidate. Things have been going on quietly in the background to try and change the direction of this nation in a very positive way and to make the public understand that they do not have to be enslaved permanently to the old discredited order. It is my sole business in this election.
“I don’t believe in what is called negative vote which means, for me, throwing your vote in a wastebasket, I believe instead in a creative vote, not a protest vote, not a negative vote but a creative vote.
“And a creative vote means that the will to at least sow a seed through your vote that will germinate eventually. The pace of germination is beyond the control of everyone, but it is never too early to make a beginning. It has happened before in other societies. When a dark horse emerges from nowhere and trumps all the political juggernauts caterpillars and so on with their performers, worthless, their capacity for violence and treachery,” he said.
Commenting on the recent controversial suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Mr. Walter Onnoghen by President Muhammadu Buhari and the appointment of an acting CJN, Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, Soyinka said every Nigerian government had tried to subjugate the judiciary in one form or the other.
“The judiciary is the best hope for the common citizens. No law, no democracy. No democracy, no society. Successive governments try and hamstring any kind of controlling force within government such as the judiciary. They do it in all sorts of ways. There is hardly any government here, even all the way back to the First Republic, that didn’t attempt to muzzle, destroy or degrade the judiciary in some ways. Methods differ. That is all.
“Methods differ. That is all. Oh! Sorry, there are one or two exceptions. I would say that one former head of state was an exception. He never tampered with the judiciary. All he did was to ignore them completely, including their decisions. And of course, he locked up individuals without trials, people like Dele Faseun and the new Are Ona Kakanfo for months.
“That is one way of respecting the judiciary. You don’t give them much work so you don’t bring people to trial. You just lock them away. I make that exception,” he said.
In his remarks, Lagos lawyer, Mr. Falana faulted the ex parte order used in removing Onnoghen but expressed worry that the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) had set a dangerous by mobilising for someone charged with serious graft.
For her part, rights activist and president, Women Arise for Change Initiative, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, described as a “nullity” Onnoghen’s suspension saying flouting the rule of law is an invitation to chaos.
“If the rule of law is not obeyed, governors can wake up one day and do whatever they like. Finding an alternative to the rule of law is creating penkelemes,” she said.
