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  • 2019: Get involved, stop bothering old men like me – Soyinka charges youths

    2019: Get involved, stop bothering old men like me – Soyinka charges youths

    Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka on Thursday advised Nigerian youths to get involved in politics and stop politicians of his age from getting any political office come 2019.

    Soyinka spoke at Elizade University, Ilara Mokin, Ondo State while delivering the institution’s 2nd convocation lecture.

    Addressing the topic, Tending the Tree of Commencement, the literary professor, urged Nigerian youth to be dedicated and remain active in politics.

    While urging the youth to participate actively in the coming general elections, Mr Soyinka urged them to ensure they had representatives in government in the coming dispensation.

    He lamented that old politicians who had dominated the political space and are still in power, have failed the country over the years.

    In extolling the virtues displayed by some youth, he highlighted the stand of Leah Shuiab, one of the female secondary school students kidnapped in Dapchi, Yobe State, by Boko Haram insurgents.

    He praised her firmness, comparing her to the likes of Nelson and Winnie Mandela, who chose to remain in prison despite the offer of freedom by the government of South Africa.

    “All I can just tell you is this; don’t make the mistake of following those who failed you before; those who are pretending that they have nothing to do with the disaster that has overtaken Nigeria,” he said.

    “They are very quick to smell failure, they are very quick to shout it; but then, they exculpate themselves, whereas they are the founding malfeasance of the Nigerian condition: that is what I am warning (the) youth against. Mobilize, get your representatives and stop bothering geriatrics like myself. ”

    He also lamented the scrapping of history in the curriculum of secondary schools in the country, saying it has made people forget their historical backgrounds.

    In his remarks, the Chairman of the occasion, and a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Ayo Banjo, said there was a need for the country to pay attention to the training of teachers.

    According to him, teachers should be well paid, to encourage them for better service delivery.

    “If you want education to improve in Nigeria, there should be more funding, more money to provide conducive environment, more money for training of teachers,” he said.

    “For instance, you cannot be in the army without having frequent training. The Army do not joke with training. Every three or four years, they go for (an) update on their training.”

     

  • ‘Herdsmen attacks will plunge Nigeria into major food crisis’ Soyinka warns

    ‘Herdsmen attacks will plunge Nigeria into major food crisis’ Soyinka warns

    Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka on Friday expressed grave concern over the continued displacement of the nation’s farming population in various parts of the country by rampaging violent herdsmen.

    Soyinka warned that if nothing was done urgently to stem the tide of killings and sacking of farmers by herdsmen, the dark cloud of violence could plunge the country into a major food crisis.

    The renowned playwright and author of Kongi harvest, who spoke in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, during a conference session on African Drum Festival, said a period like the on – going drum festival, demands a moment of sober reflection on the onslaught by herdsmen against the primary producers of food in the country.

    Soyinka who is the consultant for this year’s African Drum festival, however, added that the appalling situation should not be allowed to completely dampen the spirit of creativity.

    He called for the immediate restoration of displaced farmers to their traditional base, as a first step towards ensuring that this country is good habitation for people .

  • Nigeria may face acute food shortage over incessant herdsmen attacks – Soyinka

    Nigeria may face acute food shortage over incessant herdsmen attacks – Soyinka

    Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka on Friday expressed grave concern over the continued displacement of the nation’s farming population in various parts of the country by rampaging violent herdsmen.

    Soyinka warned that if nothing was done urgently to stem the tide of killings and sacking of farmers by herdsmen, the dark cloud of violence could plunge the country into a major food crisis.

    The renowned playwright and author of Kongi harvest, who spoke in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, during a conference session on African Drum Festival, said a period like the on – going drum festival, demands a moment of sober reflection on the onslaught by herdsmen against the primary producers of food in the country.

    Soyinka who is the consultant for this year’s African Drum festival, however, added that the appalling situation should not be allowed to completely dampen the spirit of creativity.

    He called for the immediate restoration of displaced farmers to their traditional base, as a first step towards ensuring that this country is good habitation for people .

    In his address, Governor Ibikunle Amosun observed that the intellectual angle to the festival was an innovation powered by Soyinka thanking him for putting the event together.

     

  • Nigeria deserves Trump’s ‘shithole’ comment – Soyinka

    …says country is sick and empty

    Renowned Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has said the country deserved the ‘shithole’ comment ascribed to her by the United States President, Donald Trump.

    The Nobel Laureate further described the nation as ‘sick and empty.’

    Soyinka said this while speaking at the Ripples Nigerian Dialogue titled “Rebuilding trust in a Divided Nigeria,” which held at The Wheatbread Hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos.

    The Nobel Laureate condemned the humiliation of Nigerians by the military personnel, stating that the humiliation of Nigerians led him to relocating abroad.

    “The treatment of Nigerians by the military-led me to relocating to a saner clime. I remember invading Obasanjo’s residence in Lagos and challenging him concerning the way Nigerians were being treated. It is a disgrace to us, as a Nation. We have been left behind in nearly every field.

    “They are lessons to be learnt from the diaspora. We need to peek across the Atlantic to see how other countries have been faring,” Soyinka urged.

    Drawing illustrations from his lecture titled “From Miyetti to Haiti: Notes from a Solidarity Visit,” Soyinka emphasized the need to end slavery in our current society. Citing the examples of Haiti and Nigeria that has been described as shit-hole countries, as identified by Trump, United States President.

    “We have become laughing stocks in the eyes of the public.

    “We have earned the term of shit hole. Nigeria is sick and empty. Some retrogressive forces won’t just stop. Everything Nigeria touches rusts.”

    Wole Soyinka ended his session by emphasizing the need of looking in the mirror to solve Nigerian problems. He also encouraged the youths to resist the passage of the Hate Speech bill.

    The roundtable featured Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka; Pat Utomi, represented by Mr Rasheed Adegbenro; Ex-Governor Peter Obi and Dr. (Mrs) Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi.

    Wole Soyinka has described Nigeria as sick and empty, deserving of the term “shithole” as described by United States President, Donald Trump.

    Soyinka said this while speaking at the Ripples Nigerian Dialogue titled “Rebuilding trust in a Divided Nigeria,” which held at The Wheatbread Hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos.

    The Nobel Laureate condemned the humiliation of Nigerians by the military personnel, stating that the humiliation of Nigerians led him to relocating abroad.

    “The treatment of Nigerians by the military led me to relocating to a saner clime. I remember invading Obasanjo’s residence in Lagos and challenging him concerning the way Nigerians were being treated. It is a disgrace to us, as a Nation. We have been left behind in nearly every field.

    “They are lessons to be learnt from the diaspora. We need to peek across the Atlantic to see how other countries have been faring,” Soyinka urged.

    Drawing illustrations from his lecture titled “From Miyetti to Haiti: Notes from a Solidarity Visit,” Soyinka emphasized the need to end slavery in our current society. Citing the examples of Haiti and Nigeria that has been described as shit-hole countries, as identified by Trump, United States President.

    “We have become laughing stocks in the eyes of the public.

    “We have earned the term of shit hole. Nigeria is sick and empty. Some retrogressive forces won’t just stop. Everything Nigeria touches rusts.”

    Wole Soyinka ended his session by emphasizing the need of looking in the mirror to solve Nigerian problems. He also encouraged the youths to resist the passage of the Hate Speech bill.

    The roundtable featured Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka; Pat Utomi, represented by Mr Rasheed Adegbenro; Ex Governor Peter Obi and Dr. (Mrs) Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi.

     

    The session was moderated by Reuben Abati.

  • Get a psychiatrist to examine me if I join Obasanjo’s coalition – Soyinka

    Get a psychiatrist to examine me if I join Obasanjo’s coalition – Soyinka

    Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka said a psychiatrist should be called to examine him should he join the Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM) recently launched by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    Soyinka spoke in an interview with BBC Yoruba Service, which began online on Monday.

    Obasanjo had in a letter written to President Muhammadu Buhari in January, canvassed a new movement that will give Nigeria a new leadership.

    But Soyinka said: “Me? Obasanjo would establish a group and I will become a member of such group? That means they should get a psychiatrist to examine me,” he said.

    Soyinka advised Nigerians to be cautious in accepting at face value, Obasanjo’s letter and the statement issued by former military president, Ibrahim Babangida.

    ‘‘When these Generals begin to write letters there is the possibility that what they have in mind is different from what we have in mind.”

    However, Soyinka said the content of the message should be examined even though the messengers were not trustworthy.

    “When these Generals begin to speak, we are supposed to get suspicious and ask what exactly do they have in mind? It is possible that what they have in mind is different from what we have in mind,” he said.

    “You can look at it from two perspectives, the messenger and the message. The message should be examined closely. We should not look at the misdeeds of the messenger alone.

    “Let’s start by asking, is he saying the truth or telling lies, or is he being tricky? “If he is saying the truth and talking about things that are beneficial to the masses, we would allow that be.

    “After that, we would now look at the person speaking, what is in his mind? …even if it’s a little child who is speaking, as far as that child is saying the truth, we won’t ask the child to keep quiet. We won’t ask the child what do you know?

    “We would listen. It is the same situation with those who have presided over the affairs of this nation without making significant progress.

    “We have seen their weaknesses, we have seen their nakedness in public, if they now want to be covered, by saying that they have turned a new leaf, we would examine that too. What I am saying in essence is that what they have said should also be examined.”

    While urging the youth to come together to present a candidate to represent them, he said the older generation would support them if they are serious.

    “We have a lot of them. It is the turn of the younger ones. If they come together, as we speak, if they can start now and bring out one individual among them, we will work with him.”

  • Herdsmen/farmers clashes: Soyinka blasts Buhari, IG; backs call for establishment of state police

    …Says Buhari operating under trance

    Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka on Tuesday backed calls for the establishment of state police as the only effective panacea to solving the recurring herdsmen, farmers clashes that has led to unnecessary waste of lives and destruction of properties.

    The Nobel laureate also said some recent actions of President Muhammadu Buhari showed that he had been operating under a trance.

    The sooner he gets out of that trance, Soyinka said, the better for the country.

    Soyinka spoke at a press conference on the damaging consequences of marauding herdsmen on the nation.

    With the theme: “Herdsmen and Nation: Valentine Card or Valedictory Rites?” the dramatist gave an analogical tale of a state whose master’s insensitivity allows for the overbearing actions of his subjects.

    He lamented that mass destruction of farmlands in the most horrifying manner had become a norm, festering with the encouragement of the government’s body language.

    Soyinka described as appalling the position of the Inspector General of Police that the loss of lives in Benue State, and consequent increase in the number of internal refugees, was simply a communual clash.

    In his view, little will be achieved in security without state police.

    “If the IG can sit in Abuja and say of an event that is happening under the jurisdiction of a governor in another state is just a communal clash when people are being slaughtered and their villages are being occupied, it shows complete alienation. Then there is the authority of Governors who have the ultimate authority for security. It is the governor who is supposed to be the chief security officer. We are now back to authoritative voices saying indeed, state police need to be decentralised. We have been saying it and others have been saying for a long time. We are now getting back to the commonsensical issue that the nation cannot function under a single police command,” he said.

    Acknowledging, however, that the Nigerian Army has done marvelously in degrading the capacity of the Boko-Haram insurgents, the poet-activist said “it must now turn around to face another phenomenon which is considered in some international circles deadlier than the Boko-Haram”.

    According to him, the containing efforts happening now should have begun six months as he expected the force to have immediately transferred its concentration from operations, such as Python Dance and Crocodile Smile to where the heat was.

    He said the security agencies have the responsibility to look at highly-placed people in whose interest anarchy can be fostered.

    Soyinka added: “Why colonies were brought in to complicate things, I do not know. Ranches; that’s the word used everywhere. There is no organized illegal force that does not sooner or later spin up. Are these internally generated or are they being launhed by individuals who in their interest the nation must be in a state of anarchy? We sometimes talk about corruption but we don’t understand how far corruption goes. When you think of the amount being stolen in this country, enough funds illegal fund to destabilise the country. We might end up discovering that some of these people profit from ensuring there is chaos from Maiduguri to Lagos.”

    Speaking on restructuring, Soyinka said: “Sooner or later, people will recognise the fact it’s not broken record they are listening to, it’s their hearing that is impaired. In other words, we have been shouting restructuring, now its inevitability has always been stressed. The internal relationship of the units of this country be decentralised. And anytime you talk about restructuring, you hear this gibberish that the sovereignty of this country will not be compromised. Who is talking about sovereignty? We are saying the internal components of the country needed to be addressed … We must decentralise governance.”

    Asked what he would tell President Buhari if he met him, the Nobel laureate said: “I would say: Mr President, I think you are under a trance. “The sooner he gets out of it the better. So many unforced errors are going on,” he added.

    Prof. Soyinka cited Buhari’s recall of the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Usman Yusuf, after he was suspended for alleged graft by Minister of Health Isaac Adewole, as a recent example of the unforced errors that have characterised the administration.

     

  • Buhari’s reinstatement of NHIS boss shows he’s in a trance – Soyinka

    Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has said President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent actions showed he (Buhari) is in a trance.

    The revered playwright particularly noted Buhari’s reinstatement of the suspended Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof. Yusuf Usman.

    Soyinka, while reacting to a question on the three things he would tell the President if he meets him, stated, “I will say Mr. President you are in a trance.”

    He added that the sooner the President got out of the trance, the better for the nation.

    Asked the form of trance the President was in, the Nobel laureate said, “I don’t know. So many unforced errors. Take for instance the suspended Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Usman Yusuf, reinstated by the President.

    “What is that about? What is going on?”

    Soyinka had earlier held a press conference in Lagos on the state of the nation titled ‘Nomads and Nation: Valentine card or valedictory rites.’

    Details soon…

  • Benue massacre: IPOB didn’t kill as much as herdsmen before you declared them terrorist, Soyinka lampoons Buhari

    Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka on Wednesday lambasted the incumbent administration of President Muhammadu Buhari for not being proactive in curtailing the excesses of herdsmen who recently murdered over sixty people in Benue State.

    The literary icon further stated that the Indigenous People of Biafa, and its leader, Nnamdi Kanu did not perpetuate as much as the herdsmen are flagrantly doing before the Federal Government declared them (IPOB) a terrorist organization.

    Soyinka who was recently under fierce attack for his perceived quietness on the ‘misdeeds’ of the Buhari administration said this in article he titled ‘Impunity rides again’ and released on Wednesday.

    “I am not aware that IPOB came anywhere close to this homicidal propensity and will to dominance before it was declared a terrorist organization.

    “The international community rightly refused to go along with such an absurdity. The conduct of that movement, even at its most extreme, could by no means be reckoned as terrorism. By contrast, how do we categorize Myeti?,” Soyinka said.

    The Nobel Laureate further alleged that President Buhari was handling the Fulani herdsmen killings the way his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan handled the raving Boko Haram crisis back then in 2014.

    In his words: “Yes, Jonathan only saw ‘ghosts’ when Boko Haram was already excising swathes of territory from the nation space and abducting school pupils. The ghosts of Jonathan seem poised to haunt the tenure of Mohammed Buhari.”

    He further recalled that after “a hideous massacre” perpetrated by the herdsmen in 2016, a security meeting was called and the cattle rearers “attended the meeting — according to reports — with AK47s and other weapons of mass intimidation visible under their garments”.

    “They were neither disarmed nor turned back. They freely admitted the killings but justified them by claims that they had lost their cattle to the host community,” he said.

    “Such are the monstrous beginnings of the culture of impunity. We are reaping, yet again, the consequences of such tolerance of the intolerable. Yes, there indeed the government is culpable, definitely guilty of ‘looking the other way’. Indeed, it must be held complicit.”

     

    Reacting to a statement that herdsmen were in defence of their stolen cows, the nobel laureate, said, “How do we assess a mental state that cannot distinguish between a stolen cow – which is always recoverable – and human life, which is not.

    “Villages have been depopulated far wider than those outside their operational zones can conceive. They swoop on sleeping settlements, kill and strut. They glory in their seeming supremacy.”

  • Mind restructure: Soyinka blasts Buhari’s aide, Adesina, says ‘stop trivializing issues’

    …backs calls for restructuring, state police

    Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has lashed out at people trivializing calls for national restructuring to just ‘restructuring of the mind.’

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that there have been mounting calls by eminent Nigerians for the restructuring of the nation especially now when various ethnic groups in the country are beginning to demand for their independence.

    Recall that in a special piece titled ‘Wanted: Restructuring of the mind’ published on TheNewsGuru.com on Saturday, Senior Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said what Nigerians need at this time is restructuring of the mind, not the country.

    In his words: “The sing-song in the country today is restructuring of the polity. We want more states. We want a return to regional structure. We want a revision of the revenue allocation formula. We want six vice presidents, one from each geo-political zone. We want those zones to be the federating units, rather than the states. And so on, and so forth.

    “In fact, so loud is the cacophony of voices over restructuring that if you ask 100 people what they mean, they give you 100 different explanations. But as a country, I believe we will get there someday. And soon.

    “However, is political restructuring the most urgent thing Nigeria needs now? I don’t think so. For me, what is more urgent is the restructuring of the Nigerian mind. A mind that sees the country as one, that believes that we have a future and a hope, that believes that we are one people under God. But what we see now is ruinous for any country. It is hemlock, bound to poison the entire polity, and send it to a premature perdition,” Adesina noted.

    Reacting to this, respected literary icon, Soyinka, who spoke on Monday in Lagos at an event, said every Nigerian knows what restructuring is all about, whether it is called reconfiguring, return to status quo, or reformulating the protocols of association.

    In Soyinka’s words: “My own position is that people shouldn’t allow themselves be put up by those who try to cheat on the expression, ‘restructuring.’ It doesn’t matter by what name you call it. We all know that this nation was deconstructed and what we live in right now, as a nation, is not allowing structuring that expresses the true will of Nigerians,” he said.

    Speaking further, the Nobel laureate noted: “People go to churches and mosques for their minds to be restructured. Restructuring the mind is not the issue; nobody is saying restructuring the mind should not be undertaken; anybody who is involved in examination already engages in mental and or attitudinal reconstruction.

    “So people should not try to substitute one for another. I find it very dishonest and cheap, trivialising the issue when people said it is the mind, which needs to be restructured. Who is denying that? So, why bring it up? We’re talking about the protocol of the association of the constitutive part of the nation. We’re talking about decentralisation, that is, another word. This country is over-centralised and that has been the bugbear of development, even of issues like security.

    “Even if it is one state, that state has the right to say, listen people, let us restructure this state; the protocols that went into the making of this state are no longer viable or have been distorted along the way or have been abandoned and we want to go back to the original set of protocols that created what we call his national entity. You can say you want to reinvent the wheels completely or you want to go back to the original protocols of association,” he added.

    He noted that an average citizen feels less secured today than a few years ago, yet “when people talk about state police, there are reasons for it. When they talk about bringing policing right down to the community level, they know what they are talking about; this is also part of restructuring or reconfiguration of the articles of association.”

    Asked to comment on the clamour for a second term in office for President Buhari, by his aides and supporters, Soyinka said he was shocked by the move just midway into the president’s administration.

    “Why are we talking about second term, for heaven’s sake? I don’t understand this; we have hardly gone half-way or barely gone half-way and people are already talking about positions. I refuse to be part of that discussion and absolutely refuse to be part of that discussion.”

  • Canvassing second term for Buhari is disgusting – Soyinka

    Canvassing second term for Buhari is disgusting – Soyinka

    Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka has said it is disgusting that some politicians were already debating about President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election in 2019.

    He spoke with some journalists after a press briefing to unveil the second batch of students departing Nigeria for Lebanon on Tuesday for the Study Abroad In Lebanon programme by The Cedars Institute, Lebanon, in collaboration with The Wole Soyinka Foundation.

    This came after some governors and ministers recently declared support for the re-election of the President.

    Soyinka said the present administration had barely reached half of its term and people were already talking about re-election.

    When asked about his opinion on the recent debate about Buhari’s re-election, Soyinka said “Why are we talking about second term for heaven’s sake? I don’t understand this. I refuse to be part of that discussion. I absolutely refuse to be part of the discussion.’’

    On Buhari’s performance, he said some aspects of the country were suffering greatly, making an example of security.

    He said, “Take simple security for instance. The average citizen feels less secure now than he did a few years ago; that is evident. When people talk about state police, there are reasons for it. When they talk about bringing policing right down to the community level, they know what they are talking about. This is also part and parcel of reconstruction or reconfiguration.

    “The economy, there is a big question about it right now. Fortunately, everybody admits that we went through a very bad patch. Right now, it is a question of have we come out of it or not or there is no question at all.

    “The past few years have been years of real internal economic disaster for the average citizen.’’

    The literary giant also said the word “restructuring” was being used wrongly by some people.

    He said, “Like I said when I visited the Women Arise (For Change Initiative) the other day, it doesn’t matter by what name you call it. We all know what we are talking about. We all know that this nation was deconstructed and that what we live in right now as a nation is not along a structure that expresses the true will of Nigerians.

    “So, when people use words like ‘restructuring, reconfiguring or call it reconfiguration, return to status quo, or call it reformulating the protocols of our association or used a single word like restructuring, it doesn’t matter. Everybody knows what we are talking about. That is number one.

    “Also, there are those who try to divert the attention away from the main issue by mouthing platitudes, clichés like it is the mind that needs restructuring. You know those I am referring to.

    “This is a constant process—restructuring the mind. It is both an individual exercise as well as a theological exercise. People go to church and mosque to have their minds restructured. They go to school and extramural classes to have their minds restructured. Restructuring the mind is not the issue.

    “Nobody is saying that the exercise of restructuring the mind should not be undertaken; it should be undertaken. Anybody who indulges in self-examination is already engaging in an exercise of mental and attitudinal reconstruction. We know that. People shouldn’t try to substitute one for the other.

    “I find it very dishonest and cheap time-serving, trivialising the issue when I hear expressions like ‘it is the mind that needs to be restructured.’ Who is arguing or denying that? Why bring it up? Why is it a substitute?

    “We are talking about the protocols of association of the constitutive parts of a nation. We are talking of decentralisation. That is another word. This country is over-centralised.

    “Are you saying we cannot reconstruct the mind and reconstruct the nation at the same time? Call it by whatever name. We are saying that this nation is long overdue for reconfiguring. That is the expression I choose to use now.’’