Soyinka: I’m no fan of Obasanjo but I agree Nigeria is near collapse - Uju Ayalogu's Blog for News, Reviews, Articles and More

Breaking News

Post Top Ad

Tuesday 15 September 2020

Soyinka: I’m no fan of Obasanjo but I agree Nigeria is near collapse

Soyinka: I’m no fan of Obasanjo but I agree Nigeria is near collapse

Wole Soyinka, playwright and Nobel laureate, says he concurs with ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo that Nigeria is drifting towards a failed and divided state.

Advertisement
On Friday, Obasanjo accused the Buhari administration of mismanaging the country.

“Today, Nigeria is fast drifting to a failed and badly divided state, economically our country is becoming a basket case and poverty capital of the world, and socially, we are firming up as an unwholesome and insecure country,” Obasanjo had said.

Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, replied the former president, describing him as Nigeria’s divider-in-chief.

But in a statement entitled, ‘Between dividers-in-chief and dividers-in-law’, Soyinka commended Obasanjo, whom he described as “co-architect of the crumbling edifice that is still generously called Nigeria”, for speaking out on the state of the nation.

According to Soyinka, Nigeria has never been divided as it is “under the policies and conduct of none other than President Buhari”.

The Nobel laureate also said the government has turned deaf ears to the counsel of well-meaning Nigerians.

READ ALSO:   Edo/Ondo Election: UK To Ban And Seize Assets Of Politicians Who Rig Election In Nigeria

“I am notoriously no fan of Olusegun Obasanjo, General, twice former president and co-architect with other past leaders of the crumbling edifice that is still generously called Nigeria. I have no reasons to change my stance on his record. Nonetheless, I embrace the responsibility of calling attention to any accurate reading of this nation from whatever source, as a contraption teetering on the very edge of total collapse,” he said.

“We are close to extinction as a viable comity of peoples, supposedly bound together under an equitable set of protocols of co-habitation, capable of producing its own means of existence, and devoid of a culture of sectarian privilege and will to dominate.

“The nation is divided as never before, and this ripping division has taken place under the policies and conduct of none other than President Buhari – does that claim belong in the realms of speculation?

“Does anyone deny that it was this president who went to sleep while communities were consistently ravaged by cattle marauders, were raped and displaced in their thousands and turned into beggars all over the landscape? Was it a different president who, on being finally persuaded to visit a scene of carnage, had nothing more authoritative to offer than to advice the traumatised victims to learn to live peacefully with their violators?

Commenting on the listing of Buhari’s achievements by the presidency, Soyinka said it is the norm for any government to record any feat.

According to him, “it takes real genius to succeed in spending four years actually doing nothing. What it fails to do, or what it does wrongly, deceitfully or prejudicially is what concerns the citizenry”.

He added that Nigerians have lost hope and trust in the government.

“To reel off any achievements of a government – genuine or fantasised, trivial or monumental – is thus to dodge the issue, to ignore the real core concerns. No government, however inept, fails to record some form of achievement – this was why it were elected,” he said.

“What it fails to do, or what it does wrongly, deceitfully or prejudicially is what concerns the citizenry. Across this nation, there is profound distrust, indeed abandonment of hope in this government as one that is genuinely committed to the survival of the nation.”

“National divisiveness? Just where does culpability lie? Does centralist usurpation divide or bind? The answer is obvious in daily effects.”

READ ALSO:   PDP Urges US To Extend Visa Ban To Family Members Of Individuals That Rigged Bayelsa And Kogi Governorship Elections

Are you an artiste? Do you want your music to go viral and reach a large number of audience? Promote your music and Submit your story on Ujuayalogusblog.com by clicking here. For Advert Inquiries Tel/+44(0)7590363984

For More:   Subscribe to Ujuayalogusblog.com

Subscribe to Our Posts via Email


Share This

No comments:

Post a Comment

Listen to This Beautiful New Talent - Winter Wolf - Singing "Midnight"


Post Bottom Ad

Pages