Jonathan, IG have declared war on Nigeria ­– Soyinka

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, yesterday said the President Goodluck Jonathan administration  has declared war on Nigeria with its unbridled penchant for impunity.Soyinka, who addressed newsmen in Lagos, also took a swipe at the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, whom he said had moved from “shame to infamy”.According to Soyinka, the Jonathan administration is […]

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, yesterday said the President Goodluck Jonathan administration  has declared war on Nigeria with its unbridled penchant for impunity.
Soyinka, who addressed newsmen in Lagos, also took a swipe at the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, whom he said had moved from “shame to infamy”.
According to Soyinka, the Jonathan administration is worse compared to that of the biblical Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire who reigned between 605 BC and 562 BC but got severely punished and humbled by God due to excess pride, arrogance and arbitrary high-handedness. Soyinka accused Jonathan of being responsible for the police action against lawmakers in the recent violence at the National Assembly.
“Nothing is more unworthy of leadership than to degrade the system by which one attains fulfilment, and this is what the nation has witnessed time and time again, in various parts, the recent affront against the legislative chamber being only the most blatant and unconscionable. For this latest outrage, one in an escalating series of impunity, the buck stops yet again at the presidency and that incumbent, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, continues to surprise us in ways that very few have conjectured,” Soyinka said.
The Nobel Laureate added that though Jonathan was democratically elected, his actions have proved that he is more of a dictator. He cited the last year’s split in the  Governors’ Forum when 16 governors were supported by the president against 19 others.
Soyinka also chided the president for allegedly preventing opposition governors from entering Ekiti State to campaign for former governor Kayode Fayemi in June, saying that act alone confirmed that Jonathan has become a dictator who encourages security agents to disrespect constituted authority.
He said the sole purpose of Suleiman Abba’s appointment as the Inspector General of Police is to achieve President Jonathan’s selfish ambitions, adding that it is unfortunate that Jonathan would order policemen to prevent lawmakers from entering the National Assembly on the same day they were to meet to discuss the extension of emergency rule in the North-east. He said Abba, just like the president, has declared war on Nigeria, and is undermining the democratic structure in the country.
“The latest action of the supposed guardians of the law against the nation’s lawgivers is an unambiguous declaration of war against the people. Such a public servant deserves to be publicly pilloried, tried and meted a punishment that is appropriate to treasonable acts. Abba has wasted no time in inaugurating a season of brutish power but Nigerians have a choice to either submit or resist. Let’s not beat around the bush- the line has been drawn. The people must decide – whether to submit or resist,” Soyinka said.
Soyinka further said: “What sticks to this policeman is worse than shame, it is infamy. Governance has degenerated to such a level that any individual, on account of his uniform, can stop an elected representative of a people.” The Nobel Laureate  praised the lawmakers who decided to scale the fence to perform their legislative duties, saying the media should not have condemned them.
“The act of scaling the gates and walls to fulfil their duty must be set down as their finest hour. They must be applauded, not derided. If shame belongs somewhere, it belongs to the Inspector-General of Police and his slavish adherence to conspiratorial, illegal and unconstitutional instructions,” Soyinka said.
Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan in his reaction last night through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, said Soyinka was “playing the ostrich” as he had deliberately ignored those who actually engaged in impunity.
Okupe said Soyinka failed to reprimand Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi whom he described as “the national champion of impunity and official recklessness”.
According to the presidential aide, Jonathan’s administration prides itself as “the most liberal, keeping faith with adherence to rule of law and tolerance”.