Ekiti: Jonathan Has Case To Answer – Soyinka

NOBEL laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, wants
President Goodluck Jonathan to tell Nigerians
who authorised the military to prevent some
governors of the All Progressives Congress,APC,
from attending the final governorship election
campaign in Ekiti State, describing the action of
the army as unconstitutional.
He also called on the National Assembly to set
up a commission of enquiry to unravel those
behind the act, even as he regretted that the
military dishonoured itself for accepting to be
used to influence a democratic process.
Governors Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Aliyu
Wammako (Sokoto) and Adams Oshiomhole (Edo)
were among the APC governors stopped on
Thursday by security forces from attending the
rally in Ado Ekiti of Governor Kayode Fayemi,
their party’s candidate in yesterday’s election in
Ekiti State.
Briefing newsmen, Saturday, in Lagos, Soyinka
urged the affected governors to seek redress in
court, describing the matter as a dangerous
precedent that should not be swept under the
carpet.
His words: ”To prevent governors from entering
Ekiti is unconstitutional. The matter should be
charged to court. Supposing the governors were
thugs, we will say that what the army did was
constitutional. When the army starts acting like
thugs, I see no difference between their action
and waylaying the governors. So I am asking the
military; when did you take up the job of
electoral thugs? The governors should sue
whoever is responsible”.
The Nobel Laureate explained that the action
against the governors was the kind a former
Police Commissioner in Rivers State, Mr Matthew
Mbu, considered a proper conduct. He said: “I
want us to think about this. When did Police
Commissioner Mbu join the military? When we
spoke in this hall people said what business
does Wole Soyinka have with Rivers, what does
Femi Falana have in Rivers State? What we were
saying that day was that if we allowed this kind
of conduct to be accepted, there will be
escalation. It will happen in dangerous
dimensions in any other place in Nigeria.’
”We have a responsibility in any part of Nigeria
where the rights of the citizens are violated. It
does not matter whether the person is a motor
mechanic, governor or legislator. We have a
responsibility to cry out and to tell Nigerians, ‘if
you don’t speak now, it will come to you. And it
is going to come with fatal consequences’. It is
about time we put a stop to that.”
Sounding rhetorical, Soyinka said, “Who gave
orders like that? Is it the Chief of the Army
Staff? Is it a General somewhere? Is it the Korofo
as they call them? Enough is enough. Fayemi
has a name, Amaechi has a name, Oshiomhole
has a name. Why is it that those who prevented
them from exercising their citizens’ rights do not
have names? It is always ‘order from the top’.
Sometimes we don’t even know where the top is.
It happened in Rivers State. And now there is
‘order from the top’ to stop the governors. That
type of language should stop. The military is
being paid from the public purse. They are now
taking sides in a political election. What do we
do about this situation? The legislative houses
must live up to their duties. They must wake up
to their duties.
There has to be a commission of enquiry about
what actually happened. We want a specific
investigation. We want to know who is
responsible. Who gave the order? We want these
people to be called to give evidence. All the
governors should sue for the violation of their
human rights. They should make a case out of
it.
Let us make an example once and for all. We can
not continue with this kind of misconduct which
makes us a laughing stock all over the world.
Can you imagine what happened in the States
just yesterday afternoon. Can you imagine the
language that is being used to describe
Nigerians. People were asking about what was
happening in the wonderland of ours. Some said
they heard that some governors were stopped,
while one was tear-gassed.”