Soyinka decries post-presidential polls violence
Friday, 29 April 2011 00:00 By Joe Adiorho and Armsfree Ajanaku Onomo
NOBEL laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, yesterday condemned the post-presidential election violence in some northern states, describing the destruction that trailed the declaration of the results as a premeditated act.
Soyinka endorsed the results of the April 16 presidential election, which returned incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan for a fresh term. While congratulating the winner, Soyinka explained that citizens' reports as collated by ReclaimNaija, a grassroots political forum with a mission to promote electoral transparency, seemed to tally with the figures released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in a number of polling booths.
"Having made comparisons with those reports, which we received directly from polling booths, which forms the data for ReclaimNaija, my view, quiet frankly, is that the presidential elections were won by Goodluck Jonathan. It is not my business to say what methods were used in influencing voters; it is not within ReclaimNaija's competence to comment on things like that. We are dealing strictly with figures collated at ReclaimNaija, and sent directly from announcements at polling booths, and sent by citizens who are present…"
He continued: "Judging from the results and figures that were announced, in terms of voters tally, I think you will find that ReclaimNaija's figures do not differ substantially from the ultimate voter returns announced by INEC."
While condemning the loss of lives that trailed the declaration of President Jonathan as winner of the polls in some states in the North, Soyinka said that life was snuffed out of the victims for no justifiable reason. He expressed shock at what he described as the gleeful manner in which the "decimation of humanity" was carried out.
"I was really shocked by the note of satisfaction, almost sadistic reaction at the killings…There was always a kind of glory in what was going on, which made me wonder why we all call ourselves Nigerians. It makes me wonder whether we all have the same project in mind when we go to polls, or whether we all have the same destination in mind, when we embark on events.
"I am convinced that the killings had been planned before hand and it behooves anybody who has any claim to humanity to denounce the killings. Sadly, I do not detect any genuineness and sincerity in those who claim to be remorseful because their body language and their mouth are at variance. In the end, these killings were done on a non- existent foundation, on top of the fact that in any decent society, such killings are not acceptable. In the end, in my view, it turns out that these killings were carried out for nothing; they were carried out on a basis of lies, I suspect, sometimes deliberate misinformation, or maybe no information at all. In my view, they were planned well before hand; I think anybody who says they were not planned before hand is a very naïve individual."
The Nobel laureate flayed the targeting of youth corps members, noting that the NYSC scheme was a great legacy that was bequeathed by the Yakubu Gowon administration.
"The youth corps, for me, should be inviolate; if anything, youth corps members anywhere in this country, should be taken under the protection of the citizens, defended tooth and nail, and even at the risk of self-sacrifice…Two of my children served in the northern part of the country, one in Maiduguri, the other, I can't remember where now. Today, if I were to make the mistake of having any more youth serviceable children, and he wants to go to that area, I will tell that person, 'over my dead body.' That is the mood in which I am, after what has happened to the children of this nation who were brought together and sent to different parts of the country, in order to foster the sense of unity."
On one of the possible ways to stop the killing of Nigerians by their fellow country men, Soyinka said: "It is about time that we sat down together and adopted a code of common behaviour, with distinct, declared punishment for those who violate that code of mutual co-existence…"
Subsequently, the Nobel laureate called on President Jonathan to confront the fundamental issues facing the nation, insisting that there was a need for a Sovereign National Conference to address the great issues facing the nation.
"Jonathan, I congratulate him for winning the elections, he had better understand that there is a fundamental task that he cannot brush aside like his predecessors. If he does, he has failed, even before he started…"
Soyinka also beamed the searchlight on his home state of Ogun, where he commended the people of the state for voting out the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government, which he flayed for "illegally and thuggishly" shutting down the House of Assembly.
His words: "At long last, you have redeemed yourselves; I have been very shocked and disappointed with the docility of the people of Ogun State in accepting that their House of Parliament be shut down illegally, vulgarly, thuggishly, by the now outgoing government of Ogun State…
"I thank them for not making me to sell my house in the state and relocating to another state, and for chasing Daniel away. This election should be seen as an opportunity to restore the state to its former glory. I congratulate the people of Ogun State for redeeming themselves a little, although, that stigma will always rest on the people of Ogun; that they tolerated this for so long."
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