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Soyinka and the Burden of Truth
Below was my comment when Soyinka made an earlier criticism against President Goodluck Jonathan:
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/news/national-news/189595-who-will-soyinka-vote-for-as-president
And what is his response now? Oh, he won't be voting, but he does not think President Goodluck Jonathan deserves reelection! God forbid I call Kongi a coward, but why is he not voting when what he has done is effectively endorse General Muhammadu Buhari, a man he said should not have even contemplated coming out to contest any election from the very first moment the man said he was running for the presidency? Of what value is his comment when all he has against Jonathan is that the Chibok girls have not been rescued? Or is he in possession of other information the rest of us do not have about their abduction?
Why is he is not considering the very clear possibility that the kidnap is the result of sabotage against the Jonathan government? Okay, since we have started this whole "over-200-girls kidnapped" story, has anybody ever managed to give us more than fifteen names of the missing girls (apart from that speculative list compiled by CAN)? Have we seen more than ten families from Chibok come out publicly to say their children were amongst the kidnapped girls? Or are the Abuja "BringBackOurGirls" campaigners the mothers and fathers of these girls? No, this is not a criticism of the "BringBackOurGirls" campaigners, because I believe they are doing a great job of keeping the issue in the front-burner of national and international public opinion, but facts are sacred and we need not tiptoe around them so as not to hurt contrived sensibilities.
The unvarnished truth is that a lot is still unclear about the kidnap and so many people in government and the opposition have cases to answer, including President Goodluck Jonathan; but Professor Soyinka choosing to hang it all on Jonathan's head in his mission to join his APC friends to elect Muhammadu Buhari (the biggest political supporter of Boko Haram) as the next president of Nigeria is plainly unconvincing! It does not matter to Soyinka that the West has done everything to stop us from arming our army to fight the insurgents precisely because they do not want a strong Nigerian military in the Gulf of Guinea to challenge the influence of the US African Command. It does not matter to him that our neighbours who were supposed to be part of the multinational force against Boko Haram had up till now been playing politics with the issue, allowing their territories to be used as staging posts and hiding places by Boko Haram militants. It does not matter to him that after the noise by the international community to help, they in actuality offered absolutely nothing. It doesn't matter to him that right now we are making real headway in dealing with the insurgents simply because the international community and now our neighbours are finally recognizing the threat the group poses to the sub-region and the world and are now joining forces with the Nigerian military and the Nigerian government to rout them.
It's convenient for political reason for an ordinarily informed Professor Wole Soyinka to regard the Boko Haram as a local Nigerian phenomenon that should have been handled by Jonathan when in truth it is only a Nigerian franchise of Global Jihad - something the whole world is still grappling with in various dangerous forms without success! And the most unconscionable thing is to go say all he said before little school children of below voting age indoctrinating them on the 'evil' of President Jonathan!
Honestly, I have no problem with Professor Soyinka's decision not to vote, but if this is what he has decided, as he himself has stated, the sensible and reasonable thing would have been for him to firmly keep quiet over who is the right or wrong choice in the forthcoming election, since he had criticized both candidates extensively. Coming out to say he won't vote, but that Jonathan does not deserve reelection is hypocritical. It is effectively a vote for Buhari and a confirmation that he is going back to his vomit! He needs to quickly apologize to General Buhari and openly join his campaign team to ensure he is elected. For me, this is the time to turn my back on Soyinka. He might be my intellectual standard-bearer, but he is not my moral guide!
Look, God is on His throne and He is watching. He is the One that will judge and determine the outcome of this election! He will do it in such a way that He will leave no one in doubt! Those whose ambitions are stumbling blocks to our national development will be open-mouthed when the Lord benches them! True patriots shall have the last laugh!
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