Wole Soyinka: Asks Amaechi, Oshiomhole to sue the military

Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka on Saturday asked all governors under the All Progressives Congress, APC, who were prevented by Nigeria’s security agents from entering Ekiti State for the campaign of Governor Kayode Fayemi on Thursday 19 June to sue for breach of fundamental human rights.

Soyinka described the action of the military and other security agencies who perpetrated the act as not only against the constitution, but criminal adding that the culprits must not be made to go free but must be charged to court.

The governors had embarked on a journey to Ekiti to support their colleague whose election held on Saturday 21 June but were prevented from making an entry by security operatives who claimed they had ‘orders from above’.

Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State was stopped at the boundary between Ondo and Ekiti states and detained for a long time while the aircraft that brought him was grounded. Similarly, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State was prevented from leaving his state as the helicopter that was to fly him was grounded on orders “from above” according to reports.


•Soyinka: Asks Amaechi, Oshiomhole to sue the military

Speaking at a press conference, Professor Soyinka condemned the Nigerian military forces for the action and added that they behaved more like thugs. He stressed that their actions could truncate the country’s democracy.

He lamented a situation where an Army Captain would tell a sitting governor to turn back or would shot at. He also used the opportunity to slam the Commissioner of Police in charge of the Federal Capital Territory Command, Joseph Mbu, for his unconstitutional remarks and actions.

He said when Nigeria’s Vice President Namadi Sambo said during a campaign of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ekiti that the governorship election in the state was going to be war, he had kicked against the condemnation Sambo received saying that his statement was mere campaign talks.

He said now he knew that the opposition to Sambo’s comment were right especially with the prevention of the affected governors from going for their own campaigns after the PDP had embarked on its own.

“To prevent governors from attending a campaign for the success of their own party is, for me not just unconstitutional, it is criminal. And such people must be charged to court. It is no different from rigging the election.

“Suppose Governors Amaechi, Oshiomhole, Nyako and the other affected APC governors were in a motorcade and had been waylaid by thugs with guns, cutlasses and cudgels. When did the army begin to act like thugs on account of elections?” He asked, saying he saw no difference between hired thugs stopping the governors on a lonely road and the military preventing governors’ planes from taking off or landing.

He said when such acts were perpetrated by Mbu in Rivers, he had called for mass action against the action to frustrate those in offices from replicating it in other parts of the country.

“It is about time we abandoned the language of ‘orders from the top’. We want specifics. Who gave orders like that? Is it an Army commander somewhere?

“Amaechi has a name, Oshiomhole has a name, Nyako has a name, Fayemi has a name. But why is it that those who prevent the exercise of citizens’ rights do not have names? They are always orders from the top and we don’t even know if this top is wearing trousers or a skirt.

He noted that the military is paid with public money and thus has no business taking sides in a political election. “It makes a sham of what we fought for, it is a wastage of our very existence.

“I still cannot believe that this thing happened. Though it happened 48 hours ago, I see it as some kind of fantasy somewhere, some kind of Nollywood film,” he lamented.

He called on the country’s legislators to wake up to their duties, set up a commission of enquiry into what happened and bring out the names of those who gave out the order.

“Then also, I think that all these governors should sue for the violation of their human rights. Let us make a case out of it. Let us make an example once and for all,” he said adding that the conduct of Nigerian security agencies have made the country a laughing stock among the comity of nations.

“I arrived from the United States yesterday; can you imagine the language that is being used to describe Nigerians, the kind of caustic remarks? It looks so ridiculous.”

He also threatened that if the commission of enquiry to be set up is not satisfactory enough, then he would support the setting up of the Citizens’ Court recalling that this was done during the military days of the late Sani Abacha and in Sudan.

He said if the government tries to frustrate the setting up of the Citizens’ Court, he and others would hold the sessions outside the shores of Nigeria with foreign assistance so that “we would place the government of this country on trial. This should be the very last time that such incident happens.

“I insist that those governors go to court, sue whoever is responsible for the violation of their human rights. I want them to remember that they are the custodians of the democratic process. Should they fail to defend themselves, they are guilty, culpable of dereliction of duty to all those who elected them,” he declared accusing those who gave the order as abuse of power.

Talking directly to the military, Wole Soyinka declared: “allowing yourself to be used in this way is demeaning yourself. And the military has a lot to answer for already,” he said.

The Professor said he had been calling on all Nigerians to assist the military in stemming the growing insecurity in the country, but with the action of the military against the governors, he said they are better considered allies of the Boko Haram sect terrorising the country and which does not believe in democracy.

He asked President Goodluck Jonathan to tell Nigerians who sent the soldiers on a mission that could have led to loss of lives when he had said before that no life is worth expending for a vote.