WHEN A RENOWNED
PROFESSOR TELLS LIES (Professor Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka Lied)
Segun Melchizedek
Edward II writes in response to the attack of Prof. Wole Soyinka against GMB (Crimes
of Buhari).
If there was one
disease the human race ought to dread most, it is the twin-disease of arrogance
and ignorance spurn from knowing one is famous and wrapping outright falsehood
in finely crafted language. Unfortunately, people infected with the disease are
so sure many would not take the pains to research their assertions and
authenticate what they put forth what with the excruciating economic conditions
many a Nigerian contends with on a daily basis – too busy seeking a means of
self-sustenance to have time for academic research and critical thinking.
Professor Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka, grandson of the Rev. Canon J. J.
Ransome-Kuti, his maternal grandfather, was dead wrong on so many counts in his
essay on Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.
Please, do not get
it wrong. I have utmost respect for the Nobel Laureate, a playwright and
prolific author of “The Interpreters”, “You Must Set Forth at Dawn”, “The Swamp
Dwellers”, “The Lion and the Jewel” and so many more classical works and one of
the leading lights of Nigerian authors of the second generation of the nation’s
literary giants.
I feel so pained
one with such outstanding achievements on many fronts would fail to research
what he puts forth in the public domain, knowing many would run with it without
verifying the issues raised therein. I admit though that man, in his present
fallen state, is subject to making mistakes – sometimes very costly ones too
and our illustrious professor is not immune.
Soyinka is not in
a position to castigate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. While he talks about alleged
human rights abuses, he plays the blind man to the excesses of the present
civilian administration. Soyinka made no comment when a governor whipped a PHCN
official in this dispensation. He made no comment when a critic of the Bauchi
State Governor was hounded into detention for speaking the truth. Soyinka was
so audibly silent when a governor summoned a Reverend Father to Government
House and flogged him mercilessly. I can go on and on. All over the world
leaders, in their zeal to deliver on their mandates, might commit one
infraction or the other and they do step on toes. It does not make sense to
play down on the weight of circumstantial evidence at the time and to seek to
malign Gen. Buhari, even when the same respected professor demonstrated in his
treatise that he does not know the reasons for the decisions or he chose to
feign ignorance.
Let us examine for
ourselves the veracity of the professor’s claims. You have a right to know the
truth and many alive today will testify to the facts that I present herein. I
focus on three major outright false allegations levelled by Professor Wole
Soyinka against Gen. Buhari.
A Mere Hoax: The
53 Suitcases
It is obvious that
Prof. Wole Soyinka chose to pander to baseless sentiments founded on outright
lies. First, Atiku Abubakar whom he had referred to as the Customs Officer in
question is still alive and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari had since asked Atiku to
speak up. For the records, Buhari was not at the airport. What was reported to
the then Head of State was that an Emir had returned to the country with his
retinue of 15 wives and so many children and someone had mischievously counted
all the luggage they had returned with, claiming they had contained foreign
currencies. One of the Emirs that returned was the father of then Major Jokolo.
Courtesy demands that he goes to welcome his father and he had gone there to do
so. Even Atiku Abubakar never reported seeing foreign currencies in any of the
luggage. He is still alive and I believe Professor Wole Soyinka could so easily
have reached him. I still want to throw the challenge to any journalist who had
seen foreign currencies in any of the luggage should step forward and say so.
It is interesting that none of the media outfits that spread the rumors
reported sighting even a cent. If, as Atiku Abubakar claims, the military boys
rudely whisked the items away, how then did he or anyone see foreign currencies
in the suitcases?
Buhari’s Refusal
to Appear before The Oputa Panel
The Oputa Panel
set up by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was not a constitutional body neither could
its findings be said to be binding on anyone. It is critical to note that the
Oputa Panel never indicted Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. It did not even have the
mandate to do so. What Gen. Obasanjo tried to do with the Oputa Panel was akin
to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa with a view to
calming frayed nerves and to foster unity what with the pent up anger built up
over the botched June 12, 1993 Presidential Election won by Chief Moshood
Kashimawo Olawale Abiola a free and fair process that was scuttled by Prof.
Wole Soyinka’s friend whose evil action he did not condemn: Gen. Ibrahim
Badamasi Babangida. The only straw Prof. Wole Soyinka could clutch onto in a
sea of lies he amazingly peddles is that the former Head of State did not
appear before the panel, forgetting that the Head of State had immunity for his
actions while in office and as at the time the panel was set up and until this
very second, the immunity clause has not been expunged from our laws. Legally,
Gen. Muhammadu Buhari was under no obligation to appear before the panel. I
really would not know why the renowned professor would overlook these
established facts and run to the public with half-truths and outright lies.
Until this day, I have not heard or seen Prof. Wole Soyinka clamour for the
removal of that vexatious clause from our laws.
Alleged Human
Rights Abuses
Professor Wole
Soyinka was already an elder states man when Gen. Muhammadu Buhari became Head
of State. He, therefore, cannot feign ignorance of the compelling circumstances
that brought in the military. Those circumstances required drastic measures to
tackle with a view to lifting off the nation her pariah status in the comity of
nations. The prevalent circumstances at the time include:
Widespread
corruption that crippled the economy; Nigeria had assumed the notorious status
of a major drug trafficking hub; Excessive violence due to irresponsible
politics on the part of the civilians who had held sway leading to
unprecedented carnage and wanton bloodshed and we witness a repeat of it right
now; Hoarding of essential food items, petroleum products and the essentials
for daily living by an unscrupulous few who created artificial scarcity to sell
their stock at cut-throat prices; Excessive dependence on import and abuse of
foreign exchange allocations as well as import licensing in such a manner that
encouraged nepotism, tribalism and excessive fraud; All of the foregoing put
excessive pressure on the economy and created galloping inflation and the Naira
began to be worthless in terms of its exchange value with other major world
currencies; There was a general abysmal slide in the educational sector and the
nation experienced the horror of unbridled examination malpractices and our
institutions were producing some idiots and imbeciles who presently ruin
everything in the nation; Workers were receiving wages for work not done;
Public servants stayed away from their work places for days and would come to
work late; Head teachers and principals in schools introduced all sorts of
illegal levies on students; Students were found loitering aimlessly on the
streets during school hours and indulging in all forms of crime; The nation was
generating a lot of revenues from various sources that were not judiciously and
productively managed and public infrastructure were in a state of total
disrepair while state funds that could have been properly channelled by vision
went into private pockets; and there are many more.
It is obvious from
all the foregoing that drastic measures were required to restore the image of
Nigeria and to put her on the path of true growth and development on all
fronts. Though some measures were truly drastic, they were inevitable. They
were simply sine qua non to turning around the fortunes of the nation for the
good of all. There were instantaneous results in economic rebound from a
comatose state to a healthy status. The nation made massive savings.
Inflationary pressure ebbed. Nigerians learned to do things in an orderly
fashion. The state of heightened insecurity was managed competently and with
drastic measures and the unending violence was curbed. Nigerians caught on with
the can – do spirit. The exchange rate of the Naira to international currencies
improved. There were massive investments in infrastructure within a short time.
The country’s image improved instantly and we did not borrow a dime to do any
of those things. Is Prof. Wole Soyinka feigning ignorance of those things? He
obviously is doing so for reasons best known to him. He was a living witness at
the time. Let his conscience be his judge.
It is, however,
not surprising that those who were the major beneficiaries of the rot prior to
the Buhari administration and whose nefarious activities were cut short in the
interest of all Nigerians are not happy and still have an axe to grind with the
man who was fair, just and impartial who also chose to channel the nation’s
wealth towards productive ends to oil the engine of growth and true
development, rather than participate in cornering the nation’s wealth. Quite a
number of them infused massive funds into some media houses and dictate to the
editors what to write and whose image to destroy. Their common enemy is Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari who stands with the people anytime and all the time in an
unflinching manner and no matter whose Ox was gored.
It beats me that
Prof Wole Soyinka could ignore all these facts that were extant at the time to
play on the English Language to tell polished lies which remain what they are
no matter the finesse that went into crafting them: pure and unadulterated and
highly concentrated lies from the pits of hell.
What the professor
did not tell us is that he was also ashamed of the status of Nigeria in the
comity of nations at the time. He did not tell us that he was disappointed at
the turn of events years after a hard-won independence from the nation’s
colonial master. He did not mention salient piercing questions his peers asked
about the state of affairs in his country and how ashamed he was.
It is also
significant that Prof. Wole Soyinka did not tell us what he would have done if
he were in Gen. Buhari’s shoes at the time. There was this urgency to stem the
tide of gross indiscipline on all fronts that made the nation a laughing stock.
I also find it hard to believe that Prof. Wole Soyinka chose to ignore the
roles of civilians who were always serving in every shade of government who
added the negative image to various administrations with their notorious activities.
It is also
shocking that he chose to ignore the realities of the working of the military
administration under the leadership of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. The decisions
were jointly made at the Supreme Military Council with many civilians as
advisers at federal and state levels. He also forgot or he deliberately chose
to ignore the fact that the laws that were termed draconian, though necessary
at the time, were all drafted by civilians who were lawyers some of whom are
Senior Advocates of Nigeria today with inputs from civilian directors and heads
of MDAs. There was no time we really ran a pure military government in Nigeria.
Civilians ran the business as Permanent Secretaries and advisers and offered
their services as drafts men to the soldiers.
It is interesting
– quite interesting – that Prof. Wole Soyinka who believes everything military
was evil accepted to serve in the most corrupt of all the military regimes in
Nigeria headed by Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. He was the pioneer Chairman
of the Federal Roads Safety Commission. I had actually thought that a man of
principle should never have accepted to serve under such a government. Could
that be the reason he was silent at the atrocities of his good friend and
benefactor, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida?
I can go on and
on. The father of secret cults on Nigerian campuses goofed in so many ways in
that cheap essay written in fine English. It is so unfortunate that he
succeeded in convincing anyone at all who also runs with unfounded rumors just
because a revered Professor of Letters uttered them.
Facts are truly
sacred and even lies told in the finest language cannot become truth. It will
be announced from the rooftop
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