Jonathan Suffering From Bad Conscience

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has described President Goodluck Jonathan as someone suffering from a bad conscience. “The most generous response that can be given to President Jonathan’s recent statement on the people’s fuel subsidy protest is that he is suffering from a bad conscience.

 “The worst – which I fear is closer to the truth – is that he is lamentably alienated from the true pulse of the nation, thanks perhaps to the poor, eager-to-please quality of his analysts." 

 Prof Soyinka was reacting to the President’s comment in Lagos on Wednesday that the January 2012 fuel subsidy removal protests were sponsored. He said, “Since I have had the opportunity to contest this perception of the protest with him directly, it is clear what kind of interpretative diet he prefers.

 The nation needs all the luck it can get.” Condemning the President’s use of force to quell the protests, Soyinka described the action as a violation of the people’s constitutional rights and dismissed Jonathan’s allegation that the protests were sponsored. He said, “This should be seen as a grave danger to democracy, and a warning. 

Both the participants and those who, like myself, were unavoidably absent, that lent both vocal and moral support to the demonstration, have been maligned and insulted by such reductionist reasoning. “The culture of public protest appears to be an alien territory to Jonathan, which is somewhat surprising, considering the fact that he has not only lived in this nation as a citizen, but served in various political offices. 

 “He has lived through the terror reign of the late Gen. Sani Abacha, whose ruthless misuse of the military and the secret service did not prevent demonstrations against perceived injustice and truncation of people’s rights. “Jonathan’s pronouncements truly boggle the mind.

 What is this obsession with bottled water, comedians and musical artists? Must demonstrators drink water from the gutter? Is protest no longer viable when sympathisers cater to their needs, supply decent water and food rations?"

Read More...

When You Marry An Illiterate Woman as a Wife, You Make Stupid Decisions Like Jonathan – Wole Soyinka

An analytical piece by Tobi Akiode. He has obliged to sharing this with as many Nigerians as possible. Please share this with friends and the general public.

It’s No More about Subsidy Alone.

The American President has only TWO aircraft, our president has 9[Nine] in his fleet and was voted money recently to buy ONE more! Making it TEN!

The British prime Minister has only TWO official cars, our president has 23 in his pool and only recently voted 300Million Naira to buy TWO more bullet/bomb proof ones!

Senators in the US earn about $6,000 dollars monthly and that’s about what a university professor, or a director in a state department, or a doctor with 20years experience, or a teacher with 25years experience earn too, but Here in Nigeria a senator earns 245 million Naira per annum! That’s the salary of 25 vice chancellors, or 50 medical doctors, or 60 directors, or 500 school teachers!

The US, almost the size of Africa with about 500million people have 24 ministers, and 32 government parastatals and commisions, Nigeria has a whooping 42 cabinet ministers, and over 50[Fifty] government parastatals!

America with about 500million people and more mileage to drive consumes 39million litres of petrol daily, Nigeria with 150million people 60% out of which live in remote areas, yet our government tells us we consume about 35million litres of petrol daily!

2. Is Subsidy Really the Problem of Nigeria?

‘When you marry an illiterate woman as a wife, you will definitely make stupid decisions like jonathan’: wole soyinka spoke!

Our Dear President GoodLuck Jonathan has become a tyrant, a shandel, a shame, he has become the No.1 Enemy of Nigeria. Is this because we, Nigeria are yet to adopt to CHANGE? Change that only Jonathan can see? The End will justify everything. Pray for Nigeria! Pray for our Beloved Country!

Read More...

‘We’ll retaliate if Soyinka is attacked’

TWO groups, the Oodua Republic Front (ORF) and the Apapo Oodua Koya (AOKOYA) have warned the Boko Haram insurgent group against any attack on Nobel Laureate Prof Wole Soyinka.

ORF said it would retaliate any attack on him, any other Yoruba man or woman or territory.

It described Soyinka as a great source of pride to the Yoruba race and world civilisation, adding that in case of any attempted or manifest attack on him or any Youruba son and daughter, “we will carry out retailiatory attacks on all sympathisers of Boko Haram”.

In a statement by its spokesman, Jubril Ogundimu, the group said: “We view the threat against Soyinka as an assault on the Yoruba people. This fatwa passed on Soyinka is a declaration of war on the Yoruba people.

“We shall retaliate with equal measure of response if any Yoruba person or territory is attacked by Boko Haram. We see Boko Haram as a front for the Hausa-Fulani caliphate. We shall hold the Hausa-Fulani caliphate responsible for any attack on Soyinka.”

AOKOYA, in a statement by its deputy spokesperson, Alhaja (Mrs) Medinat Oluwaseyi, said: “We warn today that any attack on Professor Wole Soyinka will lead to spontaneous reactions from the Yoruba nation.

We shall respond with a double measure of rage. We will not tolerate a deliberate attempt at eliminating Yoruba scholars and icons by a brutal gang of murderers that takes delight in spilling human blood for game. We caution that an attack on Soyinka will lead to violent reprisals targeting Hausa-Fulani, from the Yoruba nation.”

The group added:“We are concerned that Boko Haram has not denied this threat to kill one of mankind’s most consistent advocates for justice. ”

Read More...

Boko Haram Wants To Kill Me - Wole Soyinka

In his latest down-to-earth interview, Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka disclosed that he has been marked for assassination by the dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

Soyinka said he has reported this to the security operatives in...

the country and they even confirmed the information. He however expressed disappointment that the security operatives have not taken action on the threat.

Insisting that dialogue does not require a group to constitute itself into a terror, the Nobel Laureate said:

“I believe that one should not beg for existence. If the price of not coming to table is that you want to eliminate me, and you can do so, please do so. I am 77.

“Please, come to the debating table, but you will not persuade me simply because you have the capacity to blow me and my family up. You can simply go ahead, blow us up if you think that is the way you can do your conversation. But you will not bomb me to sit with you at table.”

Soyinka added that President Goodluck Jonathan is underestimating the desperation of the forces behind the Boko Haram sect, not considering the Islamic struggle in countries like Iraq where fundamentalist Islamic groups attack one another even in their sanctuary of worship and they retaliate with higher casualty figure.

Read More...

Nigeria heading for civil war

Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka warned on Tuesday that his country was heading towards a civil war, blaming political leaders who spread religious intolerance.

Asked whether he agreed with President Goodluck Jonathan that the current unrest was worse than the 1960s civil war, he told the BBC World Service: “It’s not an unrealistic comparison — it’s certainly based on many similarities.

Prof Wole Soyinka

“We see the nation heading towards a civil war.”

Soyinka was also asked whether the unrest threatened the state of Nigeria itself, and replied: “It is going that way. We no longer can pretend it’s not.

“When you’ve got a situation where a bunch of people can go into a place of worship and open fire through the windows, you’ve reached a certain dismal watershed in the life of that nation.”

Soyinka said the issues raised by Islamist group Boko Haram, which was blamed for violence targeting Christians in the north of Nigeria and has sparked fears of a wider religious conflict, had been brewing for some time.

“There are people in power in certain parts of the country, leaders, who quite genuinely and authoritatively hate and cannot tolerate any religion outside their own,” he said.

“When you combine that with the ambitions of a number of people who believe they are divinely endowed to rule the country and who… believe that their religion is above whatever else binds the entire nation together, and somehow the power appears to slip from their hands, then they resort to the most extreme measures.

“Youths who have been indoctrinated right from infancy can be used, and who have been used, again and again to create mayhem in the country.”

He added: “Those who have created this faceless army have lost control.”

Soyinka, a dramatist and essayist, became Africa’s first Nobel laureate in literature when he won the prize in 1986.

Read More...

Go back to School” Soyinka tells Nigerian Legislators

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has asked lawmakers in the National Assembly to go back to school in order to clearly understand the difference between public and private affairs. 

Professor Soyinka made this statement in response to a bill banning same-s*x marriages which was recently passed by the Nigerian Senate. 

 He said, “The problem with legislators is that they fail to distinguish between personal bills and interventions in private lives. That is the problem. 

I see no reason why they should intervene in the private lives of adults. What people do in their bedrooms is no business of mine. It should not be the business of legislators. “But at the same time, I think other countries who are pointing fingers should look inwards and see whether they also do not practise the same kind of discrimination.

 That is where I disagree, but I think it is important we learn to distinguish between what is a public affair and what is a private affair. “The legislators need to go back to school to learn the difference before they waste their time with what people do in their private bedrooms.”

Read More...