Ekiti: Jonathan has case to answer – Soyinka and Amaechi NOBEL laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka and Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi took turns to blame President Jonathan for the action oof security agencies who presented three governors from invading Ekiti to upset security arrangement 48hours to election. Soyinka, specifically wants President Goodluck Jonathan to tell Nigerians who authorised the military to prevent some governors of the All Progressives Congress,APC, from attending the final governorship election campaign in Ekiti State, describing the action of the army as unconstitutional. He also called on the National Assembly to set up a commission of enquiry to unravel those behind the act, even as he regretted that the military dishonoured itself for accepting to be used to influence a democratic process. Governors Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Aliyu Wammako (Sokoto) and Adams Oshiomhole (Edo) were among the APC governors stopped on Thursday by security forces from attending the rally in Ado Ekiti of Governor Kayode Fayemi, their party’s candidate in yesterday’s election in Ekiti State. Briefing newsmen, Saturday, in Lagos, Soyinka urged the affected governors to seek redress in court, describing the matter as a dangerous precedent that should not be swept under the carpet. His words: ”To prevent governors from entering Ekiti is unconstitutional. The matter should be charged to court. Supposing the governors were thugs, we will say that what the army did was constitutional. When the army starts acting like thugs, I see no difference between their action and waylaying the governors. So I am asking the military; when did you take up the job of electoral thugs? The governors should sue whoever is responsible”. The Nobel Laureate explained that the action against the governors was the kind a former Police Commissioner in Rivers State, Mr Matthew Mbu, considered a proper conduct. He said: “I want us to think about this. When did Police Commissioner Mbu join the military? When we spoke in this hall people said what business does Wole Soyinka have with Rivers, what does Femi Falana have in Rivers State? What we were saying that day was that if we allowed this kind of conduct to be accepted, there will be escalation. It will happen in dangerous dimensions in any other place in Nigeria.’ ”We have a responsibility in any part of Nigeria where the rights of the citizens are violated. It does not matter whether the person is a motor mechanic, governor or legislator. We have a responsibility to cry out and to tell Nigerians, ‘if you don’t speak now, it will come to you. And it is going to come with fatal consequences’. It is about time we put a stop to that.” Sounding rhetorical, Soyinka said, “Who gave orders like that? Is it the Chief of the Army Staff? Is it a General somewhere? Is it the Korofo as they call them? Enough is enough. Fayemi has a name, Amaechi has a name, Oshiomhole has a name. Why is it that those who prevented them from exercising their citizens’ rights do not have names? It is always ‘order from the top’. Sometimes we don’t even know where the top is. It happened in Rivers State. And now there is ‘order from the top’ to stop the governors. That type of language should stop. The military is being paid from the public purse. They are now taking sides in a political election. What do we do about this situation? The legislative houses must live up to their duties. They must wake up to their duties. There has to be a commission of enquiry about what actually happened. We want a specific investigation. We want to know who is responsible. Who gave the order? We want these people to be called to give evidence. All the governors should sue for the violation of their human rights. They should make a case out of it. Let us make an example once and for all. We can not continue with this kind of misconduct which makes us a laughing stock all over the world. Can you imagine what happened in the States just yesterday afternoon. Can you imagine the language that is being used to describe Nigerians. People were asking about what was happening in the wonderland of ours. Some said they heard that some governors were stopped, while one was tear-gassed.” On his part, embattled Governor Amaechi described the actions taken by the military to frustrate himself and other governors. Amaechi said that with what is happening, there is no way 2015 will be free and fair.
Posted on: Sat, 21 Jun 2014 21:43:09 +0000
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