Soyinka slams Jonathan over impunity, likens him to biblical king Nebuchadnezzar By Olawale Kadir on December 3, 2014 @todayngr Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has come hard on the present administration in Nigeria, criticising President Goodluck Jonathan on what he described as the reign of impunity under his watch and likening him to the biblical king Nebuchadnezzar. Soyinka stated this in Lagos on Tuesday. He was reported to have frowned specifically at the actions of the police and the interventions of the Inspector General of Police, Mr Sulieman Abba, especially in the incident at the National Assembly where lawmakers were seen scaling fences to access the assembly’s complex. “The recent choice of a new leader for the guard was clearly no accident, and this hitherto unknown enforcer, one Suleiman Abba, has wasted no time in inaugurating a season of brutish power. When a people’s elected emissaries are disenfranchised, cast out like vagrants and resort to scaling fences to engage in their designated functions, the people get the message,” Soyinka said. “The act of scaling gates and walls to fulfil their duty by the people must be set down as their finest hour. They must be applauded, not derided. If shame belongs anywhere, it belongs to the Inspector General of Police and his lavish adherence to illegal and unconstitutional instructions- to undermine a democratic structure, and one- to make matters worse-convoked in response to an emergency of dire concern. “What sticks to this policeman (Abba) is worse than shame, it is infamy. Such a public servant deserves to be publicly pilloried, tried and meted a punishment that is appropriate to treasonable acts, if only to serve as a deterrent to others in positions of responsibility under the law. To demand less is to reduce ourselves below the status free citizens of a free nation. “For this latest outrage, one in an escalating series of impunity, the buck stops yet again at the presidency and that incumbent, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, continues to surprise us in ways that very few have conjectured,” he added. He also urged Jonathan to “act what he says”, emphasising that leaders are judged based on their actions and not pronouncements, which he believed were often as reliable as electoral promises. Responding, Special Assistant on Public Affairs to President Jonathan, Doyin Okupe, described Soyinka’s allegations as sad and unfortunate. According to him, ever since Soyinka got close to Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, his usual cerebral contributions to national discourse has been affected. “Our eminent professor also sadly plays the ostrich as he failed to reprimand Governor Amaechi, who is the ‘national champion of impunity and official recklessness’. the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan prides itself as the most liberal, keeping faith with adherence to rule of law and tolerance,” Okupe said. He also added that it was interesting that Soyinka had chosen to ignore what he termed the immoral, indefensible and unlawful attitude of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, after his defection, and accused Soyinka of of maligning the Inspector General of Police who he said only discharged his lawful duties
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 15:53:48 +0000
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