WHY I CAN’T SETTLE FOR BUHARI – 2 OF 10 Pa Obafemi Awolowo, Pa Adekunle Ajasin, Pa Tai Solarin, etc. What does these men have in common? (1) They are some of the finest men this country ever had. (2) They all tasted of the brute of Gen. Buhari Who better to describe this than the irrepressible Prof. Wole Soyinka: “Tai Solarin is already forgotten? Tai who stood at street corners, fearlessly distributing leaflets that took up the gauntlet where the media had dropped it. Tai who was incarcerated by that regime and denied even the medication for his asthmatic condition? Tai did not ask to be sent for treatment overseas; all he asked was his traditional medicine that had proved so effective after years of struggle with asthma! …Shall we revisit the tragicomic series of trials that landed several politicians several lifetimes in prison? Recall, if you please, the ‘judicial’ processes undergone by the septuagenarian Chief Adekunle Ajasin. He was arraigned and tried before Buhari’s punitive tribunal but acquitted. Dissatisfied, Buhari ordered his re-trial. Again, the Tribunal could not find this man guilty of a single crime, so once again he was returned for trial, only to be acquitted of all charges of corruption or abuse of office. Was Chief Ajasin thereby released? No! He was ordered detained indefinitely …Shall I remind this nation of Buhari’s deliberate humiliating treatment of the Emir of Kano and the Oni of Ife over their visit to the state of Israel? I hold no brief for traditional rulers and their relationship with governments, but insist on regarding them as entitled to all the rights, privileges and responsibilities of any Nigerian citizen. This royal duo went to Israel on their private steam and private business. Simply because the Buhari regime was pursuing some antagonistic foreign policy towards Israel, a policy of which these traditional rulers were not a part, they were subjected on their return to a treatment that could only be described as a head masterly chastisement of errant pupils. Since when, may one ask, did a free citizen of the Nigerian nation require the permission of a head of state to visit a foreign nation that was willing to offer that tourist a visa.?” – Prof. Wole Soyinka, The Crimes of Buhari If you think that this brute was restricted to politicians alone, then you are mistaken. Media houses where clamped down. Innocent journalists Nduka Irabor and Tunde Thompson were jailed for performing their journalistic duties. His employers, Guardian Newspaper was clamped down upon. Decrees 2 and 4 remain arguably top of the draconian decrees of all of Africa. I have been a Guest Columnist on this same Guardian Newspaper severally. I’ve used the space to criticize Government, including the current. The thought of being jailed for writing factual stories is scary. I am not willing to compromise my rights. I am not willing to give up the freedom I currently enjoy. There are certain things I will not gamble with: my freedom and my fundamental human rights. I cannot wilfully vote in someone with such reputation. “Records are not kept simply to assist the weakness of memory, but to operate as guides to the future.” – Prof. Wole Soyinka I STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH HISTORY! NEVER AGAIN!
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 07:34:15 +0000
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