Wole Soyinka, a professor and Nobel Laureate,
has described Muhammadu Buhari, presidential
candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC),
as the most brutal face of military dictatorship
after Sani Abacha.
The revered professor, who spoke to the BBC,
suggested that Nigerians are in a serious dilemma
with lack of alternative.
When asked about his comments about the
general as a brutal devil, Soyinka said he did not
exactly call him the devil, but a brutal dictator.
“I didn’t exactly call him a devil, but of course I
talked about dinning with the devil with a very
long spoon, but he (Buhari), I didn’t even want to
dine with him at all,” he said.
“After Abacha, he represented the most brutal face
of military dictatorship, there’s no question at all
about that.
“I’ve got to the point whereby I look at the
possibility of a genuine internal transformation
with some individuals. I have been disappointed
before, and we must always be ready to be
disappointed again.”
Speaking about deepening democracy in Nigeria,
the 80-year-old said: “There are many, many
actions, especially by the government in power
which I won’t say are exactly democratic. Let’s
have a fair war, it’s not yet deep enough.”
He went on to speak about the abducted Chibok
girls, branding insurgency in the north-east a
failure of leadership by Jonathan and his
predecessors.
“What happened was a clear failure in leadership.
One cannot hold the government solely; the
responsibility spreads, because the Boko Haram
thing began in various ways a long time ago.
“There was a time when they announced the
Islamisation of Nigeria; they should have been
stamped upon by the constitution, using the
constitution as a weapon.
“While definitely, the responsibility of what is going
on rests with Jonathan, the bigger problem began
with previous governments.”
On the options before Nigeria in the coming
presidential elections, the erudite
scholar urged Nigerians to be prepared to go back
to the trenches if the wrong choice is made.
“Basically, for me, anything which so smells of
soliciting permanent incumbency or littling the
options is not palatable. But you know, the
environment changes, the circumstances change
and then even the worst military can become
demobilised, self-internally demobilised if you like.
“All I know is that if a wrong choice is made, we
must all be prepared, we should start preparing to
go back to the trenches, whatever it takes.
“Let’s put it this way: the way you fight a civilian
misrule is different from the way you deal with
people like Sanni Abacha.
“So I’m saying Nigerians should be prepared to
deal with any new betrayals by any ruler with the
same kind of passion, commitment and
understanding of a lack of alternative as they did
with Sani Abacha, because we cannot continue
this cycle of repetitious evil and irresponsibility.”
