Nigeria's Nobel Laureate and professor of comparative
literature, Wole Soyinka, has warned President Muhammadu Buhari on the dangers
he exposes Nigeria to each time he says Nigeria's sovereignty is not
negotiable.
Prof. Soyinka made this disclosure while opening up in a press
interview on his discussion with the President at the Presidential Villa on
August 11, 2016.
The Nobel Laureate had before now declined to respond to
questions after meeting with the president with reportedly took place in
Buhari's office at the period under review but assured newsmen that he will
call a press conference.
Soyinka further said he initiated the meeting where a wide range
of issues were covered ranging from the Biafran crisis, kidnapping of the
Chibok girls (Boko Haram kidnapped 219 girls from a secondary school in Chibok
town, Borno State on April 14, 2014), to corruption and what he described as
other peripheral issues.
His words:
“I was the one who initiated the meeting…I had an appeal from
the Biafran Freedon Fighter -Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) they were willing
or close to embarking on a ceasefire but that they needed the government
to respond, in a very positive way, to meeting their grievances.
“I knew that the president had already met some of those
spokespersons of the NDA, according to my information. I don’t know their
names, by the way… I sent a message and President Buhari made time for us to
meet.
“My position was that this was an issue that should be treated
holistically. We shouldn’t wait until people take to arms in one form or the
other before addressing certain social anomalies, social grievances,
dissatisfaction, sense of alienation, etc. No matter what!
“My position is that the Biafran
seperates and restlessness is an integral part of a certain dissatisfaction
with the internal arrangements, socio-political arrangements of the nation.
“In other words, for me, I just see this as an aspect of a call
for restructuring because of the peculiar history of the Biafran region
in relation to others, has given rise to call for Biafra which surges again and
again and again.
“So, I believe we had a very, I believe, positive discussion on
that. In fact, I remember telling him that each time you say Nigeria’s
sovereignty is not negotiable, you or Obasanjo or Gowon or you military people,
each time you say Nigeria’s sovereignty is not negotiable.
“You are already negotiating Nigerian sovereignty; so, let’s
move away from the rhetoric and get practical. So, it (the discussion) was
along those lines that we had our conversation.
“Not only on the Biafran issue, also talked about Chibok girls,
on corruption, on a number of other peripheral issues… I had an
interesting respondent to, shall we say, a number of issues. Naturally, the
discussion was cordial, frank and I think, positive discussion that we had.
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