Nobel laureate, Prof.
Wole Soyinka, has advised former President Olusegun Obasanjo to desist from
struggling to restore Nigeria to the path of sanity and moderate rectitude,
describing him as ‘objectively unfitted’ for the role.
He urged him to instead
head for a monastery.
Soyinka said, “…I know
that deep inside, there is a soakaway pond of personal insecurity struggling to
be drained. Beneath every bully, there is a scared product of insecurity and
troubled conscience. Now, fight your own demons as best as you can, and feel
free to flagellate Buhari (President Muhammadu) with all the weapons in your
armoury. I have only one demand: keep away from movements struggling to restore
this nation to the path of sanity and even moderate rectitude. End your
hijacking propensity.’’
Soyinka said these in
the latest of his interventions series, Interventions VIII, titled ‘Quis
Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?: Gani’s Unfinished Business’ officially released to
the public by Bookcraft on Tuesday. It formed the text of his speech at the
10th memorial lecture of the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi.
He also described the
Presidential Library in Abeokuta, Ogun State, built by Obasanjo as
‘Presidential Laundromat’, alleging that it was constructed with fraud.
He said, “That
structure in Abeokuta remains a moral eyesore to those who were in a position
to obtain even a glimmering of the proceedings that inflicted such a purulent
carbuncle on the landscape of my state, Ogun. However, even the grossest evil
can be turned to some good. When we were school pupils, one of our illustrated
reading texts was one entitled, ‘This is the house that Jack built.’ Today, and
forevermore, generations will point to that thing which I have daubed the
Presidential Laundromat and say: This is the house that Fraud built.’’
The playwright also
asked if someone with Obasanjo’s ‘governance record dare accuse anyone of
failing to rise to the challenges of governance.’
Soyinka, who said one
of the challenges that had confronted Nigeria since military incursion into
politics was electricity, asked Obasanjo to tell Nigerians how he rose to the
challenges of power while he was in office for eight years.
He added, “I dare
Obasanjo to meet me one-on-one on any podium to present the facts of that
stewardship to the Nigerian people… Just how did you, in eight years, rise to
the challenges of power generation for a population of a hundred and fifty
million people, endowed with enormous energy resources…
“Eight years-repeat,
eight years in office, and the elected estate manager of this vast territory
could not even provide the modicum level of power to activate even a low-level
cottage industrial culture. And such individual has the nerve to sermonise
about rising to challenges.’’
The essayist and poet
also said that he had a vested interest in the power industry and could claim
to be an insider in that ministry for a while when the late Bola Ige agreed to
serve as minister of power in Obasanjo’s cabinet against his (Soyinka’s)
personal conviction.
Besides, he noted that
the allegation of corruption against Obasanjo by a former Abia State governor,
Chief Orji Kalu, should be formally addressed, adding ‘‘again, we are also duty
bound to point out that the author of that damning expose is himself standing
trial on charges of corruption. We are aware that this pioneer letter-writer
has been summoned by the EFCC to substantiate his claims.’’
Meanwhile, Obasanjo has
been appointed as a part-time academic coordinator at the National Open
University of Nigeria, Abeokuta Study Centre, Ogun State.
The Punch correspondent
learnt that Obasanjo, who received a Doctor of Philosophy in Christian Theology
at the NOUN in January 2018 and was the first PhD holder from the institution,
was conducted round his office on Tuesday by the director of the Abeokuta
centre, Prof. Ibrahim Salawu.
According to a release
on Tuesday by the NOUN Director of Media and Publicity, Ibrahim Sheme, the
former President was appointed as a facilitator at the institution by the NOUN
Vice-Chancellor, Prof Abdalla Adamu.
Sheme said Obasanjo had
expressed satisfaction at the office space allotted him and promised to work
for the progress of the university.
The release said,
“Former President of Nigeria, Dr. Olusegun Obasanjo, is now a bona fide worker
of NOUN, as he inspected his office space at the institution’s Abeokuta Study
Centre in Ogun State on Tuesday, in his capacity as a facilitator. The VC, Prof
Adamu, had soon after the former President’s graduation in January appointed
him as a facilitator.
“A facilitator is a
part-time academic coordinator for students in the Open and Distance Learning
system which open universities operate.”
Copyright PUNCH.
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