NOBEL laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has shed more light on why he shunned last Thursday's 'One Man, One Vote' rally organized by Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole. According to him he did not "very much like the company" he found himself in.
He also appealed to civil society and humanitarian groups to intervene, and bring the prolonged crisis in the Presidency, occasioned by the ill health of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to an end.
Speaking in Lagos at a press conference yesterday on the topic: Between a humane dignified resolution and a Yar'Adua-or-die cabalism, the literary icon said as a human being, he was miffed by the way the President was been "put to use" by the cabal around him.
He said: "There is a very macabre game going on, which is to use, in my view, a helpless individual in a political manipulation. I am speaking as a human being, not as a political activist, agitator or whatever. I am speaking, not even as a citizen, but as a human being; I find myself revolted by the use to which President Yar'Adua is being put by a group that is known generally, I believe, as the cabal. I think they are not faceless; a number of them have been mentioned by the media, and they are very good at planting rumours and stories in the media, to ossify the situation in Aso Rock right now, especially as it concerns the health of the President."
Continuing, he charged: " It is this use to which inert human being-health wise - is being put that I find really disgusting, a process that I think should be terminated as quickly as humanely, but as resolutely as the situation demands. I think there was one recent story, ... in which it was said that the President had been seen at his desk receiving his family and so on and so forth. We all know that these are fabrications, and I think it's about time that we got to the bottom of the motivation behind this kind of activity, and put an end to it. One of the reasons I want to speak in my personal capacity is that I am actually appealing to groups like Save Nigeria Group, Citizens Forum, civil rights organizations and humanitarian organizations to intervene and stop this very dark tragic-comedy."
Soyinka vouched for the ailing President, saying that Yar'Adua would have since addressed the nation, if he were capable of doing so. "If the man whom I met, Umaru Yar'Adua, was capable of speaking to this nation, he would have done so. If he was capable of communicating to this nation or to the world by any means, not just vocal, even to send a note authenticated...to receive his deputy, the President of Senate, the Chief Justice, in other words, formally structured individuals or groups...he would have done so by now. And so this idea of surrogate communication by those who have absolutely no legal or constitutional standing in this nation, these specially arranged visits, is to me an obscene procedure, and an insult to the intelligence of over a hundred million people. I feel personally insulted by what is going on, and I am encouraging Nigerian citizens to come out and say 'enough is enough, you do not treat a human being in this way, and don't lie to the nation.'
While commending Oshiomhole for putting together the 'One man, One vote' rally, the Nobel laureate however expressed reservation about some of the personalities that were invited to grace the event. His words: "...However, in the process of mobilization, you cannot elevate to a position of prominence those, shall we say, who have a case to answer, having been guilty in the past or even in the present continuous, for the violation of that right to electoral volition."
He continued: "I went there, I was very happy to be invited to Edo State to the first of what I hope would be the first in a series, but when I got there, I found I did not very much like the company I was with. I had received no inkling before hand about the company; I thought in fact that it was an entire Edo State affair, and I have a very special relationship with Edo State. So, when I found that the umbrella had been spread to include...I mean, sometimes, if there is an umbrella, and the rain is beating you - you would rather be beaten by the rain than share an umbrella with certain people- I would rather be soaked. It became a problem for me, quite frankly, but the turning point was when I received a phone call and I was asked to open the pages of I think Thisday, I can't remember now, and there it was, an advertisement for the event saying that special guest of honour was Senator David Mark. Now for me, that was the last straw."
"I was to go to an event in which the special guest of honour, of all the Nigerians that I know of, happens to be somebody who has fought against the implementation of the Uwais recommendation for electoral reforms, somebody who headed a legislature, which passed a vote of confidence in that electoral criminal called Maurice Iwu."
THE GUARDIAN/MAY 01-10
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