Jonathan Replied Me With A Riddle When I Called Over Chibok Abduction – Soyinka

Wole Soyinka, Nigerian Nobel laureate, has narrated how former President Goodluck Jonathan replied him with a riddle when he confronted him on phone concerning the Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction in 2014.

Soyinka said he had phoned Jonathan to confirm that the president did not utter the words attributed to him concerning the abduction of over 250 girls by Boko Haram insurgents from their school hostels.

The poet said Jonathan’s response remains a puzzle to him as the president allegedly dismissed him on phone with a riddle.

“I reached out to former President Jonathan, and protested, chiding him severely on his reaction over the abduction of the Chibok girls. I said to him; ‘you want to be accepted as a political leader, and you do not even accept as your duty to be there (Chibok), at the scene of the disaster?’ And I asked him, did you actually utter those words attributed to you? His response remains a riddle to me till today,” Soyinka said during the ‘Ripples Dialogue’ organised by Ripples Centre for Data and Investigative Journalism in Lagos on Thursday.

“His exact words to me, not easily forgotten I assure you, were ‘Kampala tie niyen,’ meaning that is your own Kampala,” he said.

Soyinka stated that Jonathan “said the opposition was only using this to discredit his government, and precious days to have rescued the girls were lost.”