Soyinka Asks Governors To Demand Withdrawal Of Soldiers From States

Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, has called on governors in states where soldiers have been deployed to ask President Muhammadu Buhari to withdraw the soldiers immediately to de-escalate crisis.

Soyinka said this in a message on Wednesday in a reaction to the shooting of unharmed #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos on Tuesday night.

There have been peaceful protests in many states in the country against police brutality and the Special Anti-Robbery Squad and the protest in Lekki have been very peaceful until the attack on the protesters.

The Nobel laureate said, “To the affected governors all over the nation, there is one immediate step to take: demand the withdrawal of those soldiers. Convoke town hall meetings as a matter of urgency. 24-hour curfews are not the solution.

“Take over the security of your people with whatever resources you can rummage. Substitute community self-policing based on local councils, to curb hooligan infiltration and extortionist and destructive opportunism. We commiserate with the bereaved and urge state governments to compensate material losses, wherever.

“To commence any process of healing at all – dare one assume that this is the ultimate destination of desire?– the Army must apologise, not merely to the nation but to the global community – the facts are indisputable – you, the military, opened fire on unarmed civilians. There has to be structured restitution and assurance that such aberrations will not again be recorded. Then both governance and its security arms can commence a meaningful, lamentably overdue dialogue with society. Do not attempt to dictate — Dialogue!”

The playwright also said he was happy to be alive to see Nigerian youths finally beginning to take the future into their own hands.

He added, “My enquiry so far indicates that the Lagos governor did not invite the Army, did not complain of a ‘breakdown in law and order. Nevertheless, the centre has chosen to act in an authoritarian manner and has inflicted a near incurable wound on the community psyche. Need I add that, on arrival in Abeokuta, my hometown, I again had to negotiate a road block? That went smoothly enough. I expected it, and have no doubt that more are being erected as this is being written.

“It is pathetic and unimaginative to claim, as some have done, that the continued protest is hurting the nation’s economy etc. COVID-19 has battered the Nigerian economy – such as it is – for over eight months. Of course it is not easy to bring down COVID under a hail of bullets – human lives are easier target, and there are even trophies to flaunt as evidence of victory– such as the blood-soaked Nigerian flag that one of the victims was waving at the time of his murder.”