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Soyinka urges FG to apologise to Igboho
By Modupe Shodeinde
Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka has asked the Federal Government of Nigeria to apologise and stop pursuing Sunday Igboho following the invasion of the latter’s house by officials of the Department of State Services.
According to him, it is not criminal or illegal for anyone to express intention to leave any federation.
“How can you place the will for separation as a criminal act? That kind of language doesn’t exist in the constitution, it doesn’t exist in law.
It does not exist in the catalogue of immoralities because it is not an immoral act or position to say that you want to stop being part of an entity or you want to join an entity,” he said.
Soyinka subsequently gave examples of people who left a federation or a union to form or join another state including the Bakassi people of Southern Nigeria who seceded to Cameroon.
Speaking with BBC Pidgin on Monday, the icon Soyinka, who said the actions by President Muhammadu Buhari’s government following the invasion of Igboho’s home “stinks” urged the government to apologise to Igboho.
He said: “They should stop pursuing Igboho as a criminal, because you have begun by acting in a criminal fashion against him.
“If and when Igboho comes to trial, I guarantee you the government will be very embarrassed.
“I think they should tell Igboho ‘we made a mistake’, ‘we should not have acted in this way’, ‘you are no longer wanted’, ‘go back to your home, in fact escort him to his home’ and let him resume his normal life.”
He stated that the criminal activities of enemies of Nigeria who “appear to be supported by the force of the State” motivated Igboho’s fight for freedom.
Soyinka rather suggested that the country must be restructured through the decentralisation of power. He noted that he doesn’t ‘like the sound of a Yoruba Nation’ anymore than he likes the sound of a Tiv or Igbo nation.
