Professor Wole Soyinka Photo: Sun News Publishing

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Nobel laurette and human rights activist, Professor Wole Soyinka has condemned in strong terms, the dismissal of the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.

In the same vein, Lagos lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, in a terse press statement, described Ribadu’s dismissal from the police as “clearly the act of an evil, lawless and corrupt government.”

In an exclusive interview with Daily Sun, Soyinka said the incident was one of the most shameful episodes in public life, which he had witnessed in his lifetime and blamed President Umaru Yar’Adua for the unfortunate development.

According to the renowned playwright, the president had a special responsibility to protect Ribadu because he was a presidential appointee and charged Yar’Adua to explain the “mystery” to the public.

He also spoke on the arraignment of former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode who once said that the literary scholar lacked the moral right to criticize the Federal Government, because according to the former minister, Soyinka did not know God.

Excerpts of the interview with Soyinka:
The police Commission has recommended the sack of former chairman of EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu after he has gone through other negative experiences and just last week, you said that President Umaru Yar’Adua has not protected Ribadu and you were not happy with it. So how do you react to this latest development?

For me, this is one of the most shameful episodes in public life that I have witnessed in my life and there’s no question at all that I am going to lay responsibility squarely at the feet of the president because Ribadu was a presidential appointee and therefore, the very special responsibility of President Yar’Adua. Yes, he inherited him; he did not appoint him but he inherited him and he kept him and if there is any crime to be laid at the door of Ribadu’s feet, I imagine that such a rime would be taken first to the president and to the best of my knowledge he has not gone against, he has not gone against any police instructions or orders. When he was ordered back, he went back dutifully.

He went to his training session at Kuru (NIPSS) obediently. The only thing he protested was his demotion, which was against all natural justice as far as I can see and in the opinion of many people also. So, why he is now dismissed from the police is a mystery, which I think only the president has the primary responsibility to clear up before the public; not even the police commission but the president.

There are fears that this is just a sequence of other negative developments that are yet to come; that he may eventually be arrested and arraigned. If that happens, what should be done?
If he is arrested, there must be a stated crime. You get arrested for something, not for who you are or what you are. So if he is arrested, then we’ll all watch and see what he will be charged with. This is the whole point but we want this faceless, mindless persecution to stop and the only categorical way we can bring it to an end is, in fact, by his being arrested and charged for something. So maybe, that will not be a total negative development.

Former presidential spokesman and former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode has been arrested twice and was Tuesday arraigned on a 47-count charge of money laundering and corruption and we recall that sometime ago, he said that you didn’t have the moral right to criticize the federal government because you didn’t believe in God. Now, that it has befallen him, what do you say to his predicament?
Oh, since Fani-Kayode knows God so well, I would leave him and God to sort it out between themselves. I have no other comment.
•Watch out for full interview in Saturday Sun.