Louis Ibah and Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Noble laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, yesterday, warned that the country was on the verge of extinction owing to the failure of the President Muhamamdu Buhari led-government to foster national unity and resolve the country’s security, mass youth unemployment and other economic challenges.
Soyinka in a statement titled “Between ‘Dividers-in-Chief and Dividers-in-Law” said he aligned himself with former president Olusegun Obasanjo who recently warned that the country was heading towards a failed state, a statement that did not go down well with the government of President Buhari.
The rights activist said though he was no fan of Obasanjo, the former president was right in his submission that the country was on the edge of total collapse under President Buhari.
Soyinka who accused President Buhari of sleeping on duty while terrorists, bandits and other criminal elements had a field day, drew the attention of the administration to the feelings of distrust by the majority of Nigerians on the government commitment to the survival of the country.
“Across this nation, there is profound distrust, indeed abandonment of hope in this government as one that is genuinely committed to the survival of the nation as one, or indeed understands the minimal requirements for positioning it as a modern, functional space of productive occupancy,” he said.
Soyinka, who faulted the federal structure of the country, where so much power is centralised in Abuja, however, called on state governors “to wake up to their constitutional rights and duties.”
He suggested that the way forward was for Buhari to convoke a ‘National Survival Conference’ instead of constitutional review.
“Forget legislative jamborees of constitution reviews – we have had our fill of them – all the files are gathering dust. It is time for Reparations! Dust up those files and head for the courts. If individual voices rankle, then perhaps it is time to convoke a Nation Survival Conference. Let all sections and group interests place their cards on the table and starkly articulate what we all know and endure on a daily basis, and proffer solutions, debate moves towards a collective, rational and sincere, undertaking of nation formation. The ongoing governance posture of aggressive evasion spells only one end: collective suicide,” he said.