Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on
Saturday said he rejected the centenary
award to be conferred on him by the
Federal Government because the late
military dictator, General Sani Abacha,
was included in the long list of
awardees. In a statement entitled, ‘The
canonisation of terror,’ Soyinka said it
is an insult for him to be listed
alongside the likes of Abacha for the
award.
On why he can't share anything with
the likes of Abacha, Prof Soyinka said:
“Under that ruler, torture and
other forms of barbarism were
enthroned as the norm of
governance. Nine Nigerian
citizens, including the writer
and environmentalist, Ken Saro-
wiwa, were hanged after a trial
that was stomach-churning
even by the most primitive
standards of judicial trial, and
in defiance of the intervention
of world leadership.
“We are speaking of a man who
placed this nation under siege
during an unrelenting reign of
terror that is barely different
from the current rampage of
Boko Haram. It is this very
psychopath that was recently
canonised by the government of
Goodluck Jonathan in
commemoration of one hundred
years of Nigerian trauma.”
Soyinka wondered why the Federal
Government had not changed the
names of roads, hospitals and any other
public facility that were named after
Abacha.He added that by honouring
Abacha, President Goodluck Jonathan’s
administration had ridiculed Nigeria in
the presence of world leaders by
glorifying “murderers and thieves.”
“What the government of Goodluck
Jonathan has done is to scoop up a
century’s accumulated degeneracy in
one preeminent symbol, then place it
on a podium for the nation to admire,
emulate and even – worship."
"...I reject my share of this national
insult," the respected literary giant
Saturday said he rejected the centenary
award to be conferred on him by the
Federal Government because the late
military dictator, General Sani Abacha,
was included in the long list of
awardees. In a statement entitled, ‘The
canonisation of terror,’ Soyinka said it
is an insult for him to be listed
alongside the likes of Abacha for the
award.
On why he can't share anything with
the likes of Abacha, Prof Soyinka said:
“Under that ruler, torture and
other forms of barbarism were
enthroned as the norm of
governance. Nine Nigerian
citizens, including the writer
and environmentalist, Ken Saro-
wiwa, were hanged after a trial
that was stomach-churning
even by the most primitive
standards of judicial trial, and
in defiance of the intervention
of world leadership.
“We are speaking of a man who
placed this nation under siege
during an unrelenting reign of
terror that is barely different
from the current rampage of
Boko Haram. It is this very
psychopath that was recently
canonised by the government of
Goodluck Jonathan in
commemoration of one hundred
years of Nigerian trauma.”
Soyinka wondered why the Federal
Government had not changed the
names of roads, hospitals and any other
public facility that were named after
Abacha.He added that by honouring
Abacha, President Goodluck Jonathan’s
administration had ridiculed Nigeria in
the presence of world leaders by
glorifying “murderers and thieves.”
“What the government of Goodluck
Jonathan has done is to scoop up a
century’s accumulated degeneracy in
one preeminent symbol, then place it
on a podium for the nation to admire,
emulate and even – worship."
"...I reject my share of this national
insult," the respected literary giant
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