‘Line has been drawn, people must decide whether to submit or resist’ – Wole Soyinka

By Ochereome Nnanna
Prof. Soyinka carefully chose the venue from which to launch his latest broadside at President Goodluck Jonathan and the Nigerian Police now headed by new Inspector General, Mr. Suleiman Abba: he addressed the media at the Freedom Square, Lagos.
Prof was effusive with his praise for the lawmakers who climbed the gate of the National Assembly after failing to physically tear it down, saying: “the act of scaling the gates and walls to fulfill their duty must be set down as their finest hour; they must be applauded, not derided”.

Though I am dismayed at Soyinka’s applause for the shameful and dishonourable conduct of the lawmakers who climbed the gate, I am not at surprised. Soyinka, the founder of the Pyrates Confraternity, a secret cult, was only preaching what he has practiced since his youth. One of the incidents that shot him to media limelight was that in 1965 –when he was merely 31 year-old – he invaded the Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service (WNBS) and demanded the cancellation of the Western Nigeria regional election. He was obviously a partisan of the Chief Obafemi Awolowo faction of the Action Group.

While this action which Soyinka took in his youth could be adjudged as being brave and heroic, it cannot be compared with the circumstances that led to the scaling of gates by the All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers. The day before this incident, the APC had held what they called “salvation rally” at the Eagle Square, Abuja and later went on a street protest. They surprised everyone by going to the headquarters of the Nigerian Police and barricading it. It was on that day that the governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, reiterated the APC’s threat that they will form a parallel government if the 2015 elections are rigged. The Police read the auguries, and in their wisdom or folly, decided to secure the National Assembly against the possible security threats.

As far as I am concerned, the police was right to take steps to secure the National Assembly if indeed they had security reports warranting such a step. Police has the right to occupy anywhere in this country and maintain law and order. It is their constitutionally bounden duty. I do not agree with those who say because the National Assembly is the office of the federal lawmakers the police have no business being there under any circumstance. However, I agree with those who say that the Police have no business interfering in the lawmaking activities of the legislature. This concept of “hallowed” chambers is terribly overblown. The lawmakers do not have immunity from being subjected to the rule of law when they begin to behave like common hooligans. 

I also blame the police for mishandling the situation. They should have screened people going into the arena, making sure that only lawmakers were allowed in without any form of discrimination. Perhaps, the way they mishandled the situation gave the impression that there was a hidden agenda to keep out APC lawmakers and give the PDP legislators an unfettered opportunity to impeach Hon. Waziri Tambuwal as Speaker. I can never excuse the police or any law-enforcement agency for carrying out any discriminatory screening of lawmakers.

I am still wondering why the police would want to stop Tambuwal and his supporters from joining their colleagues in the chamber. After all, it was President Jonathan who wrote both the President of the Senate, David Mark and the Speaker of the House, Tambuwal, seeking an emergency session of the National Assembly to approve his request for an extension of the state of emergency in the North East. Why would the president, after making such a request bordering on national security – a request seeking the favours of the Speaker and members of the House – send IGP, Abba, to block the gate against the very people who would grant the request? It doesn’t make sense.

Perhaps, the gate-crashing would not have been necessary if the policemen had conducted themselves diligently and professionally. I expected Soyinka, if he sees himself as a statesman, to condemn the police for their unprofessional conduct while berating the lawmakers for acts unbecoming of people called “honourable”. He should have derided their acts of hooliganism, rather than applauded it.

Soyinka should know that being a Nobel laureate, people out there like to hear whatever he has to say about things happening in his country, Africa and the world at large. If he continues to make himself the mouthpiece of a political party’s propaganda machine, he risks losing the credibility that goes with being a Nobel Laureate. The very idea of calling President Jonathan “worse than Nebuchadnezzar” is totally out of tune with a president who has allowed the democratic processes to thrive. Soyinka is dressing President Jonathan in robes that were sown for former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who had no respect for democracy, decency and civilised behaviour.

It is very ominous for Soyinka to drag newsmen to Freedom Square and say: “the line has been drawn, the people must decide whether to submit or resist”. It is actually a call for anarchy at a time the political temperature is boiling over. It is a refrain of the APC’s threat to form a parallel government if election is “rigged” in a country where every politician who loses election says it was “rigged”. Such a call is dangerous because it is a two-edged sword.


By Ochereome Nnanna