"Why FG must declare security emergency in Southwest" – Soyinka

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Thursday called on the Federal Government to declare security emergency in the Southwest in view of rising wave of insecurity in the region.

Soyinka spoke while speaking with journalists at the Fagunwa Study Group Second International Conference, held in Akure, Ondo State.

Expressing concerns over the spate of insecurity in the region, Soyinka said there was the need for urgent action to be taken by stakeholders to address the issue.

According to him, “As regard the insecurity in the South-West, there is an emergency. There should be a declaration of security emergency throughout the land and measures taken accordingly.

“There are many directions of security lapses, you know it here, especially in Ondo State, it is a calamity throughout the whole nation. There is an emergency.”

Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, at the event, stated that Nigerians were being encouraged and motivated by Soyinka’s writings and activities over the several decades of his engaging years.

“This is because they have elevated in our minds, the art of partisan living, as the biggest ideal of social reclamation.

“Indeed, his life at every station has taught us that to make a meaning of life, a man must set forth at dawn and immerse himself at the epicenter of beliefs, struggles and activities which seek to reclaim society and help it attain its spontaneous fullness of being.”