Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka criticized President Bola Tinubu’s recent nationwide address for not addressing the violent responses by security agencies towards #EndBadGovernance protesters.
Sahara Reporters reported that in his Sunday statement, Soyinka noted that the protests, now in their fourth day, highlight the country’s worsening economic situation and poor governance.
Soyinka was particularly concerned about the government’s handling of the protests, stating that Tinubu’s speech lacked sufficient attention to the issue.
He emphasized that using live bullets against peaceful protesters is a major problem, pointing out that even tear gas is often misused. He stressed that hunger marches signal a critical point for governance and should not be met with violence.
He recalled the colonial era’s oppressive actions, suggesting that current responses are a regression to those times.
Soyinka urged the security agencies to adopt more civilized approaches, referencing the non-violent handling of protests by the Yellow Vest movement in France as a model.
Soyinka called for an end to lethal responses by security forces, arguing that every nation has the capacity to transform and improve its approach to civic protests.
He suggested that today’s protesters might adopt songs from Hubert Ogunde’s “Bread and Bullets” to remind the nation of its colonial past and inspire a break from this cycle of violence.
Soyinka said that the cycle of violent responses must be broken to prevent further unrest and potential revolutions.
In his words, “I set my alarm clock for this morning to ensure that I did not miss President Bola Tinubu’s impatiently awaited address to the nation on the current unrest across the nation.”
“His outline of the government’s remedial action since inception, aimed at warding off just such an outbreak, will undoubtedly receive expert and sustained attention both for effectiveness and in content analysis.”
“My primary concern, quite predictably, is the continuing deterioration of the state’s seizure of protest management, an area in which the presidential address fell conspicuously short.”
“Such short-changing of civic deserving, regrettably, goes to arm the security forces in the exercise of impunity and condemns the nation to a seemingly unbreakable cycle of resentment and reprisals.”….Seē _ Morē
