Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has faulted elder statesman, Balarabe Musa’s claims about South-West security outfit, Amotekun.
Musa, who was Governor of Kaduna State in the Second Republic, said that the outfit was launched to pursue separatist agenda. According to him, the security initiative is a ploy by South-West leaders to create Oduduwa Republic.
“First of all, taking into account what happened in the history of Nigeria, this Amotekun will lead to a declaration of Oduduwa Republic.
“Look at the composition of those who constitute the organization in addition to the six states governors.
“There is also the OPC, Afenifere, and others. So the fear is quite obvious,” he told Daily Sun.
But in a statement, Soyinka said Musa was “sadly wrong” to have made such assertion.
The Nobel laureate said that such assertion breeds fear “that is the certain recipe for tragedy”.
Soyinka said, “Balarabe is sadly, but I hope not tragically wrong. I invoke the tragic dimension here because the making of a tragedy, especially for nations, often begins when fears are mistaken or promoted as facts, and governments either by themselves, or together with interest groups, are enticed by fears into embarking on precipitate, irrational, and irreversible acts.
“Such acts turn out in the end to be based on nothing but fears, sometimes generated by guilt over past injustices, such as inequitable dealing.
“That is the basis of tragedy, towards which nations are propelled by a partial, or wrongful reading of socio-political realities and – history. I would like to see this nation avoid such a blunder. So, I am certain, would Balarabe Musa.
“Raising the specter of secession was a facile approach to the dangerous, self-evident lapses in governance which Balarabe himself acknowledged in his response to the Amotekun principle made flesh.”
Read Also: Attacks: Maintain constant surveillance on Damaturu-Maiduguri highway – ACF begs military