Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka on Saturday said the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has failed Nigeria after terrorists abducted hundreds of school girls in Zamfara State.
Soyinka spoke in Abeokuta, Ogun State, at the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Ogun award lecture and public presentation of ‘Chronicles of the happiest people on earth,’ the latest book authored by him.
According to Soyinka, it is important for all to know that these were abnormal times, but that it seemed to him as times of shirking of responsibilities in key areas.
“We cannot permit ourselves to accept the child hostage taking as a way of life, we just can not continue in this fashion, some thing drastic and meaningful has to take place and it has to be collective,” he said.
Soyinka emphasised that this was no longer the responsibility of those at the top, in charge of security, in charge of governance as they had clearly failed the populace.
“They have failed us, there is no point trying to reason it up, trying to give an excuse, putting blame or whatever. The important thing is that we are very close to accepting a culture of the unacceptable,” he added.
The Nobel laureate said it had reached a point the states were shutdown when the children were kidnapped to sound the urgency that child hostage taking would no longer be acceptable.
Soyinka said it might sound extreme, but said “we don’t know what else one can propose at this particular time, yes life must go on but even those activities will generate and enhance our very existence.
“I think we have to take on a tonality of regrets, of the unacceptable, protestation and mobilisation on whatever level it is possible as a community of human beings,” Soyinka said.
