Wole Soyinka & the price of partiality

By Tochukwu Ezukanma
After the election of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011, my cousin, who
lives in my hometown, called me. He told me that he, in concert with many
other supporters of President Goodluck Jonathan, was celebrating the
president’s electoral victory. In such elation and jubilation over the
triumph of their preferred candidate, it is possible for them to get
carried away and restore to behaviors not entirely in conformity with the
law. And these will happen without any knowledge of the president and his
aides. So, there is so much that the supporters of the president can do
without his knowledge.
The hanging of the banner, Bring Back Jonathan 2015, at one of the entry
points into Abuja was despicable. With that detestable banner, a bunch of
supporters of the president, in their sycophantic intoxication,
defenestrated all decency. Like every Nigerian, Goodluck Jonathan reserves
the constitutional right to vote and to be voted for. Therefore, he can
seek re-election in 2015. But to make a case for his re-election by
exploiting a national tragedy was repulsively callous. It was
insensitivity take to a nauseating extreme. It made a mockery of a
national misfortune and the grief of the parents and other loved ones of
the kidnapped Chibok girls. Refreshingly, the president has stated his
lack of complicity in the hanging of that obnoxious banner.
In a recent newspaper article, the Wages of Impunity, in addition to
criticizing the banner, Wole Soyinka also censured the president for
including the ex-governor of Bornu state, Ali Modu-Sheriff, a suspected
sponsor of Boko Haram, in his entourage on a recent visit to Chad. The
president denied travelling with him to Chad. Ali Modu-Sheriff has
longstanding business interests in Chad and often spends a lot of time
there. He happened to be in the Chadian capital, N’Djemena at the time of
the president’s visit. He joined Nigerians residents of the Chadian
capital to welcome the president, on his arrival, at the airport.
Therefore, the insinuation that the president is hobnobbing with an
alleged sponsor of Boko Haram is totally incorrect. The president,
according to his spokesman, is fully aware of the allegations against
Sheriff and is awaiting the outcome of a security probe on him. Like most
Nigerians, I believe the president on both counts, especially, as there is
no evidence, in either case, to the contrary. Moreover, it is reasonable
to trust the judgment and believe the words of a man overwhelmingly
elected by Nigerians to lead them, and thus, determine their collective
fate for four years.
In the article, Wole Soyinka was acidic, and he did not mince words in
excoriating President Jonathan. The problem with Soyinka is that he is not
an impartial critic; he is biased. He turns a blind eye to the corruption,
lawlessness and political blunders in the Southwest and the Southwest
dominated All Progressive Congress (APC). He gives the false impression
that only the federal government and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
are culpable of political sins. Well, Mr. Soyinka, other governments and
political parties are also guilty of some political offenses.
After all, one of the most corrupt politicians in Nigerian, who is also
the most despotic and domineering political godfather is from the
Southwest and a member of APC. Of all the geo-political zones, the
Southwest is an anachronism, at least, in one respect – it is a zone still
run by an imperious political godfather as a personal political fiefdom.
Governor Rajiv Fashola, in one swoop, raised school fees at the Lagos
State University (LASU) by up to 1000 percent? It is understandable that,
occasionally, school fees are increased, in line with inflationary
pressures and other insinuating economic and academic realities. However,
decency and sensitivity to the economic plight of the generality of
Nigerians dictate that such increases should be reasonable and modest. A
one thousand per cent increase in school fees was unconscionable. It was
an exercise in arrogance, superciliousness and disregard for the pervading
economic predicament of the masses and their struggle to acquire an
education.
Quite naturally, the students protested. Their protest was peaceful.
Still, policemen were called in by the state government. The police fired
(life ammunition) on students. The state government and the police tried
to excuse away what was a violent and unlawful repression of the
constitutional right to peaceful protest, by stating that the police fired
into the air. Still, the use of live bullet in dealing with a peaceful
student protest, for whatever reason and/or under any guise, was excessive
and unconstitutional.
Wole Soyinka is on a self-serving mission. He is driven by personal
interests: greed for money and love for the spotlight. In retrospect,
there was the Wole Soyinka that prevented the falsification of election
results in the old Western Region. Armed with a pistol, he entered the
Western Broadcasting Corporation and forced the radio announcer to
announce the accurate election results. There was also the Wole Soyinka
that drove into Biafra through the battle field at Nsukka. He returned to
Nigeria and, in an unusual act of courage, denounced Yakubu Gowon for his
stances on Biafra; he was jailed by the Gowon administration. That former
Wole Soyinka was selfless and honorable, and his credibility was
unimpeachable.
But over the years, his integrity and honor were compromised by his
dalliance with a number of military dictators and subsequent political
leaders. Presently, his business interests entangle him with a number of
APC governors. So, as he speaks and writes, he is motivated not by the
public good but by his business interests and the political interests of
his political sponsors. As such, Nigerians cannot trust him. For the price
of partiality is distrust.
Tochukwu Ezukanma writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
maciln18@yahoo.com
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