Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has voiced strong criticism of President Bola Tinubu’s recent nationwide address, which failed to address the violent crackdown on protesters in Nigeria. In recent days, Nigerians have taken to the streets in major cities to protest against the high cost of living, hunger, and poverty, which they attribute to government policies such as the removal of fuel subsidies and the floating of the naira.
Protests Turn Violent
The protests, which began as a response to economic hardships, have escalated in violence over the past four days, resulting in several fatalities. In response to the unrest, President Tinubu delivered his first nationwide speech since the demonstrations began, urging calm and reaffirming the government's commitment to the removal of the fuel subsidy.
Soyinka's Criticism
In a statement released on Sunday, Soyinka specifically condemned the measures outlined by President Tinubu since the protests began. He noted that while the government's remedial actions would be closely scrutinized for their effectiveness, his primary concern was the government's handling of protest management, which he believes was inadequately addressed in Tinubu’s speech.
“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,” Soyinka stated.
Security Forces' Response
Soyinka also criticized the nation's security agencies for their handling of the protests, emphasizing that there are more civilized methods for managing such situations. He condemned the use of live bullets and even tear gas in response to civic protests, calling it an abuse of power, especially during peaceful demonstrations.
“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," he added.
Soyinka highlighted that the ongoing hunger marches are a universal call for help, not unique to Nigeria, and should be treated as a critical alert for the government to recognize public desperation. He compared the current situation to the colonial era's oppressive measures, referencing Hubert Ogunde’s folk opera "Bread and Bullets," which criticized such brutal responses and led to his persecution by the colonial government.
In conclusion, Soyinka's remarks reflect a deep concern for the Nigerian government's approach to handling public dissent and the urgent need for more humane and effective strategies to address the underlying causes of the protests
SOYINKA'S FULL SPEECH
The HUNGER MARCH As UNIVERSAL MANDATE
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 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.
Live bullets as state response to civic protest – that becomes the core issue. Even tear gas remains questionable in most circumstances, certainly an abuse in situations of clearly peaceful protest. Hunger marches constitute a universal S.O.S, not peculiar to the Nigerian nation. They belong indeed in a class of their own, never mind the collateral claims emblazoned on posters. They serve as summons to governance that a breaking point has been reached and thus, a testing ground for governance awareness of public desperation. The tragic response to the ongoing hunger marches in parts of the nation, and for which notice was served, constitutes a retrogression that takes the nation even further back than the deadly culmination of the watershed ENDSARS protests. It evokes pre-independence – that is, colonial – acts of disdain, a passage that induced the late stage pioneer Hubert Ogunde’s folk opera BREAD AND BULLETS, earning that nationalist serial persecution and proscription by the colonial government.
The nation’s security agencies cannot pretend unawareness of alternative models for emulation, civilized advances in security intervention. Need we recall the nationwide 2022/23 editions of what is generally known as the YELLOW VEST movement in France? Perhaps it is time to make such scenarios compulsory viewing in policing curriculum. In all of the coverage that I watched, I did not catch one single instance of a gun leveled at protesters, much less fired at them even during direct physical confrontations. The serving of bullets where bread is pleaded is ominous retrogression, and we know what that eventually proves – a prelude to far more desperate upheavals, not excluding revolutions.
The time is long overdue, surely, to abandon, permanently, the anachronistic resort to lethal means by the security agencies of governance. No nation is so under-developed, materially impoverished, or simply internally insecure as to lack the will to set an example. All it takes is to recall its own history, then exercise the will to commence a lasting transformation, inserting a break in the chain of lethal responses against civic society. Today’s marchers may wish to consider adopting the key songs of Hubert Ogunde’s BREAD AND BULLETS, if only to inculcate a sense of shame in the continuing failure to transcend the lure of colonial inheritance where we all were at the receiving end. One way or the other, this vicious cycle must be broken.
Wole SOYINKA
SOURCE: www.channelstv.com/
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