Iconic playwright, Prof. Wole
Soyinka, has kept to his promise of exposing former President, Olusegun
Obasanjo.
Soyinka had made the promise of
exposing the former President’s “evil deeds” while he was in office.
Soyinka said that the allegation
of corruption by former Abia State Governor, Orji Uzor Kalu against Obasanjo
should be addressed.
The Noble Laureate also advised
Obasanjo to desist from fighting so hard to restore Nigeria to the path of
sanity and moderate rectitude, describing him as ‘objectively unfitted ’ for
the role.
The Dramatist further called on
the former President to instead head for a monastery.
He also accused him of using
government fund to establish a personal library in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Soyinka said, “I know that deep
inside, there is a soakaway pond of personal insecurity struggling to be
drained. Beneath every bully, there is a scared product of insecurity and
troubled conscience.
“Now, fight your own demons as
best as you can, and feel free to flagellate Buhari (President Muhammadu) with
all the weapons in your armoury. I have only one demand: keep away from
movements struggling to restore this nation to the path of sanity and even
moderate rectitude.
“End your hijacking propensity.”
Soyinka said this in the latest
of his interventions series, Interventions VIII, titled ‘Quis Custodiet Ipsos
Custodes?: Gani’s Unfinished Business’ officially released to the public by
Bookcraft on Tuesday.
He also described the
Presidential Library in Abeokuta, Ogun State, built by Obasanjo as
‘Presidential Laundromat’, alleging that it was constructed with fraud.
He said, “That structure in
Abeokuta remains a moral eyesore to those who were in a position to obtain even
a glimmering of the proceedings that inflicted such a purulent carbuncle on the
landscape of my state, Ogun.
“However, even the grossest evil
can be turned to some good . When we were school pupils , one of our
illustrated reading texts was one entitled, ‘This is the house that Jack built.
’Today, and forevermore, generations will point to that thing which I have
daubed the Presidential Laundromat and say : This is the house that Fraud
built.’’
The playwright also asked if
someone with Obasanjo’s ‘governance record dare accuse anyone of failing to
rise to the challenges of governance.’
Soyinka, who said one of the
challenges that had confronted Nigeria since military incursion into politics
was electricity, asked Obasanjo to tell Nigerians how he rose to the challenges
of power while he was in office for eight years.
He added, “I dare Obasanjo to
meet me one – on – one on any podium to present the facts of that stewardship
to the Nigerian people… Just how did you, in eight years, rise to the
challenges of power generation for a population of a hundred and fifty million
people, endowed with enormous energy resources.
“Eight years-repeat, eight years
in office, and the elected estate manager of this vast territory could not even
provide the modicum level of power to activate even a low – level cottage
industrial culture. And such individual has the nerve to sermonise about rising
to challenges.’’
The essayist and poet also said
that he had a vested interest in the power industry and could claim to be an
insider in that ministry for a while when the late Bola Ige agreed to serve as
minister of power in Obasanjo’s cabinet against his (Soyinka ’s) personal
conviction.
He added ‘‘Again, we are also
duty bound to point out that the author of that damning expose is himself
standing trial on charges of corruption.
“We are aware that this pioneer
letter-writer has been summoned by the EFCC to substantiate his claims.”
Grave truth. I hope Obj follows moral path and respond.
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