Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has called on President Bola Tinubu to fulfil his earlier promise to revisit cases of unsolved assassinations and extrajudicial k!llings across Nigeria.
Soyinka made the appeal on Friday at the 28th Wole Soyinka Lecture Series organised by the National Association of Seadogs (Pirates Confraternity) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The event, themed “Reclaiming the Nigerian State through Accountability, Justice and Civic Courage,” also featured the NAS Martyrs’ Day.
He specifically demanded that the Federal Government not overlook the 2022 lynching of Deborah Samuel, a student of Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto, by fellow students after she was accused of blasphemy.
He also highlighted the extrajudicial k!lling of 28-year-old Mene Ogidi, who was allegedly shot dead in broad daylight by a police officer in Delta State, insisting that the perpetrators must face justice.
Recalling Tinubu’s statement around the time he assumed office, Soyinka said: “When there was a government retreat, you remember? The incoming president said, ‘I want all the files of all the unsolved assassinations, k!llings, extrajudicial killings.’ What has happened to those files?
“I want you to join me in asking President Tinubu to say, we want you to dig up those files. We want to know what happened, why it happened, who is of value as a human being, and who is there for casual disposition.
"That is the essence that I understand from this lecture. That is why I took the trouble, as a Seadog. This was a duty, and this is a message to the nation, to you as citizens, as human beings, to put an end to this casual butchery, no matter what the causes are.”
Soyinka urged Nigerians to demand accountability and ensure that those responsible for such killings do not escape punishment.
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