NIGERIA’s continued existence as a single entity depends on next year’s governorship election in Anambra State and the 2011 general elections, Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, warned at the weekend in the United States (US).
Talking on Out of Desperation, Soyinka declared that: “I have said talking has to stop and direct action has to take place.”
Indeed, two of Nigeria’s literary giants shared a common stage at the forum in Providence, Rhode Island, the US, where Professor Chinua Achebe hosted a hugely successful international conference on Anambra and Nigerian elections at the Brown University, where the famous author of the classic, Things Fall Apart, is now based.
Another speaker at the one-day Achebe Colloquium also included the Biafra warlord, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who themed his speech around the returning of Ndigbo’s political relevance in Nigeria “in my lifetime.”
Soyinka opened his contribution at the conference, saying it is important that the whole world “understands that efforts were made, so no one should say why didn’t they warn, if the worse case scenario comes to pass in Nigeria because of a possible blatant rigging of the forthcoming Anambra and general elections next year and in 2011.”
The 75-year old playwright said: “It is no hyperbole that Anambra will provide the litmus test for democracy, and the existence of Nigeria as a single entity.”
Recalling what happened under the Olusegun Obasanjo presidency in the state, the renowned playwright said: “We witnessed how Anambra under Obasanjo was handed over as a private fiefdom of political godfathers. We saw how a President connived…and personally managed,” the stealing of a governorship mandate.
Criticising not only Obasanjo, but the then Inspector-General of Police and Dr. Andy Uba, whom he referred to as Obasanjo’s “facto-tum,” Soyinka regaled the large audience, consisting Nigerians and people from other countries, who turned out for the conference, how the former President then proceeded to reward Uba with the governorship of Anambra State until the judiciary upturned the decision.
Trying to illustrate the seemingly incredible scenario to his audience, he said: “Imagine the US President taking a personal involvement in the election of a state like Arkansas or California…the states being handed over as a reward for loyalty by a US President.”
But the literary giant also had some scathing comments for the international community, implying that some of their involvement was counter-productive.
He used a Yoruba witty, saying, “if the deity cannot help me, leave me the way I was.”
“The interference we had from outside is the readiness to accommodate the most insidious election results by the international community, allowing electoral iniquities to pass.”
The Nobel Laureate said he has been trying to make politicians in Nigeria “understand what they do when they take the people’s voice away…they are insulting the intelligence of the people when they kill, assassinate those who merely line-up to express their wishes.”
He wondered how Nigerians would have confidence in such a political process where the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who should be pilloried, is receiving a vote of confidence from the National Assembly.
He said it should be understood, “if I seem to reach my tether’s end and so ask Nigerians to demand the adoption of the proposed electoral reform laws. Nigerians have taken too much, they have been humiliated, insulted by a bunch of thugs.”
Saying the right to vote freely for a person’s choice in an election is not just an abstract issue but part of a citizen’s being, Soyinka said its deprivation can be compared to the apartheid policy.
“In the next two years, Nigerians will have to make up their minds whether they want to be sub-humans or they want to be accepted as real people in their own country.”
In his welcome remarks, Achebe, the David and Marianna Fisher Professor at Brown University, said he was not sure whether Nigerians have outgrown lining up behind their candidates to vote, “but I doubt it”.
He added: “Fortunately, there are people studying how to bring honesty and safety into our elections, please, let us hear them. Our lives may ultimately depend on what we hear or do at this conference today. We do not have time to spare in Anambra accommodating the evil spirit of election rigging.”
Achebe lamented that Anambra people have now been “introduced to kidnapping their parents at home.”
He listed some probable solutions to the logjam in the state as the conduct of reliable polls and the active participation of local and international monitors.
Expressing appreciation for the large turnout at the conference, Achebe said “as the convener, I am deeply honoured for so many of you to answer my call. I have no answer to our problems, but I believe that we, as a whole, can have an answer.”
Ojukwu insisted that Anambrans and Nigerians must face the matter of free and fair elections “with the same fervour and courage as our founding fathers faced the struggle for Nigeria’s independence. It is that serious, for the future and wellbeing of our nation depends on it.”
He said he was committed to working for the Nigerian society promised by the constitution, adding that “when this happens, and all glass ceilings and other unwholesome practices designed to keep Ndigbo, or any other ethnic groups in Nigeria marginalised are dismantled, I shall be fulfilled.”
Other speakers at the conference included Innocent Chukwuma of the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), Senator Ben Obi, Emeka Ihedioha from the House of Representatives standing in for the Speaker, Musa Adar, also from the lower chamber, Professors Abiola Irele, Richard Joseph and several others.