THREE days after Prof. Wole Soyinka led a protest against the power vacuum created by the absence of President Umaru Yar’Adua, the Nobel Laureate yesterday canvassed more demonstrations to check the nation’s political crisis.
Also, concerned with the nation’s political lot, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) yesterday condemned the National Assembly for its failure to ensure the handover of power to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan.
Soyinka, who made the call during an interview with reporters in Lagos, said the time had come for Nigerians to begin massive civil disobedience if certain minimum conditions of democratic practice, including electoral reforms and constitutional reforms were not met.
Speaking on the theme “The P.M. of a Nation; Post Meridian or Post Mortem,” Soyinka said: “Post meridian is when the sun is at its height; this is when it is at its most powerful, the full potency is there and it is when things get scorched and we all derive our light and life from the sun. But after the sun has reached the meridian, the height, then it begins its journey towards the horizon, its powers wane and gradually it dies out, until it is out again. There is no great danger, nothing too distressful about being post meridian. All societies and civilizations reach their apex and usually fall into decline. Even the United States of America is falling into decline from which it hopes to recover. It is worrisome, but it is not the end of existence.”
Continuing, he said: “The other P.M. is post mortem and that is the question, which I have been asking myself over the past few days. In fact, a number of months since the Obasanjo regime showed itself what it is worth, I have been asking myself, is it that we have reached the zenith of our past and we are declining or is it that this nation is dead. And if we are dead, we should invite the whole world to come and conduct a post-mortem. For me, this is Nigeria P.M. You have a company called so and so PLC, what we have today is Nigeria P.M. and it is just a question of whether it is post meridian or post mortem.”
The literary icon stressed that the rally, which held in Abuja on Tuesday was the first in creating a new awareness among Nigerians, insisting that the time had come for Nigerians to start picketing embassies to press home the need for Nigerian leaders to be accountable to the people.
“As I said repeatedly in Abuja, this (rally) is only the first, it should merely be the launching of a new awareness, and as you know, similar activities took place in other parts of the world. We have reached the point where we have got to start picketing embassies, going to the streets to demonstrate at every opportunity, and getting ready for a campaign of civil disobedience. It is the only thing that will bring this reprobate leadership to their knees, to an understanding of the fact that they are elected to serve the people, not to lord it over them.”
He referred to the earthquake that has devastated Haiti and noted that he was not surprised that Nigeria had not joined other nations of the world to express sympathy over the disaster that had ravaged the Caribbean country.
“Haiti, the first independent nation in the Caribbean and a historic place, which has been most battered around by successive mindless, consciousless regimes. Now that nature has given that island a final buffeting, is this not the moment when the ‘Giant of Africa’ should rise to the occasion by giving a message of solidarity, and when we should get ready to send at least one plane-load of relief to the Caribbeans? Can we, have we? Certainly not until last night. Not one squeak has come out of this nation, a government, which is supposed to speak on behalf of all of us, not one squeak.
“All we hear is pray, pray, pray for this, pray for that. Let me take this opportunity to warn politicians and carpetbaggers to stop confusing the issue. I find it disgusting when I hear expressions like ‘those who are asking for this or that don’t wish the president well.’ They are trying to distort the issue. I find it a very cynical, hypocritical approach and playing sanctimonious, trying to put the others in a false position.
“It is not only Yar’Adua that is sick, the whole nation is sick and needs to be healed. But at least, President Yar’Adua is receiving treatment, this nation is just declining further and further, which is why I call this nation a post mortem,” Soyinka said.
In an interview with The Guardian, MEND spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, described as regrettable the failure of the National Assembly to deal with the issue of power vacuum created by the absence of the President for nearly two months.
“We have no regard or respect for the Senate and the House of Representatives because they have become a den of mediocrities. The number of honourable men and women is in the minority and as such the country should not expect any thing tangible from that direction.”
Gbomo who said the country was in need of a revolution as the way out of its lingering crisis, said in an ideal situation, the president whose absence was already having an adverse impact on the amnesty programme in the Niger Delta, ought to have handed over power to his vice.
He said: “Certainly that should be the normal order except he does not have confidence in his Vice or he has disdain or he is afraid some dirty secrets may be exposed. Any other reason does not seem to make sense.”
He added: “We are surprised because all along, we saw the president as a man who wanted to do the right thing but this situation has revealed his other side.”
According to MEND, whoever takes over from Yar’Adua must first of all reverse the constitution and return the clause that supports the need for fiscal federalism. According to the group, this will be a major indicator of sincerity.
On the issue of the United States government putting Nigeria on the list of terrorist states, MEND observed that even though the Americans might have overreacted, this could also be a way of ensuring that the Nigerian government takes security seriously.
Gbomo said: “Severing relationship based on the American response will be an extreme measure. That Nigerians are made to go through enhanced screening should not be a big deal to us when we suffer much more at police and army checkpoints where people are delayed, forced to part with money, humiliated and in a lot of cases killed.”
He continued: “The experience of spending a few extra minutes being thoroughly searched is nothing compared to police stop and search, long hours at the fuel stations and the traffic gridlock caused by our poorly maintained bad roads.”
MEND said future attacks on the oil industry were inevitable. According to Gbomo, the recent attack on a Chevron facility by an affiliate group was occasioned by the killing of the two contract workers of the company by the soldiers of the Joint Task Force who lack discipline and have disdain for the people of the region.