Soyinka warns Nigeria is “heading towards a civil war”
Special to USAfricaonline.com, the USAfrica-powered e-groups of Nigeria360, UNNalumni, IgboEvents and CLASSmagazine Houston
USAfrica: Writer, playwright, essayist, activist and Africa’s first Nobel laureate in literature (in 1986) has
warned that he sees the rising tension and set of violence by the radical, violent Islamic group Boko Haram as leaving him one conclusion: We see the nation heading towards a civil war…. It is going that way. We no longer can pretend it’s not…. When you’ve got a situation where a bunch of people can go into a place of worship and open fire through the windows, you’ve reached a certain dismal watershed in the life of that nation.”
Soyinka made these comments during an interview broadcast a few hours ago by the BBC where he noted that there are similarities between the events of the 1960s which led to the Nigeria-Biafra war (1967-1970). “It’s not an unrealistic comparison – it’s certainly based on many similarities.”
He added during the interview that “There are people in power in certain parts of the country, leaders, who quite genuinely and authoritatively hate and cannot tolerate any religion outside their own.”
Only 4 days ago, he issued a joint statement with the great writer Prof. Chinua Achebe and Prof. John Bekederemo-Clark (published here on USAfricaonline.com titled: Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and Bekederemo-Clark warn Nigeria to “let not this fire spread.” https://usafricaonline.com/2012/01/08/achebe-soyinka-clark-nigeria-let-not-this-fire-spread/
USAfrica recalls that although now critical of the direction of the President of Nigeria, Soyinka was a supporter of the April-May 2010 push for then VP of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan to succeed and serve out the term of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (August 16, 1951 – May 5, 2010).
Prof. Soyinka whose masterful play/drama of 1975 titled Death and the King’s Horseman drew global, critical acclaim is a credible and respected voice on Nigeria’s public policy issues and human rights matters. By Chido Nwangwu, USAfrica multimedia networks. Chido247@USAfricaonline.com
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USAfrica, December 17, 2011: IF any of the Nigerian President’s 100 advisers has the polite courage for the extraordinary task of reminding His Excellency of his foremost, sworn, constitutional obligation to the national interest about security and safety of Nigerians and all who sojourn in Nigeria, please whisper clearly to Mr. President that I said, respectfully: Nigerians, at home and abroad, are still concerned and afraid for living in what I call Nigeria’s Federal Republic of Insecurity. FULL text of commentary at USAfricaonline.com https://usafricaonline.com/2011/12/17/nigeria-federal-republic-of-insecurity-by-chido-nwangwu/
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USAfrica: Nigeria Christmas day bomb blasts, killings open door to deal with key problems. By Dr. Victor Ide-Okoye
https://usafricaonline.com/2011/12/26/nigeria-christmas-day-bomb-blasts-killings-open-door-to-deal-with-key-problems-byvictor-ide-okoye/
Related insight: USAfrica’s October 17, 2001 special report/alert: Nigeria’s bin-Laden cheerleaders could ignite religious war, destabilize Africa. By USAfrica’s Publisher Chido Nwangwu. https://usafricaonline.com/chido.binladennigeria.html
https://usafricaonline.com/tag/al-qaeda/
310 killed by Nigeria’s ‘talibans’ in Bauchi, Yobe n Maiduguri; crises escalate. USAfricaonline.com on July 28, 2009. www.usafricaonline.com/chido.ngrtalibans09.html
https://usafricaonline.com/2011/08/16/10-killed-in-renewed-violence-near-jos/
News archives related to Jos, here https://usafricaonline.com/?s=jos
USAfrica: As Egypt’s corrupter-in-chief Mubarak slides into history’s dustbin. By Chido Nwangwu. https://usafricaonline.com/2011/01/30/chido-nwangwu-as-egypt-corrupter-in-chief-mubarak-slides-into-historys-dustbin-egyptians-not-waiting-for-obama-and-united-nations/
