Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Tuesday lambasted the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, for describing the ongoing killings in Benue State by Fulani herdsmen as communal clash.
Soyinka, who spoke at a news conference where he described President Muhammadu Buhari as being in a trance, said Idris’ position on the Benue killings was appalling.
Speaking on the theme: “Herdsmen and Nation: Valentine Card or Valedictory Rites?” Soyinka said: “If the IG can sit in Abuja and say of an event that is happening under the jurisdiction of a governor in another state is just a communal clash when people are being slaughtered and their villages are being occupied, it shows complete alienation.
“Then there is the authority of Governors who have the ultimate authority for security.
“It is the governor who is supposed to be the chief security officer.
“We are now back to authoritative voices saying indeed, police need to be decentralised.
“We have been saying it and others have been saying it for a long time.
“We are now getting back to the commonsensical issue that the nation cannot function under a single police command.”
Soyinka hailed the Nigerian Army for having performed creditably in degrading the capacity of the Boko Haram insurgents, adding: “It must now turn around to face another phenomenon, which is considered in some international circles deadlier than the Boko Haram.”
According to him, the efforts to contain the Fulani herdsmen killings should have begun six months ago, adding that the Army should have immediately transferred its concentration from operations such as Python Dance and Crocodile Smile to where the heat was.
He said the security agencies have the responsibility to look at highly-placed people in whose interest anarchy can be fostered.
Soyinka said: “Why colonies were brought in to complicate things, I do not know.
“Ranches, that’s the word used everywhere.
“There is no organized illegal force that does not sooner or later spin up.
“Are these internally generated or are they being launched by individuals who in their interest the nation must be in a state of anarchy?
“We sometimes talk about corruption, but we don’t understand how far corruption goes.
“When you think of the amount being stolen in this country, enough funds illegal fund to destabilise the country.
“We might end up discovering that some of these people profit from ensuring there is chaos from Maiduguri to Lagos.”
On restructuring, Soyinka said: “Sooner or later, people will recognise the fact it’s not broken record they are listening to, it’s their hearing that is impaired.
“In other words, we have been shouting restructuring, now its inevitability has always been stressed.
“The internal relationship of the units of this country be decentralised.
“And anytime you talk about restructuring, you hear this gibberish that the sovereignty of this country will not be compromised.
“Who is talking about sovereignty?
“We are saying the internal components of the country needed to be addressed … We must decentralise governance.”
Asked what he would tell Buhari if he met him, the Nobel laureate said: “I would say: Mr. President, I think you are under a trance.
“The sooner he gets out of it the better.
“So many unforced errors are going on.”
Soyinka said one of the unforced errors was the recall by Buhari of the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Prof. Usman Yusuf, who was suspended by the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, for alleged mismanagement of N191 million, with his investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ongoing.
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