By Ola ‘Kiya, Reporting
NOBEL LAUREATE, Professor Wole Soyinka, has urged the leading presidential candidates in the just-concluded presidential election in Nigeria to send their garrulous spokespersons on vacation following their recent descent to primitive instincts and vituperations.
Speaking during an interview on Roadmap 2023, a Channels Television’s programme that highlights election issues and tracks personalities, Soyinka said Nigeria could still get its democratic bearing if the country started doing things aright.
“I will say that there have been, at least, appearances, a level playing ground, and therefore which one of those instances where I think I believe that we must take the position that the process is not yet ended and until the final pronouncement is made as far as I’m concerned.
“The electoral process is still on as long as they are having the time we’re talking about. For me, the electoral process is still on,” he said.
He added; “We can still come back to that moment when we had a common purpose and we said enough of military.
“I’m talking about June 12 and everyone came together and demonstrated, not just to ourselves but to the whole world.
“Yes, we know what democracy is and we know how to practise it. Unfortunately, we seem not to have succeeded in reaching that level of democratic concept as we agreed when we said ‘let us take back our political volition and get rid of the Khaki boys (Military regime)’ and we can still come back to it even with this election.
“The first thing is, I believe that all these political parties (attacking each other) is for them to send their spokesmen and women on vacation and say ‘we’ve completed a major phase of the electoral process, thank you very much. For now, we will speak in our voices. I say this in all seriousness.”
The Kongi poet said he was disappointed after reading a “pronouncement” from one of the leading party’s spokespersons in the wake of the ethnic profiling in Lagos.
“To read this fellow (the spokesperson) who is supposed to be a lawyer, educated and who is also being from one party to the other and back again.
“To me, the young man was writing at the turmoil between ethnic groups in Lagos when by now he should be busy now pouring oil on troubled waters,” he lamented.
The Isara-born Octogenarian charged the Federal Government to heed the voice of restructuring in order to devolve power to the sub-refional units to enhance security among other challenges.
