- Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, says Nigerians have been overloaded with problems arising due to leadership deficit
- Soyinka narrates how Obasanjo stopped the clashes between the Federal Road Safety Commission and the military
- The Nobel laureate urges Buhari to warn herdsmen against attacking any civilian
President Muhammadu Buhari has to emulate some of the leadership qualities of one of his predecessors, Olusegun Obasanjo, in tackling the herdsmen menace across the country, Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, has said.
Soyinka made the statement on Friday, April 28, when fielding questions during an open forum he tagged ‘Terms of Enslavement I: Holy Cows, Green Gods, and Law of Karma, Premium Times reports.
The Nobel laureate said Nigerians have been overloaded with problems arising due to leadership deficit.
He narrated how Obasanjo stopped the clashes between the Federal Road Safety Commission and the military during his tenure as president.
According to Soyinka: "When I talk about the absence of leadership effect, let me give you an instance, when we started the Road Safety (also known as the Federal Road Safety Commission) movement and we began to clash with the military.”
“The military at the time were the greatest killers on the road; they killed one another, they killed themselves, they killed civilians, and if you argue with them on the road you were given the ‘mud’ treatment or leap-frogging. And we took them up."
Wole Soyinka said Nigerians are overloaded with problems arising due to leadership deficit.
Soyinka said the first stream of recruits into the FRSC were those who believed in the philosophy and the purpose of the organization.
“They were taught not to fear any soldier, and they fought the soldiers very often. I have trophies which were seized from soldiers in my house till today,” he said.
“And Obasanjo was the Head of State when Road Safety began on a national scale. We met one day and he said, ‘Hmmm, Wole, I hear you are fighting my men on the road, if they kill you, don’t come and complain o.’
“But he also did something, you know he’s not my favourite person but I always like to give credit where credit is due; Obasanjo also sent notices around to the military and said, ‘We set up, we encouraged, and we are backing this Road safety group…. From now, you fight any Road Safety on the street, when they are done with you, whatever the result is, you then come back and you eat military punishment."
Soyinka said the assault on the Road Safety by the military virtually stopped after Obasanjo intervened.
He said as an ex-military leader, the first thing Buhari had to do even before convening any national summit is to “pass the word round that any soldier seen molseting a civilian or any herdsman who attacks any civilian will be disciplined in such a way that he will wish he were a farmer".
Earlier, 360Basic reported that Soyinka revealed his residence had been invaded by herdsmen for a second time.
Soyinka said with this recent invasion of his home by herdsmen, it meant that “we are living in dangerous time,” saying that the invasion convinced him that the attack was a deliberate act of provocation.
According to him, the attack was life-threatening and alarming as his home and that of his neighbours were invaded by the herdsmen.
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