If there was one disease the human race ought to dread most, it is the twin-disease of arrogance and ignorance spurn from knowing one is famous and wrapping outright falsehood in finely crafted language. Unfortunately, people infected with the diisease are so sure many would not take the pains to research their assertions and authenticate what they put forth what with the excruciating economic conditions many a Nigerian contends with on a daily basis – too busy seeking a means of self-sustenance to have time for academic research and critical thinking.

Professor Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka, grandson of the Rev. Canon J. J. Ransome-Kuti, his maternal grandfather, was dead wrong on so many counts in his essay on Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

Please, do not get it wrong. I have utmost respect for the Nobel Laureate, a playwright and prolific author of “The Interpreters”, “You Must Set Forth at Dawn”, “The Swamp Dwellers”, “The Lion and the Jewel” and so many more classical works and one of the leading lights of Nigerian authors of the second generation of the nation’s literary giants.

I feel so pained one with such outstanding achievements on many fronts would fail to research what he puts forth in the public domain, knowing many would run with it without verifying the issues raised therein. I admit though that man, in his present fallen state, is subject to making mistakes – sometimes very costly ones too and our illustrious professor is not immune.

Soyinka is not in a position to castigate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. While he talks about alleged human rights abuses, he plays the blind man to the excesses of the present civilian administration. Soyinka made no comment when a governor whipped a PHCN official in this dispensation. He made no comment when a critic of the Bauchi State Governor was hounded into detention for speaking the truth. Soyinka was so audibly silent when a governor summoned a Reverend Father to Government House and flogged him mercilessly. I can go on and on. All over the world leaders, in their zeal to deliver on their mandates, might commit one infraction or the other and they do step on toes. It does not make sense to play down on the weight of circumstantial evidence at the time and to seek to malign Gen. Buhari, even when the same respected professor demonstrated in his treatise that he does not know the reasons for the decisions or he chose to feign ignorance.

Let us examine for ourselves the veracity of the professor’s claims. You have a right to know the truth and many alive today will testify to the facts that I present herein. I focus on three major outright false allegations leveled by Professor Wole Soyinka against Gen. Buhari.


A Mere Hoax: The 53 Suitcases
It is obvious that Prof. Wole Soyinka chose to pander to baseless sentiments founded on outright lies. First, Atiku Abubakar whom he had referred to as the Customs Officer in question is still alive and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari had since asked Atiku to speak up. For the records, Buhari was not at the airport. What was reported to the then Head of State was that an Emir had returned to the country with his retinue of 15 wives and so many children and someone had mischievously counted all the luggage they had returned with, claiming they had contained foreign currencies. One of the Emirs that returned was the father of then Major Jokolo. Courtesy demands that he goes to welcome his father and he had gone there to do so. Even Atiku Abubakar never reported seeing foreign currencies in any of the luggage. He is still alive and I believe Professor Wole Soyinka could so easily have reached him. I still want to throw the challenge to any journalist who had seen foreign currencies in any of the luggage should step forward and say so. It is interesting that none of the media outfits that spread the rumors reported sighting even a cent. If, as Atiku Abubakar claims, the military boys rudely whisked the items away, how then did he or anyone see foreign currencies in the suitcases?

Buhari’s Refusal to Appear before The Oputa Panel
The Oputa Panel set up by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was not a constitutional body neither could its findings be said to be binding on anyone. It is critical to note that the Oputa Panel never indicted Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. It did not even have the mandate to do so. What Gen. Obasanjo tried to do with the Oputa Panel was akin to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa with a view to calming frayed nerves and to foster unity what with the pent up anger built up over the botched June 12, 1993 Presidential Election won by Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola a free and fair process that was scuttled by Prof. Wole Soyinka’s friend whose evil action he did not condemn: Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. The only straw Prof. Wole Soyinka could clutch onto in a sea of lies he amazingly peddles is that the former Head of State did not appear before the panel, forgetting that the Head of State had immunity for his actions while in office and as at the time the panel was set up and until this very second, the immunity clause has not been expunged from our laws. Legally, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari was under no obligation to appear before the panel. I really would not know why the renowned professor would overlook these established facts and run to the public with half-truths and outright lies. Until this day, I have not heard or seen Prof. Wole Soyinka clamour for the removal of that vexatious clause from our laws.

Alleged Human Rights Abuses
Professor Wole Soyinka was already an elder states man when Gen. Muhammadu Buhari became Head of State. He, therefore, cannot feign ignorance of the compelling circumstances that brought in the military. Those circumstances required drastic measures to tackle with a view to lifting off the nation her pariah status in the comity of nations. The prevalent circumstances at the time include:
Widespread corruption that crippled the economy;
Nigeria had assumed the notorious status of a major drug trafficking hub;
Excessive violence due to irresponsible politics on the part of the civilians who had held sway leading to unprecedented carnage and wanton bloodshed and we witness a repeat of it right now;
Hoarding of essential food items, petroleum products and the essentials for daily living by an unscrupulous few who created artificial scarcity to sell their stock at cut-throat prices;
Excessive dependence on import and abuse of foreign exchange allocations as well as import licensing in such a manner that encouraged nepotism, tribalism and excessive fraud;
All of the foregoing put excessive pressure on the economy and created galloping inflation and the Naira began to be worthless in terms of its exchange value with other major world currencies;
There was a general abysmal slide in the educational sector and the nation experienced the horror of unbridled examination malpractices and our institutions were producing some idiots and imbeciles who presently ruin everything in the nation;
Workers were receiving wages for work not done; Public servants stayed away from their work places for days and would come to work late; Head teachers and principals in schools introduced all sorts of illegal levies on students; Students were found loitering aimlessly on the streets during school hours and indulging in all forms of crime;
The nation was generating a lot of revenues from various sources that were not judiciously and productively managed and public infrastructure were in a state of total disrepair while state funds that could have been properly channeled by vision went into private pockets; and
There are many more.

It is obvious from all the foregoing that drastic measures were required to restore the image of Nigeria and to put her on the path of true growth and development on all fronts. Though some measures were truly drastic, they were inevitable. They were simply sine qua non to turning around the fortunes of the nation for the good of all. There were instantaneous results in economic rebound from a comatose state to a healthy status. The nation made massive savings. Inflationary pressure ebbed. Nigerians learned to do things in an orderly fashion. The state of heightened insecurity was managed competently and with drastic measures and the unending violence was curbed. Nigerians caught on with the can – do spirit. The exchange rate of the Naira to international currencies improved. There were massive investments in infrastructure within a short time. The country’s image improved instantly and we did not borrow a dime to do any of those things. Is Prof. Wole Soyinka feigning ignorance of those things? He obviously is doing so for reasons best known to him. He was a living witness at the time. Let his conscience be his judge.

It is, however, not surprising that those who were the major beneficiaries of the rot prior to the Buhari administration and whose nefarious activities were cut short in the interest of all Nigerians are not happy and still have an axe to grind with the man who was fair, just and impartial who also chose to channel the nation’s wealth towards productive ends to oil the engine of growth and true development, rather than participate in cornering the nation’s wealth. Quite a number of them infused massive funds into some media houses and dictate to the editors what to write and whose image to destroy. Their common enemy is Gen. Muhammadu Buhari who stands with the people anytime and all the time in an unflinching manner and no matter whose Ox was gored.

It beats me that Prof Wole Soyinka could ignore all these facts that were extant at the time to play on the English Language to tell polished lies which remain what they are no matter the finesse that went into crafting them: pure and unadulterated and highly concentrated lies from the pits of hell.

What the professor did not tell us is that he was also ashamed of the status of Nigeria in the comity of nations at the time. He did not tell us that he was disappointed at the turn of events years after a hard-won independence from the nation’s colonial master. He did not mention salient piercing questions his peers asked about the state of affairs in his country and how ashamed he was.

It is also significant that Prof. Wole Soyinka did not tell us what he would have done if he were in Gen. Buhari’s shoes at the time. There was this urgency to stem the tide of gross indiscipline on all fronts that made the nation a laughing stock.

I also find it hard to believe that Prof. Wole Soyinka chose to ignore the roles of civilians who were always serving in every shade of government who added the negative image to various administrations with their notorious activities.

It is also shocking that he chose to ignore the realities of the working of the military administration under the leadership of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. The decisions were jointly made at the Supreme Military Council with many civilians as advisers at federal and state levels. He also forgot or he deliberately chose to ignore the fact that the laws that were termed draconian, though necessary at the time, were all drafted by civilians who were lawyers some of whom are Senior Advocates of Nigeria today with inputs from civilian directors and heads of MDAs. There was no time we really ran a pure military government in Nigeria. Civilians ran the business as Permanent Secretaries and advisers and offered their services as drafts men to the soldiers.

It is interesting – quite interesting – that Prof. Wole Soyinka who believes everything military was evil accepted to serve in the most corrupt of all the military regimes in Nigeria headed by Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. He was the pioneer Chairman of the Federal Roads Safety Commission. I had actually thought that a man of principle should never have accepted to serve under such a government. Could that be the reason he was silent at the atrocities of his good friend and benefactor, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida?

I can go on and on. The father of secret cults on Nigerian campuses goofed in so many ways in that cheap essay written in fine English. It is so unfortunate that he succeeded in convincing anyone at all who also runs with unfounded rumors just because a revered Professor of Letters uttered them.

Facts are truly sacred and even lies told in the finest language cannot become truth. It will be announced from the rooftop.

BY:Segun Melchizedek Edward II