LESS GRAMMAR AND MORE ACTION FROM "NIGERIAN YOUTHS"

I thought Soyinka was dead news, please let's hear something better.

mama-gee:

I thought Soyinka was dead news, please let's hear something better.

^^ i dont think she knows what shes saying!

Nigeria: Nation in Trouble. (when has Nigeria ever been out of trouble)

All i could do was ROTF and LMAO about the whole fiasco.

Four compass points indeed!!

Nigerians should speak up just the way Prof. Wole Soyinka's done.

Soyinka should come into politics.

The Aondoaka guy always contradicts himself.

Pple, come to think of it. If Soyinka should contest for presidency
he surely will be elected. No rigging power will override his electoral
post.

eyoniggar:

Pple, come to think of it. If Soyinka should contest for presidency
he surely will be elected. No rigging power will override his electoral
post.

You will be surprised at what naija people can do; I heard they want to impeach Fashola!

If Shoyinka contest for president of NGN, he will lose gallantly. Did Nigerians vote Gani Fawehinmi when he was alive? He contested On the platform of NCP. He lost . Nigeria is not ripe to bring ppl like that into power.

I highly appreciate Soyinka's courage, but I don't think it should end there as staying thre in the US and making comments will not lead us anywhere. I think he should come back home and morally mobilize other presure groups into action . This is the time to act. If we should delay further, our 'GOODLUCK' will be frustrated and eventually 'forced' to join them and start singing their song.

Can the youths in 50 years time have people like Soyinka to speak
for them?,if you are a youth,I need your answer to this.
Why are youths of today VERY WEAK.If we dont fight to break the
chains holding us down,then we must remain with them.No Nation
ever got free from its oppressors without a fight.We have nothing to
lose if we fight but the chains and that makes our lives better.The
talk is enough.

me am not weak oooo

i will very happily shoot any president that messes up!!

just gimme ak47!

lol

funny nuff- soyinka could run today and not make a good president

were not even suffering as much from greed

as we are suffering from thier inability to actually run a country

they have no idea!
thats why they mess arnd like this
and twist constitutions!!

Nigeria is a mess of a country!

missed the program,may God bless the prof.i hope we can be able to stand for our rights soonest,nigerian youth need to embrace patrotism and stop all the bad vices like yahoo yahoo,viva nigeria

Aondoakaa deserves the lash of words. He's proven more and more inconsistent with his statements.

MIKKY2:

LESS GRAMMAR AND MORE ACTION FROM "NIGERIAN YOUTHS"

But the question is how many of us so-called "youths" can stand up just like Soyinka did? I have seen enough people run away in the face of ordinary threats than in the face of a gun.

I love Prof Soyinka;He's mi man.

You can also watch the CNN interview here - http://www.nigeriannewsnetwork.com

If only we had more people willing to stand up to liars and thieves!!!

D

.

The "civil disobedience" Soyinka speaks is not the same as the sort of violent tactics the people on this forum speak of.

Civil disobedience is easier and would require significantly fewer resources.

Well, I think, prof was equally wrong for exonerating Yar'dua from all the faults and blaming a faceless PDP. PDP I will say is not the problem. If PDP rigged for Yardua, why didn't a Just man say No, I didn't win or let there be a true party primarires and let me first test my popularity within the party? He canvassed for pple to be dropped for the race to be easy for him. He visited Minna at night to begged the Minna big boi to step down and all that. He (Yar'dua) is a dishonorable fellow.

Someone should ask prof what happened to Ribadu? Ibori etc. Did the PDP ask Yardua to allow all that happen in his tenure? Certainly not. What about hand picking the corrupt Ogbolafor as PDP Chairman, so that he can be sure of 2nd term ticket abi MAN IS NOT GOD, you see?he is not even well enough to finish the 1st term. pple should learn from this.


Abeg Yar'dua no be am abeg!!!

faakay:

ah!!! this is shi, t

My broda, that's our kinda democrazy

SOYINKA: Well, let me begin by saying that I just sit here astonished that someone in a responsible position, like Aondoakaa, can come here and talk from [b]all four compass points of his mouth. He's told so many untruths. He suggests, for instance, that there is absolutely no breakdown in the amnesty procedure in Nigeria. That is a lie. Everybody knows that. He's now blaming the (inaudible) on different causes from what he's said before. At the beginning, he said and he said this publicly that there was no need to be excited, that the president could rule from anywhere in the world; anywhere in the world. And he's,

AMANPOUR: So. what's really going on, then? Why is it, whose interest is it that there be this absence, this vacuum?

SOYINKA: That's very a very good question. Yes, whose interest is it? Now, let me begin by saying that it's not a regional interest, because I noticed you kept referring to the Muslim north and the Christian south. No, no, no, no, that is not the issue. The issue is that certain elements within the ruling party love this hiatus. They love the headlessness of government because they can proceed to loot and create their own little empires while the president is away.

AMANPOUR: So, can you tell me, Why what I mean, when you think about it, what do you think is going on? Why is the president away for so long? And why hasn't anybody seen him?

SOYINKA: I have my theory. My theory is that the president is in no position to sign anything at the moment. I have a feeling that he's so ill and those who are around him know very well that he's very ill. There's a huge contention, for instance, about the signing of the appropriation bill, that, in fact, it was forged. I mean, this one has not yet been thoroughly examined by an independent commission, so all kinds of lies, all kind of manipulations are going on around somebody whom I suspect doesn't even know what is going on

AMANPOUR: Where do you see the next few weeks, I don't know few days, now that the legislature has voted, that they've put Mr. Goodluck Jonathan as acting president? Do you think this will calm things down?

SOYINKA: I don't believe so, because those who are behind this game, this very sinister, bizarre game, are not about to give up very quickly. They're going to find other forms of delaying tactics, and I'm talking about certain criminal elements within the ruling party, the PDP. They are the ones really responsible for this.

AMANPOUR: And what -- what is the solution that you've been calling for?

SOYINKA: Well, we went there, for instance, and asked them, you know, had a rally, and there have been other rallies, and we demanded that the constitution be followed. Now, the constitution demands very clearly that when the president is going to be away, it's a very smooth, temporary transition. The president writes to the assembly saying, "I'm going away on sick leave," "I'm going away on annual leave, and my deputy takes over." When he returns, he writes a letter. Now, I've met Yar'Adua. He's not a silly man. He's an intelligent man. And he knows what he ought to have done. But, unfortunately, I think by the time he realised -- that's my theory -- by the time he realised that he was very ill, it was really too late for him to do anything. He's become incapacitated. And that's why I don't believe, for instance, that he signed the appropriation bill.

AMANPOUR: All right.

SOYINKA: And that is when the assembly should take action and formally invest his deputy.

AMANPOUR: Well, they seem to have done that now. Stand by, Mr. Soyinka. We're going to take a break, and we'll be back with you in just a moment. And we'll also be talking with a mediator in the Niger Delta.

SOYINKA: Well, let me say straight that it's a major challenge for Jonathan if he does, indeed, become the substantive acting president because I can tell you that, in early November, I met together with the so- called errand team (ph), of which I'm just an observer I'm not a negotiator exactly we met the president. And the president actually outlined a timetable for discussions. Afterwards, I heard the I met the president on a one-on-one, together with his secretary only, in which he affirmed what had been decided with the entire team. And this meeting was supposed to have begun immediately after the Muslim Ramadan. The time was actually set down.

AMANPOUR: OK.

SOYINKA: Now, it's up to Jonathan to pick up that to pick up that program and run it fast.

AMANPOUR: Because because you heard Joel Bisina say that they've put down their weapons, those who have, and yet there's no direction, there's no answers, they don't know where to go. Is that legitimate?

SOYINKA: It's always a legitimate comment. And this is what I'm saying that Jonathan has to do. He has to pick up where Yar'Adua left off. Too much time has been wasted. The militants are disgusted. They also they've begun cynical. And, of course, they've called off the cease-fire.

AMANPOUR: So in general in general, where do you see your country going now? I mean, you've got this huge oil-producing nation, you've got this huge population, you've got a bit of a power vacuum, to put it mildly, and you've got a reignited insurgency. All of those combined, where does it where does it go in the next, let's say, week, now that Mr. Goodluck has been named officially the acting president?

SOYINKA: Well, let's hope it doesn't go where the ruling party is going to take it. We have the PDP, an illegitimate, unelected, corrupt, and murderous party, as I've said at home over and over again. Now, it's the civil society now which has to rise and put a stop to the machinations of the PDP. Anything short of that don't forget that part of the plans of the PDP is, of course, to perpetuate itself by making sure that there is electoral reform, which, incidentally, Yar'Adua has also put in motion to ensure that next year's elections are credible. Now, if the country goes to election next year under the present law, the present system, with a corrupt electoral commission, headed by a totally discredited individual in Professor Iwu, I cannot predict where the nation will end.

AMANPOUR: Now, you spoke about some of you spoke about leading, you know, demonstrations and things. Are you calling for civil disobedience now?

SOYINKA: Well, we begun with rallies, as you know, and we have warned that the next stage will be civil disobedience. There will be civil disobedience if the various measures to put this country back on a democratic path this includes, as I said, the electoral reform, a panel was set up. Its recommendations have been accepted by the majority of the nations, from the media commentary, and all that needs to be done is to implement it. Then there has to be a constitutional review. We've seen, for instance, through the absence of the president, how very weak and imprecise the constitution is in many aspects. There's got to be a review. Failing all this, the citizenry will embark on a civil disobedience campaign. I see no other course for the nation.

AMANPOUR: And what exactly what form will that take? What does that mean, a civil disobedience campaign?

SOYINKA: It'll mean a de-recognition of the government, to start with, flouting the laws wherever possible. It will begin on a on a small scale, and then it will escalate until these so-called legislators are made to rise up to their responsibilities.

AMANPOUR: Are you not concerned that that will escalate into violence, rather than into political reform?

SOYINKA: No, I think we're getting practice in the strategies, the tactics of civil disobedience. I do not think and we've demonstrated in the last few rallies that the rallies need not be violent as long as civil rights are not trampled upon. I think exactly the same kind of discipline will be maintained. We'd just withdraw recognition in various ways from the government.

AMANPOUR: And in the meantime, the whole premise of Nigeria's vast oil wealth that is not being, you know, shared or at least enjoyed by many of the people in the delta, how do you have do you have plans to to deal with that? What do you think should be done about that?

SOYINKA: Well, this is why I agreed in the first place to act even just as an observer in the process of negotiations between the government and the various militant groups. Discourse, debate, the usual, to offer a cliche, give-and-take, that system of negotiation is what has to be embarked upon as quickly as possible.

AMANPOUR: Now, the U.S. has obviously got a big role to play. It's very interested in Nigeria's oil and and pursuing democracy there. Hillary Clinton, secretary of state, was recently there, and the assistant secretary for Africa has just met today with Goodluck Jonathan and talked about the importance of the democratic process and the political process.What influence do you think the U.S. can exert right now? Will it be effective?

SOYINKA: Putting pressure on the ruling party or members of the ruling party, including the vice president, whatever title is given, the legislators, assisting us in getting rid of irresponsible ministers like Aondoakaa, compelling, for instance, a change in the composition of the electoral commission, insisting on the adoption of the Uwais panel (ph) report on electoral reform, and insisting on the prosecution of corrupt, exposed, patently corrupt officials. Now, if we receive that kind of moral pressure we're not talking about intervention now; we're talking about moral pressure being exerted on these various arms of leadership then it is possible that this make-or- break period because this is what it is; this is a make-or-break period for Nigeria it is possible that we may just come through it still intact.

AMANPOUR: Wole Soyinka, thank you so much, indeed, for joining us. What a fascinating story, and we will stay on top of it and keep watching. Thanks for joining us. And next, more on the human cost of exploiting Nigeria's oil wealth, when we return.[/b]

I pulled out my dictionary and opened a Wikipedia page before I started reading Soyinka's words.Its like the enigma had soft peddled on his use of gigantic English that can even confuse a traditional English speaker.I was disappointed.

Soyinka has to know that these men will not just give up the empires that they have built without a fight.

we need more pple like Soyinka who are bold enough to say the truth and stand by it,

@Lawale61, Soyinka has been more here in Nija than anywhere else in the past few years. he led a demonstration to the National assembly a while ago and is always active on Nigerian issues home and abroad. you can't fight a multifaceted battle from one point, then don't forget he is a visiting lecturer in several universities just as he is in my alma mata OAU,ife.