Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has replied ex-governor of the old Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa, following his comment that the Western Nigeria Security Network code-named Operation Amotekun would lead to the declaration of Oduduwa Republic.
In a statement he personally signed on Tuesday, Soyinka said that Balarabe was sadly wrong and he wished Nigeria to avoid such blunder.
He added that blunders like that of Balarabe were the basis for tragedy in a nation.
“Balarabe is sadly, but I hope not tragically wrong. I invoke the tragic dimension here because the making of tragedy, especially for nations, often begins when fears are mistaken or promoted as facts, and governments either by themselves, or together with interest groups, are enticed by fears into embarking on precipitate, irrational, and irreversible acts.
“Such acts turn out, in the end, to be based on nothing but fears, sometimes generated by guilt over past injustices, such as inequitable dealing. That is the basis of tragedy, towards which nations are propelled by a partial or wrongful reading of socio-political realities and – history.
“I would like to see this nation avoid such a blunder. So, I am certain, would Balarabe Musa.
“Raising the spectre of secession is a facile approach to the dangerous, self-evident lapses in governance which Balarabe himself acknowledges in his response to the Amotekun principle made flesh.
“The midwives of Amotekun have repeatedly acknowledged that theirs is only a contribution towards a crisis of escalating proportions. Other states should be encouraged to emulate, not misread such initiatives, then demonize them by false attributions. That is the certain recipe for tragedy,”
Operation Amotekun is a security task force initiated by the six South-West governors to tackle kidnapping, banditry and other crimes in the region.
Balarabe in an interview attributed to him and published by a national newspaper over the weekend urged the Federal Government not to allow the establishment of Amotekun.
According to him, the security outfit was a ploy to secure Yoruba land and a prelude to the declaration of Oduduwa Republic.
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