Soyinka alleges Nigerian govt’s agents kidnapped Kanu, demands action against bandits, others

The Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Monday warned on an imminent crisis in the country if the truth on how the Federal Government arrested the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, was arrested is made public.

The playwright, who stated this in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Pidgin Service, alleged that Kanu was kidnapped by agents of the federal government at an undisclosed location.

The separatist leader was arrested by security agents on June 27.

IPOB and the activist’s family had claimed that he was arrested in Kenya.

Although the Kenyan government had denied the claim, its Nigerian counterpart had maintained a sealed lip on where and how Kanu was arrested by security agents.

The IPOB leader was arraigned for alleged treason at the Federal High Court, Abuja, last week.

He will appear in court on Tuesday for the continuation of his trial.

Soyinka also urged the federal government to show greater determination in the fight against the bandits and Boko Haram insurgents in the country.

He said: “It’s not for me to tell the President to prepare itself because it’s going to be a huge squawk when the truth about how Kanu was arrested comes out. People are alleging this or that. That is one phase whether Nigeria has acted outside international law.

READ ALSO: Soyinka wants Nigerian govt to apologise to Igboho, says DSS invasion of his home ‘stinks’

“The second issue, however, has to do with Kanu’s conduct outside the nation. There’s been a level of hate rhetoric that has been unfortunate from Kanu. Hate rhetoric is an issue that can only be judged by the laws of any nation.

“Was it right ‘to have been kidnapped?’ You can say intercepted as much as you want but I think Kanu was kidnapped. That is wrong internationally and morally.

“The government cannot wash itself clean on what seems to be a kind of comparative energy in pursuing the destabilised forces in the nation.

“If we take ourselves back, once when I threw a challenge to Buhari, what I expect from a true leader is to issue an order, give a deadline that any illegal occupant of any villages, farms is given 48 hours to quit after which the mighty forces of the nation will be unleashed on them. It was ignored.

“Years later, he came to say ‘we will respond to these people in the language they understand’. This is what I expected him to have said years ago, at the beginning of the insurgency.

“Their leadership–the Miyetti Allah — should have been arrested years ago, long before IPOB was declared a terrorist organisation.”

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