Soyinka attacks Balarabe Musa over comments on Amotekun

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Tuesday, attacked a former Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, over his comment on the Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN), codenamed Amotekun.

He said Musa was “sadly wrong”, saying he hoped he was not “tragically wrong.”

It would recalled that the former Governor had alleged in an interview that the launch of Amotekun is a prelude to the declaration of Oduduwa Republic by the Southwest geopolitical zone.

Aside Balarabe Musa, other groups and individuals in the North, especially the Miyetti Allah have condemned the regional security initiative put together by governors of Southwest states.

The Federal Government, also, through the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, declared the security outfit an illegality, saying his office was not consulted.

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In a statement on Tuesday, Soyinka said: “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 demonise them by false attributions. That is the certain recipe for tragedy.”

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