The Presidency has reacted to a statement
credited to Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole
Soyinka, in which he lampooned the present
administration for condoning impunity in the
country and likened President Goodluck
Jonathan to the biblical King
Nebuchadnezzar.
The Special Assistant on Public Affairs to the
President, Dr. Doyin Okupe, who reacted to
the statement, described Professor Soyinka’s
allegations as sad and unfortunate.
The Presidency said it had observed how the
close relationship between the Nobel
Laureate and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of
Rivers State has affected his usually cerebral
contributions to national discourse.
“Our eminent professor also sadly plays the
ostrich as he failed to reprimand Governor
Amaechi, who is the ‘national champion of
impunity and official recklessness’.
The
administration of President Goodluck
Jonathan prides itself as the most liberal,
keeping faith with adherence to rule of law
and tolerance”, Dr. Okupe further said.
The presidential aide also stressed that it
was interesting that Soyinka had chosen to
ignore what he termed the immoral,
indefensible and unlawful attitude of the
Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Aminu Tambuwal, after his defection.
Dr. Okupe then accused Professor Soyinka of
maligning the Inspector General of Police,
Mr. Suleiman Abba, who he said only
discharged his lawful duties.
Prof. Soyinka had while speaking at a press
conference in Lagos yesterday, commended
members of the House of Representatives for
scaling over the National Assembly gate,
while reserving knocks for the Nigeria Police
for its action.
He said: “I don’t understand why some media
have described their action as a show of
shame – this is a very careless, easily
misapplied designation. The act of scaling
gates and walls to fulfill their duty to the
people must be set down as their finest
hour. They must be applauded, not derided.
“If shame belongs anywhere, it belongs to
the Inspector General of Police and his
slavish adherence to conspiratorial, illegal,
and unconstitutional instructions – to
undermine a democratic structure, and one –
to make matters worse – convoked in
response to an emergency of dire public
concern”.
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