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Soyinka Lashes Jonathan, Igbos Over Polls

Published

11 years ago

May 6, 2015

Leader of the House, Hon Chidi Lloyd (left) conferring with chairmen House Committee on Judicary, Hon Golden Chioma (middle) House Committee on Finance, Hon Josiah Olu (right) during the sitting of the house, recently. Photo: Chris Monyanaga

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has interpreted the outcome of the recently concluded presidential election as a stark choice between a failed president and a former military dictator; saying president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari was the better of the two evils as the incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan had been an unmitigated disaster and failure.
Defending his support for Buhari, the foremost dramatist said at a personal level, it was a “painful decision to tell people to vote Buhari, but the country needed a new beginning. I was more against Jonathan, than I was pro-Buhari,” he told a sold-out audience at the Harvard University Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, where he delivered a lecture on: “Predicting Nigeria, Electoral Ironies”
“If the incumbent had been anything near competent,” Buhari’s most maladroit statement about the dog and the baboon being soaked in blood, would have been enough to scuttle his presidential ambition for the fourth time, Soyinka averred.
As the nation’s much talked-about centenary year ended, the 2015 elections offered Nigerians an opportunity to halt the nation’s descent into anarchy.
According to him, “four more years of Jonathan would have seen Nigeria plummet further, as the crawling giant of Africa, and the beggarly, weeping boy in the comity of nations.”
In a country where one of the six zones that make up the federation was on the verge of excision, with millions of beleaguered citizens marooned in the North East; and thousands more cruelly murdered by insurgents, all Jonathan could offer was mollifying rhetoric and empty promises, he said.
The situation demanded exemplary leadership, which Jonathan could not provide; not because he was unaware of the problem; he was just at a loss for solutions, Soyinka noted.
Accusing Jonathan of setting the law of simple arithmetic on its head; referring to the split in the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), Soyinka regretted that Jonathan’s recognition of the minority after a straightforward, peer election rendered democracy meaningless where it should have been most fervently exemplified.
“Nothing is more unworthy of leadership than to degrade a system by which one attains fulfillment, and this is what the nation witnessed time and time again under Jonathan, who increasingly becoming intolerant of opposition in an escalating streak of impunity and authoritarian madness, which was most blatant and unconscionable.”
He disclosed that “even after Jonathan personally confided to him that he made a mistake by surrounding himself with the wrong people, the president continued to surprise us in ways that very few could have conjectured.”
Soyinka, also said that Nigerians of Igbo extraction are the only people in the country who can be predicted accurately, saying that the people voted in the last elections in order to appease their stomach.
“Igbos remained unrepentant and resolute towards their strategic objective of secession at worst; or a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction at best,” he said at the lecture, which held on April 29.
“The Igbos are probably the only group of Nigerians that you can predict with great accuracy whom they will vote for in an election, because they tend to put their votes where their stomachs take them; suffering as it were, from incurable money-mindedness, as they would stop at nothing in their quest for personal financial gain.”
Commenting on the result of Nigeria’s presidential election, Soyinka said the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan would have been “disastrous”, as Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s president-elect, is better option.
“Muhammadu Buhari was the better of the two evils as the incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan had been an unmitigated disaster and failure,” he said.
“It was a painful decision to tell people to vote Buhari, but the country needed a new beginning. I was more against Jonathan, than I was pro-Buhari.
The literary icon expressed optimism that the election of Gen Muhammadu Buhari will open a new chapter in the history of Nigeria.
Soyinka, also said that the election has laid to rest the existing prejudices distrust and feelings of marginalization in all forms as well as inspire the confidence and strength in adverse Nigerian society.
“And this will certainly imbue his actions with legitimacy and acceptability.
“This is how, in the final analysis, a new Nigeria which is the dream of all will be born”, he said..
Soyinka also condemned former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s quest for tenure elongation.
According to him, “ No thanks to Obasanjo, who decided to convict legality and constitutionality in his quest for tenure elongation.
“Having directly handpicked his successors, and by defaut, responsible for the crisis of governance that ensured following the demise of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. It is difficult for Obasanjo to stand blameless in the ensuring breach of constitutional order”, he said.

News

NDLEA Alerts Parents After Uncovering Drugs In Cookies, Gummies

Published

2 days ago

August 10, 2026

The Tide

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has cautioned parents to closely monitor their children’s craving for cookies and gummies, warning that some of the products may contain illicit substances being smuggled into the country.

In a statement posted yesterday, NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said recent seizures by the agency’s officers had revealed attempts by criminal elements to introduce prohibited substances under the guise of everyday snacks.

“As parents, if your kids and young ones always crave for cookies and gummies, you may have to pay a little more attention. There may be more to it than ordinary cookies and gummies,” Babafemi wrote, sharing images of seized packages.

The photos showed colourful pouches of “Cookies Delta 8 Gummies” in flavours such as Hawaiian Rain Pineapple Guava and Thai Mango, labelled as vegan and hemp-derived, alongside the actual gummy products.

The warning comes amid a major interception by the Nigeria Customs Service at the Tin Can Island Port in Lagos.

Officers seized two 40-foot containers containing large quantities of cannabis-infused products concealed among legitimate imports such as used vehicles, generators, batteries and fabrics.

The consignment included thousands of Delta-8 cannabis pre-roll cookies, packs of cannabis-infused gummies and other cannabis-infused cookies, with a combined estimated street value of about ?373.8m.

The items were subsequently handed over to the NDLEA.

NDLEA officials described the products, which originated from the United States and were packaged to resemble ordinary vegan snacks with appealing flavours, as an emerging public health threat.

They noted that the attractive packaging could appeal especially to children, students and young people, raising the risk of accidental consumption of concentrated cannabis.

News

RIWAMA, PCRC Join Forces To Curb Illegal Waste Dumping In Rivers

Published

2 days ago

August 10, 2026

The Tide

The Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA) has announced plans to partner with the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) to strengthen efforts at combating illegal waste dumping and improving environmental sanitation across the state.

The partnership was unveiled during a meeting between officials of RIWAMA and the leadership of the Rivers State chapter of the PCRC in Port Harcourt, recently, where both organisations pledged to work together to restore the Garden City status of the state capital.

In his speech, the Supervisor of Market and Community Sanitation in RIWAMA, Mr. Omereji Ukoha, said the collaboration was in line with the vision of the agency’s Managing Director, Dr. Ibimina Wokoma, and the Board Chairman, Dr. Samuel Nwanosike, to promote a cleaner and healthier environment.

Ukoha described the PCRC as a strategic grassroots partner capable of mobilising communities and driving behavioural change through sustained public enlightenment on proper waste disposal.

He expressed concern over the increasing rate of indiscriminate refuse dumping in parts of Port Harcourt, particularly in New GRA, where blocked drainage channels and illegal shanties have continued to contribute to flooding and environmental degradation.

According to him, the agency is determined to intensify enforcement against environmental offenders, warning that unregistered cart pushers and residents who patronise them would be prosecuted in accordance with the provisions of the RIWAMA Act, 2014.

The RIWAMA official urged residents to embrace proper waste disposal practices and patronise only government-approved waste operators in order to safeguard public health and protect the environment.

Responding, the Chairman of the Police Community Relations Committee in Rivers State, Dr. Voke Emore, commended RIWAMA for seeking collaboration with the committee in addressing environmental challenges confronting the state.

Emore said the PCRC would deploy its community-based structures across the state to support public sensitisation and encourage residents to comply with environmental sanitation regulations.

He also called on local government councils to play more active roles in waste management, noting that they collect sanitation levies and should complement the efforts of the state government in maintaining a clean environment.

The PCRC chairman described indiscriminate refuse disposal as a serious environmental and public health concern, stressing that sustained collaboration among government agencies, community leaders and residents remained critical to achieving lasting sanitation goals.

Both organisations expressed optimism that the partnership would promote cleaner communities, reduce environmental hazards and strengthen public participation in efforts to ensure a healthier and more sustainable environment for the people of Rivers State.

King Onunwor

News

Police Nab Kidnap Syndicate, Arrest Five In Rivers

Published

2 days ago

August 10, 2026

The Tide

The Rivers State Police Command has arrested five suspected members of a kidnapping syndicate allegedly terrorising communities in Oyigbo Local Government Area of the State.

The State Police Command disclosed this in a statement by its Public Relations Officer, ASP Blessing Agabe, in Port Harcourt, recently.

The suspects were arrested during a coordinated operation at Oyigbo, following directives by the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State Command, CP Olugbenga Adewole Adepoju.

Those arrested were Ezekiel Emmanuel, 44, from Benue State; Chukwuma Mbanefor, 51, from Anambra State; Nicholas Diala, 65, from Imo State; Ndubuisi Uwakwe, 49, from Abia State; and Ifeanyi Nwakwo, 51, from Imo State.

The Command said the arrest represented another significant operational success in its ongoing efforts to dismantle criminal networks operating in the State.

According to the Police, preliminary investigation indicated that the suspects were allegedly involved in kidnapping operations within Rivers State.

The suspects, during interrogation, allegedly confessed to their involvement in kidnapping and further admitted participating in several operations carried out in Kom-Kom, Railway, Obeama and Afam communities.

The Command said investigation was ongoing, with efforts intensified to identify and apprehend other members of the suspected syndicate who may be connected with the criminal activities.

The Police boss said the operation reflected the implementation of operational directives and the intelligence-driven policing strategy of the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Rilwan Disu, psc, NPM.

Adepoju reaffirmed the Command’s determination to sustain aggressive intelligence-led operations against kidnapping, cultism, armed robbery and other violent crimes across Rivers State.

He warned kidnappers and other criminal elements operating in the State that there would be no safe haven for them, stressing that the Command would relentlessly pursue, arrest and ensure that those found culpable were brought to justice.

The Commissioner further assured residents of the Command’s commitment to protecting lives and property, urging members of the public to remain vigilant and cooperate with security agencies in the fight against crime.

He appealed to residents to provide the Police with credible and timely information capable of assisting security operatives in preventing criminal activities and apprehending suspected criminals.

The Command urged members of the public who may have useful information on the activities of the suspected kidnapping syndicate or other criminal elements to contact the Police through its emergency lines, assuring that such information would assist ongoing investigations.

King Onunwor