Don’t return Nigeria to leaders who ruined it – Soyinka, Falana

Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka has warned that even if Nigerians will not be re-electing President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019, they should be wary of past leaders who ‘once contributed to the mess the country is battling with.’

Soyinka who spoke yesterday as the Chairman and Guest of Honour of the 80th posthumous birthday of the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi in Lagos, narrated how he was initially informed of a genuine interventionist movement and he was still following up on that when some people also came out as an interventionist movement, thereby hijacking the process.

“I found it strange that those who once put us in the problem are now positioning themselves as saviours who will rescue the country. I find it even stranger that these people have begun to hijack the honest revolution. After hijacking, the next was that they were forming coalition… I can’t imagine those who instituted a political or constitutional conference only to hijack it for tenure elongation being the ones claiming to save us,” Soyinka said.

Similarly, Lagos human rights activist Femi Falana, SAN, said Nigerians must avoid handing over the country back to those who brought it to the present state.

“There is a guy whose house is very close by. This guy ruined the country cumulatively for 13 and half years. The first three and half years as military head of state, then he came back to spend eight years as civilian president and expended $16 billion to generate darkness for the country. This is the guy going across the country to form coalition? Nigerians must be vigilant,” Falana said. Also speaking, Senator Shehu Sani said whereas Nigeria had survived the 16 years of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) rule, it was still not in the promised land. “Next election, don’t go for parties. That’s what we have done for years. We have to vote in personalities and not their parties,” Shehu Sani said.