Buhari is under trance, says Soyinka
* Insists killing herdsmen, new breed of Boko Haram
- Faults reinstatement of suspended NHIS boss Yusuf
Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari is under a trance, saying that the sooner the President got out of the trance, the better for the country
Soyinka disclosed this on Tuesday while reacting to a question on the three things he would tell the President if he meets him, saying that, ” I will say Mr. President you are in a trance.”
Asked the form of trance the President was in, the Nobel laureate said: “I don’t know. So many unforced errors. Take for instance, the suspended Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Usman Yusuf, reinstated by the President. What is that about? What is going on?”
Soyinka had earlier held a press conference in Lagos on the state of the nation titled ‘Nomads and Nation: Valentine card or valedictory rites.’
The revered playwright also spoke on farmers, herdsmen clashes and called on relevant authorities to check the wave of attacks being perpetrated by armed herdsmen across the country.
He observed that the phenomenon of herdsmen and farmers clashes is not new but an issue that has graduated to an alarming state in the last eight years.
Soyinka also called for an organised resistance to the menace, describing the armed herdsmen as a new breed of Boko Haram and internal colonialists.
He said, “The important thing is the consciousness of a need for organised resistance against the incursion of cows.
“In Ogun State, we have formed a sort of informal organisation called OSHA, Ogun State Hunters Association and we intend to collaborate with similar movements, the police and the military.”
Commending the state governments who have set up organisations to protect their citizens from attacks by the armed herdsmen, Soyinka said these organisations need to be taken seriously and well equipped to successfully disarm the armed herdsmen and prevent recurrent invasions.
He said, “I wish to commend the governors in the various governors states who are now beginning to understand that they must start policing themselves.
“If we want to take the phenomenon seriously, it will be to ensure that anytime the organisations see an armed herdsman, they report to the nearest police station. If by a certain time that group of armed herdsmen are not disarmed, then this organisation will move and disarm them.”
The Nobel laureate said further that he is not happy with what he describes as the body language of the government in handling the matter.
He also condemned the proposal for the establishment of cattle colony, insisting that ranching is the preferred option to resolving the crisis.
