<<Print>>

NOBEL Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, yesterday, warned that Nigeria was on the brink of another civil war and called for concerted actions to prevent the disaster. Soyinka, who spoke at the 5th Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Colloquium in Lagos, also chided President Goodluck Jonathan for failing to address the deteriorating level of insecurity in the country. Themed: A national movement for change. A new generation speaks,� the colloquium was held at the MUSON Centre, Lagos. He said: �Let us face it; this nation is on the brinks. Those who do understand it, I feel very sorry for them because they will one day wake up and find out that we have fallen as a nation. This is not what we envisaged when we struggled for independence. This is not what we envisaged when we struggled to overthrow military dictatorship and restore the rights and dignity of human beings. But whether we like it or not, it has come upon us.� Chides Jonathan on insecurity Berating President Jonathan for the worsening waves of insecurity, he said: �My problem with the government, especially the president of this nation is that he does not seem to realise, he has not taken into consideration, into cognizance that by now the president should be addressing the nation, giving details explaining why this nation is at war.� To avert a second civil war, Soyinka said Nigerians should not see the Boko Haram insurgency as a regional problem, but as a national one. He said: �Certain things have to be done to ensure that this nation is pulled back from the second round of what is leading towards a civil war. By now, we should be tightening our belt, we should not see what is happening in the North as being confined to the North; it is obvious all along that this is not a northern affair. No! We heard that recently that some cells have been found in Lagos, that is not new, it started years ago. Boko Haram, a national problem �Everyone should understand that the problem we are facing right now is not regional it is national and a human problem. It is called Boko Haram. That is the kind of language I believe the leadership of this nation should be imparting on Nigerian citizens.� The Nobel Laureate, while commending the youths for utilizing the platform to make known their ideas said, �I was delighted when I learnt that the younger generation wanted to use this platform to voice their ideas. I want to thank the younger generations for utilizing whatever platform to reinstate our consciousness by speaking, I expect more, beyond politics, beyond mergers, beyond political parties, beyond partisanship.